What Is Mulm?

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csmith

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Is the red gunk in my filter mulm? I've never exactly known what "mulm" is, but here I have this red/orange..stuff that covers my filter pads and the filter internals from top to bottom between water changes. It almost looks like earwax. I never got this accumulation until I set up the Eheim Liberty filter.
 

Detritus Mulm

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nipat

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It seems the iron we add make the mulm (in the filter) look redder too.
 
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Brian20

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well detritus not is bad if it is in the substrate where roots and bacteria can proccess it. In the filter it will have a lot of bacteria. If it not caused problem to you by now it is safe. I think it depends on the quantity, a lot of mulm can affect negatively if bacteria cant proccess all.
 

Biollante

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Cuts Down On Detritus Mulm While Feeding Baby Fish

Hi All,

The detritus of aquarium life is a debated topic.

I like to think of myself as the sort that does not care should a little mulm pile up; after all, it provides a home for infusorians that feed or baby fish and various generally helpful bacteria. :) But I find myself vacuuming the stuff up more often than not. :eek:

I maintain a number of tanks from my pre-enriched substrate days that use deep sand beds (DSB) as substrates that also serve along with the plants as my primary filtration. The mulm is the secret ingredient and why some assume my inert sand and silt are enriched (well they are, just not the way folks usually think). :gw

The enriched substrates, as well as very mature DSB rarely allow much build up of mulm, one of the reasons I am such a fan of worm poop and kitty litter substrates, an inch or two of enriched substrates mimics many of the desirable elements of mature deep sand beds without the wait. :cool: (The downside is the need for external filtering.)

Biollante
 
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Left C

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csmith;49871 said:
Is the red gunk in my filter mulm? ... I never got this accumulation until I set up the Eheim Liberty filter.
Biollante;49872 said:
... It may be that this filter and/or pump is just doing a better job.

Biollante
You like that Liberty filter don't you? ;)
 

Left C

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csmith;49968 said:
Quiet, effective, simple..yeah, I think I do. :D

Did you get the big foam filter cartridge for it too? http://www.bigalsonline.com/StoreCa...ge?&query=liberty&queryType=0&hits=12&offset=

largeLibertyfoam.jpg
 
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csmith

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No. I use those ginormous (technical term) marineland pads you can cut to size. $5.99, I'm cheap. :rolleyes:
 

Left C

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I've done that too. It works.

But, this big foam cartridge is washable and can you use it over and over and over, etc. It lasts a long time. Might not ever need to be replaced.