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[APD] Re: Mulm Accreation in Heavily Planted Tanks



In a message dated 6/1/2004 1:31:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
aquatic-plants-request at actwin_com writes:

> Message: 7
> Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2004 12:48:29 -0400
> From: "Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>
> Subject: [APD] RE: Mulm accreation in plant tanks
> To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
> 
> 
> Mulm accreation in tanks with wood is pretty high. Replacing with stones is
> a common theme with Amano and several others. 
> If they use wood, most of it is covered with weeds. Smaller twigs are
> better than big blocks. I do not think there is a great deal of differenc
> ebetween something hard like Oak vs a soft cedar wood. The Mopani wood is
> rock and will not make much. 
> 
> But petrified wood is great, no mulm there:-)
> 
> Some plants that are not trimmed or plants that collect dirt will also make
> this an issue. Poor growth also encourages more mulm by leaf losses. Some
> fish and snails will eat this plant matter and turn it into mulm or snail
> poop etc. 
> 
> Mulm is not a good thing really except in small amounts in the substrate or
> large amounts in a non CO2 tank substrate. Too much can be bad and place a
> larger demand on O2 and organic fractions of nutrients which take more time
> to become available to plants. Works well in non CO2 tanks, but in CO2
> enriched tanks, not so well in general.Things move too fast.
> Reminerlization takes some time and less light to work well for plants. 
> 
> Regards, 
> Tom Barr  
> 

What is the best way to get rid of the mulm that accumulates in heavily 
planted tanks besides periodic light gravel vacuuming on the surface of the gravel, 
taking care so as not to disturb the roots of the plants?  Are there any 
other ways to get rid of the mulm that inevitably accumulates in our planted tanks 
besides that?

Thanks,
Leroy C.
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