meaning and purpose from Mulm in the aquarium: Today we are dealing with the aquarium mulm, which many only count as waste. But he certainly isn't, at least not only. Aquarium Mulm always causes discussion, especially when it comes to sucking them off or not. In this article we want to give you something about the meaning and purpose of this mulm and also the advantages and disadvantages one mud sucker explain. For this purpose, the specialist trade offers a lot of devices and these are usually closely related to you Water change zusammen.
What actually is Mulm?
Before you can even start thinking about whether vacuuming up sludge is good or bad, you should know what sludge actually means. Basically, these are accumulations of different substances. Be it Plant debris, fish droppings, dead leaves and loads of others deposits. Because of this, mulm is also very quickly associated with waste and has the reputation of being unnecessary.
But there are still bacteria in the sludge. These bacteria are extremely useful and absolutely necessary. In this context we want to our article on nitrogen cycle and the nitrite peak Clues. There we explain what happens in the nitrogen cycle and why certain bacteria are needed. Above all Nitrobacter are necessary to convert dangerous and toxic substances into harmless substances. In the short form here Nitrite NO2 to nitrate NO3 converted. The bacteria required for this usually accumulate in the sludge. Therefore Mulm also has a good effect.
Where is sludge mostly deposited?
Mulm can definitely be found in the floor area. Mulm is usually deposited where an unfavorable disturbance can be found. In the corners or in areas where the water is less circulated. Mulm can also lead to problems there, because it can sometimes happen in Mulm rotting herd develop. Normally this shouldn't happen though. who one floor wash in use creates a significant advantage here, because the thermals from below usually distribute the sludge quite quickly and can therefore also be transported away by the filtering accordingly.
But that alone is usually not enough to get all the mulm under control. Many aquariums have areas where mulm likes to settle and to a certain extent this is not a problem. But if this gets the upper hand, then you should ensure that it becomes less. Then the sludge suction comes into play.
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Suck off but when and how?
The right time to suck off the sludge is usually when it comes to changing the water or when you notice rotting spots. Then you should act very quickly. Otherwise, we recommend vacuuming off the sludge when you change the water. We already have that published a guide where the frequency is also described in more detail.
Of course, we also have to get to the bottom of the question of how best to do it all. There are plenty of ways to do this. Let's start with what is probably the simplest, sucking it off with a hose during the water change. If you do a water change, the water has to be pumped out of the aquarium. In smaller pools, the water will usually run into a bucket. In larger tanks, the water either goes straight into the drain and drain of the waste water or you wait to water the flowers, because aquarium water is extremely valuable for watering the flowers. It has a lot of nutrients, which also benefits the flowers as fertilizer.
Of course there are also special ones Gravel cleaner, which are offered in specialist shops. These are particularly useful if you want to vacuum up sludge without removing a lot of water. In addition, these mulm vacuum cleaners usually have large ones mulm bells to also stir up the sand or gravel substrate to suck off any pollutants and rotting herds.
Of course there is also Mulm or Silt, which make it possible to suck off the sludge without changing the water. Eheim in particular has a good device on the market. More on that below.
More about the current devices that we recommend below.
Clean gravel and sand while vacuuming the sludge
It can happen, especially with coarser gravel or sand types, that pollutants and waste are also deposited in the substrate, which are not on the surface, but also come through the substrate into the lower layers. These can also form foci of rot. With the Mulm bells, there is the possibility of churning them up right away in order to suck off the lighter parts. Most of the gravel or sand falls back into the aquarium.
Vacuum up sludge with the bestsellers
A certainly quite simple and inexpensive mulm vacuum cleaner is the JBL floor cleaner Aqua Ex 45 – 70. This is also available in heights of 20-45 or even 10-35 cm, which can also be used for the nano aquarium. These prices are just around 10 euros depending on the version. Basically it's just a Mulm bell with a water hose, which is then fed into a bucket. Easy, quick and clean to get and fairly cheap. A real classic in our opinion.
A catch sieve is also integrated, so that you don't accidentally suck in fish or shrimp. This can happen quickly, especially with smaller, curious animals. There is also an automatic suction device, although in practice we usually consider suction with the mouth to be quicker and easier.
- Collection of metabolic products, food and plant residues (sludge) from the aquarium floor: sludge bell with automatic suction device at 45-70 cm water level
- Easy installation: Connect the hose to the sludge bell, attach the hose to the bucket with a shut-off valve, introduce the cleaner into the aquarium - activate with a gentle shaking movement, push the sludge bell into the bottom, water suction sucks in dirt
- Automatic suction device (no suction with the mouth necessary), cleaning in hard-to-reach places: Round cross-section with corners, cleaning claw for dosing the suction strength, inner diameter 40 mm
- Protection sieve against accidental sucking of plants and fish
- Scope of delivery: 1 x JBL Aqua Ex set floor cleaner, 61410, size: 45 - 70 cm, Ø 40 mm, incl. 2 m hose (12/16 mm), 2x hose clips, stopcock
If you want the whole thing electronically, you should get the Eheim Quick Vac pro dirt extractor take a closer look. This is of course much more expensive. But there is also another function available here, because as mentioned above, I can also use this device to clean sludge without having to change the water right away. The Eheim filters the water through a membrane. This means that you can always use this sludge cleaner independently of a water change. Especially good for small aquariums, because there is often not enough time to vacuum up sludge when changing the water. It is also equipped with a suction cup and cloudiness in the water should be gone fairly quickly. Customers are extremely satisfied when testing the device.
- EHEIM dirt extractor (3531)
- Sludge extractor for all aquariums
- Eheim article
Of course, other manufacturers such as Sera, Tetra and Co also have sludge extractors in various sizes and shapes.
What are your favorites and how do you vacuum the muck?