Does anyone agree that bunch plants can act as a natural mechanical
filter. I have 3 bunches of a typical bunch plant in my 75G and they
collect a lot of "crap". Whenever the Clown Loaches or Brochis go
tearing through them, lots of crap is released in the water. This
causes my water to have a lot of "crap" in it that does not all get
filtered out quickly. Thoughts?

(SlimFlem) wrote:

Does anyone agree that bunch plants can act as a natural mechanical
filter. I have 3 bunches of a typical bunch plant in my 75G and they
collect a lot of "crap". Whenever the Clown Loaches or Brochis go
tearing through them, lots of crap is released in the water. This
causes my water to have a lot of "crap" in it that does not all get
filtered out quickly. Thoughts?

I agree, though 'filter' makes it sound more useful than it really is.
'Trap' might be a better word. I've taken up periodically lightly
brushing or bumping my plants with a stick to knock lose any debris
that they've trapped. I catch the larger pieces (dead leaves, mostly)
with a net, and leave the rest for the real filters.

--
www.ericschreiber.com

agreed, my 27G has a patch of Val. that is about 2" thick along the left
glass and it collects all sorts of mulm, which is a pain to vac out, every
time I do, it turns out to be a 50% water change, which reminds me might as
well do one. It gets so messy in there the panda cories and clowns won't
enter, but I've got 2 japonica shrimp and 2 asian crabs that have taken up
residence in the mulm eating to their little hearts content.



"SlimFlem" wrote in message
om...
Does anyone agree that bunch plants can act as a natural mechanical
filter. I have 3 bunches of a typical bunch plant in my 75G and they
collect a lot of "crap". Whenever the Clown Loaches or Brochis go
tearing through them, lots of crap is released in the water. This
causes my water to have a lot of "crap" in it that does not all get
filtered out quickly. Thoughts?