I think the wire/cloth was a good idea, you may just need to refine it.

When you said "too long a distance", did you mean the wire was too
flexible so you couldn't feed it through?

If so, you can pick up an electrical fish tape for less than $10, or if
(like me) you have a lot of 14 guage solid electrical wire laying
around, that'll work.

Maybe instead of a cloth fasten on a small piece or wire mesh for the
first couple of passes then work up to cloth.

HTH
Mike

pakett wrote:
The 1" tubing from the pump to the waterfall develops layers of brown, wormy
looking, thick sludgy stuff and keeps building up and eventually you can
tell it's reducing the water-flow. I've tried the smooth tubing, and now
have the ribbed black kind.... same thing happens. I know it's building up
quickly because I can easily compare it to the small piece from the filter
to the pump... I wonder what most of you out there do about this.
I've done the following (but wonder if there's a better way of course!)
- replaced tubing after cleaning didn't work.
- flushed it with bleach & water, and also with CLR & water, at different
times. ( I put the waterfall end of the tube in a big bucket, and the pump
in another big bucket since they're too far away to go in the same one, and
circulated the water many times through...and of course rinsed it out really
well) No visible improvement, and a lot of work.
- thought of pulling a small cloth through on a long wire, but it didn't
work.... too long a distance.
Anyone else got any great ideas!?
Southern Ontario