mulm, the necessary evil (?)

[axolotl nerd]

hello all.
recently i've been dealing with quite a bit of mulm in my axolotl tank. i know that it contains important minerals and nitrogen compounds for plant growth- but it is incredibly unsightly. every time i take pictures of my tank, i feel the need to clarify to whoever is receiving them that i have cleaned the tank recently. moreover, i've tried everything i can to get rid of it. frequent water changes, scrubbing off all decor, even rinsing out the plants. i just cannot seem to get rid of it. will removing it slow the growth of my plants? is it even possible to remove it all? any advice is appreciated.
picture reference below, taken a few months ago

 

[wolfen]

removing it won't harm the plants, trying to remove it all is extremely difficult whilst waste is being produced and things are decomposing, adding dark sand or soil type substrate may make it less noticeable, there aren't any cleaner fish that are safe with axolotls but shrimp like gammarus can help as can small snails.

 

[axolotl nerd]

removing it won't harm the plants, trying to remove it all is extremely difficult whilst waste is being produced and things are decomposing, adding dark sand or soil type substrate may make it less noticeable, there aren't any cleaner fish that are safe with axolotls but shrimp like gammarus can help as can small snails.

thank you! i have some ghost shrimp and bladder snails, but im not sure they do much of anything. ill probably add substrate

 

[JM29]

Hello,
Mulm is something equivalent to the terrestrial humus in soils.
It's an ultimate dirt which decompose very slowly.
All healthy aquariums have some mulm. Most of the time, this mulm melts with the sand if there is sand.

Yes, you may expect to have less mulm forming using decomposers like shrimps, gammarus or snails but the axolotls will probably eat them.
(I once gave gammarus to my axolotls and they ate them all within 1 hour)

 

[wolfen]

I have gammarus (hyalella aztec) in my tank as part of the cleaner crew, due to their size when they swim too close to the axies they get snapped up but a couple of seconds later are seen sneaking out of the slits behind the gills.

​

 

[axolotl nerd]

Hello,
Mulm is something equivalent to the terrestrial humus in soils.
It's an ultimate dirt which decompose very slowly.
All healthy aquariums have some mulm. Most of the time, this mulm melts with the sand if there is sand.

Yes, you may expect to have less mulm forming using decomposers like shrimps, gammarus or snails but the axolotls will probably eat them.
(I once gave gammarus to my axolotls and they ate them all within 1 hour)

fortunately my axolotl is rather stupid, so i've had about 5 shrimp living in the tank for months and haven't needed to replenish numbers.
i am quite the plant person, my room has a collection of about 20 strong- do you think the mulm could be useful for my terrestrial plants? i've been using aquarium water for them, but haven't thought to use to mulm itself.

 

[JM29]

I don't know exactly the agronomic value of the mulm for terrestrial plants but I know it is at least not noxious.
I use water + mulm to irrigate my terrestrial plants (house and garden) when I restart an aquarium.

My aquariums have 2 inches deep river sand and I never clean the mulm, which ends within the sand.
Last year, I introduced Bacopa monnieri which grows a lot in this natural substrate.

 

[axolotl nerd]

I don't know exactly the agronomic value of the mulm for terrestrial plants but I know it is at least not noxious.
I use water + mulm to irrigate my terrestrial plants (house and garden) when I restart an aquarium.

My aquariums have 2 inches deep river sand and I never clean the mulm, which ends within the sand.
Last year, I introduced Bacopa monnieri which grows a lot in this natural substrate.

thank you!

 

[Edevingo]

hello all.
recently i've been dealing with quite a bit of mulm in my axolotl tank. i know that it contains important minerals and nitrogen compounds for plant growth- but it is incredibly unsightly. every time i take pictures of my tank, i feel the need to clarify to whoever is receiving them that i have cleaned the tank recently. moreover, i've tried everything i can to get rid of it. frequent water changes, scrubbing off all decor, even rinsing out the plants. i just cannot seem to get rid of it. will removing it slow the growth of my plants? is it even possible to remove it all? any advice is appreciated.
picture reference below, taken a few months ago
View attachment 95359

What type of filtration are you using? Mulm should be collecting in your filter not in your tank. Do you have drift would in your tank? Often times over cleaning your tank leads to problems due to not allowing your tank to become established, especially when there is plants and driftwood.

 

[axolotl nerd]

What type of filtration are you using? Mulm should be collecting in your filter not in your tank. Do you have drift would in your tank? Often times over cleaning your tank leads to problems due to not allowing your tank to become established, especially when there is plants and driftwood.

i have a sponge filter, i cleaned it recently which helped. and yes, i do have a large piece of driftwood. the tank is nearly three years established now, so im not worried about that part of it. im not sure what you mean by over cleaning?