Why do my plants get so dirty

[Sammm]

Hi All,

 

I have a seasoned tank been set up about 3 years.

 

planted well but my plants always get dirty , it’s just muck and mulm on the leaves and I can’t work out why.

 

what can I do to help this that isn’t just wiping the leaves down with my fingers everyday!

 

thanks All.

 

sam from the UK

[aquachris]

What might be causing all the extra mulm and muck?  If your overfeeding, you might want to reduce.  Another thing is enough water movement to get it to blow off the leaves so to say.

[Sammm]

Yeah I deffo don’t over feed I think it may be water movement, do you think a wave maker would help?

[aquachris]

31 minutes ago, Sammm said:

Yeah I deffo don’t over feed I think it may be water movement, do you think a wave maker would help?

Worth a try - Not sure size of tank, but if its a small one get a really tiny one, you wouldn't need much probably.

[Sammm]

It’s a 240L so a 55G in US.

[Sammm]

[Sammm]

Look ok there only cos I have just cleaned them all 🤣

[Patrick_G]

Looks great! 
You could try a circulation pump with a coarse sponge attached to the intake. I saw this setup recently on a display tank at the Aquarium Coop retail store and it looks like it works great. 
 

[aquachris]

5 hours ago, Patrick_G said:

Looks great! 
You could try a circulation pump with a coarse sponge attached to the intake. I saw this setup recently on a display tank at the Aquarium Coop retail store and it looks like it works great. 
 

I agree with this double duty too as it's will provide biological surface for bb 

[Patrick_G]

30 minutes ago, aquachris said:

I agree with this double duty too as it's will provide biological surface for bb 

Yeah, it’s more or less another sponge filter right?

[Sammm]

Brought quite a powerful one seems to be helping a little but still having the issue , may be where it is placed. Makes me want to just replace all the plants and start fresh ! Pictures attached one week after water change and leaf manual clean 

[Phantom240]

That's some sort of sword plant, right? That's not just mulm buildup, judging by the almost furry appearance. It appears to be some sort of algae, possibly staghorn or fuzz algae that the mulm is snagging on. I'd work to get rid of the algae on the leaves before going much further with changes to the tank. Easy Carbon would likely help tremendously. What kind of filter are you using? Perhaps you need to add a water polishing canister to the tank to remove those suspended particles before they settle. 

Edited June 15, 2021 by Phantom240

[Mmiller2001]

When I increased my turnover to about 7x water volume, this similar problem went away. I also run Polyfill.

[ARMYVET]

DO you have any shrimp or snails in this tank? Any form of cleanup crew?

[Hobbit]

I’ve been struggling with the same thing—algae on the leaves that collects mulm. It helps to empty/rinse out the sponge filter more often to get rid of as much of the floating particulates as possible. It’s not a complete solution but it helps.

[Griznatch]

 I've had success with a small water feature pump and also a power head with sponge filter attached. The power head was too much movement though.

[Sammm]

On 6/15/2021 at 1:53 PM, Phantom240 said:

That's some sort of sword plant, right? That's not just mulm buildup, judging by the almost furry appearance. It appears to be some sort of algae, possibly staghorn or fuzz algae that the mulm is snagging on. I'd work to get rid of the algae on the leaves before going much further with changes to the tank. Easy Carbon would likely help tremendously. What kind of filter are you using? Perhaps you need to add a water polishing canister to the tank to remove those suspended particles before they settle. 

Yeah I think it’s a mix but mainly mulm , I have tried a liquid carbon ( can’t get easy carbon in the uk) but that was a while ago so May be worth a go , I do have some polish pads in my canister but they are old and likely useless now. I have cannister and 2 sponge filters in there currently.

[Sammm]

On 6/15/2021 at 2:30 PM, ARMYVET said:

DO you have any shrimp or snails in this tank? Any form of cleanup crew?

Yeah I did before the big cichlids grew up 🤣🤣🤣🤣 got my bronze Cories in there still.

[Phantom240]

On 6/15/2021 at 11:55 AM, Sammm said:

Yeah I think it’s a mix but mainly mulm , I have tried a liquid carbon ( can’t get easy carbon in the uk) but that was a while ago so May be worth a go , I do have some polish pads in my canister but they are old and likely useless now. I have cannister and 2 sponge filters in there currently.

I know I'll catch serious flak for this, but I managed to eradicate most algae types from my main community tank by using Seachem Excel, and overdosing it daily. It recommends 5ml per 10gal (roughly 38L) at initial dose or after a large (greater than 40%) water change, and 5ml per 50 gallons (roughly 190L) every day or every other day subsequently. At large water changes, I'd use a syringe to spot treat any leaves or decor that were exposed and had algae growth (I had bad BBA and hair algae after a rather long personal breakdown), and then dose 50% extra after filling. After that, I dosed daily 5ml per 10gal until all the BBA turned red (Took about 5 days) and started dying off, and dosed 15ml per day until all the soft algaes were stunted enough that my snails could keep up. Currently using Easy Carbon now, as directed, and haven't had any new algae growth. I'd say once the algae is under control, the daily or every other day dosing of 5ml per 38L would be beneficial. I haven't used any other carbon products aside from Excel and Easy Carbon, so I can't comment on any others. 

Of course, take anything I say with a grain of salt, as I'm not an expert or any sort of authority on the matter. Some species of plants and animals are more sensitive to excel, but I had no losses of any kind (aside from algae) in my tank, which includes tetras, cories, guppies, dwarf sag, mosses, anubias, ferns, crypts, swords, ludwiga and a few other varieties. 

Edited June 15, 2021 by Phantom240

[Sammm]

On 6/15/2021 at 7:31 PM, Phantom240 said:

I know I'll catch serious flak for this, but I managed to eradicate most algae types from my main community tank by using Seachem Excel, and overdosing it daily. It recommends 5ml per 10gal (roughly 38L) at initial dose or after a large (greater than 40%) water change, and 5ml per 50 gallons (roughly 190L) every day or every other day subsequently. At large water changes, I'd use a syringe to spot treat any leaves or decor that were exposed and had algae growth (I had bad BBA and hair algae after a rather long personal breakdown), and then dose 50% extra after filling. After that, I dosed daily 5ml per 10gal until all the BBA turned red (Took about 5 days) and started dying off, and dosed 15ml per day until all the soft algaes were stunted enough that my snails could keep up. Currently using Easy Carbon now, as directed, and haven't had any new algae growth. I'd say once the algae is under control, the daily or every other day dosing of 5ml per 38L would be beneficial. I haven't used any other carbon products aside from Excel and Easy Carbon, so I can't comment on any others. 

Of course, take anything I say with a grain of salt, as I'm not an expert or any sort of authority on the matter. Some species of plants and animals are more sensitive to excel, but I had no losses of any kind (aside from algae) in my tank, which includes tetras, cories, guppies, dwarf sag, mosses, anubias, ferns, crypts, swords, ludwiga and a few other varieties. 

I will for sure look into it and do my own research ! Thanks for taking the time to respond I will let you know how it goes!