Re: [APD] Filter versus Pump

["John T. Fitch" <JTFitch at fitchfamily_com>]

> Date: Tue, 06 Jul 2004 13:23:07 -0400
> From: Robert Zink <bonsai at hrcreditunion_net>
> Subject: [APD] RE:filter or pumpr
> To: APD List <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
>
> Hi John,
>
> You wrote:
> > I was experiencing signficant clogging, often within minutes after
> cleaning
> > out the Mixer J.  This was true even right after cleaning out the
> cannister
> > filter.  It's the same stringy brown gunk that I've recently asked
about.
> > The stuff seems to accumulate in the cannister, in the heater module and
> in
> > the hoses.
>
> and earlier you wrote:
> > I read
> > on the APD that every surface in the tank is a biological filter.  So,
> over
> > time, I've gradually removed all the elements that make it a filter,
i.e.
> > the little ceramic tubes, the various baskets for media, and even the
four
> > sponge filters.
>
> What was the chain of events here? Were you having a gunk problem before
or
> after you removed all the filter elements?
>
> I'm thinking that the beneficial bacteria population which your system
> supports is suffering from a lack of real estate. They are only able to
live
> on the surfaces which you have left for them; namely, the canister, the
> heater module and the hoses. Colonies may be so crowded that they are
> existing piggy-back on top of one another. From there, it's easy to
suggest
> a couple of mechanisms which might cause the gunk to break free
> occasionally.
> -- 
> Hope this helps,  :)
> Bob
>
>
You mention only the canister, the heater module, and the hoses as surfaces
for the bacterial film.  But, I was under the impression that the tank walls
and substrate were also sites for bacteria, providing a surface area larger
than the out-of-tank elements you mentioned.  Is that not true?

In answere to your question, I had the brown gunk when I had all four
sponges and the basket of ceramic tubes in the Fluval 304.  It was a fair
amount of work to rinse the sponges (never felt I was really getting them
very clean and porous) and the ceramic tubes.  Whatever the gunk is, it was
also either going right on through the filter to the heater module and the
CO2 mixer jar -- or it was growing there.  When I removed the various filter
elements (not all at once), I could see no difference in the amount of gunk,
but a significant increase in flow rate.

Is the concensus that this is definitely not an algae which grows in these
units?  And is that because there is no light source?

John T. Fitch
www.fitchfamily.com/aquarium.html

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