# Cleanup crew for dead plant material?



## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

Nerites and pond snails should devour the decayed leaves for you.


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## sinthesis (May 23, 2012)

Maybe I should get more nerites then. I don't really want pond snails because of the breeding. How many nerites do you think a 55 gal should have? Maybe if I kept the sides super clean, they'd have no choice but to move onto plants instead of sucking on the glass?


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I'll be honest, if you're having so much dead plant matter that you need to find a way to control it, then something else is wrong.

My first suggestion would be to manually clean it up. Use tweezers to pick up what's on the substrate. If any is floating at the surface, grab a net to get it. Then vacuum the substrate for the smaller particles. Do not plunge the vacuum into the substrate, but rather hold it above the substrate and let it suck up whatever is on the surface.

At the same time, trim your plants to remove any dead and dying plant material. If the base of the stems are decaying, then uproot the entire plant, cut off the top portion of the stems that are still healthy, and then replant it. If you have a lot of plants that are congesting the tank, then it's time for a trim to allow for better filtration flow.

I'd also look into whether you have enough filtration for the tank. For planted tanks, the general rule of thumb is to have 10x gph for per gallon of tank water. So for a 55 gallon tank, you should be shooting for around 550 gph filtration. If your current filtration is much less than that, then it is best that you add another canister to the tank to make up the difference.

If your filtration is not the problem, then consider whether you have enough circulation in the tank. The water should be moving in a circular fashion of some sort from the output to the intake. The placement of the intake and output needs to be such that it encourages this circular flow. Make sure the water flow is able to get through the plant stems so it can push the crud out from between the plants.

I just spent the last 3 days cleaning out dead plant debris from my 75g tank. I did everything I suggested here, including many other things, such as cleaning all my plumbing parts (intakes, spraybars, etc). It was not easy work, but the results are fantastic. By cleaning up the mess and trimming the plants (which, in my case, mostly consisted of uprooting the plant, cutting off the good tops of the stem plants and then replanting them), this not only cleaned up that mess from the tank, but it created shorter plants which allowed the filtration to flow better throughout the tank, making it easier for the filter to pick up the dead plant material, suspend it into the water column, and then push it around the tank until it finally got it close enough to the intake to suck it up.

Nerites may be able to help with some of the dead plant matter, but they cannot fix a problem of insufficient filtration and/or circulation. Find out what's causing your tank to accumulate so much dead plant matter in the first place and fix it. That's the only way to clean it up long term. Otherwise, your headed for problems with water quality, algae, and even further plant death.


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## acitydweller (Dec 28, 2011)

my first guess would be insufficient lighting. are you using full spectrum bulbs?


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## sinthesis (May 23, 2012)

Thanks for all the great info! Complexity--the pictures linked in your signature are gorgeous! My tank is only a few months old, and I really don't have a lot of dead material (aside from leaves from the marble queen sword I don't think should've been in my low light/tech tank in the first place). I was more concerned with stopping a problem before it started since I'm new to planted tanks and didn't really know what to expect. My plants aren't tall yet or anything, I expect they'll grow slooowly. Also I was thinking of the bits of leaves I couldn't seem to get without clutzily uprooting everything--tweezers! What a great, obvious idea I never would've thought of.


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

Thanks for the compliment! I understand what you're saying. Don't get too worried about the few stray leaves that get loose in the tank. That's normal and shouldn't pose a problem. It's only a problem when you get so much dead plant matter piled up that it causes the water quality is adversely affected or it encourages algae due to increased organic matter or starts killing the lower stems of the other plants. If something like that happens, then you'll know it. Otherwise, you should be fine. You can just keep it as tidy as you want for aesthetic preferences, but that's about it. The dead plant material will decompose and then filter into your substrate to be used by your growing plants as fertilizer so it's all good. :smile:


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## Shanster (Jul 23, 2012)

Complexity - You said the filtration system should filter the water 10X in one hour. I got the aquaclear 50 for my 30 gallon tank because I thought it would be enough since it's meant for up to a 50 gallon tank. I looked up online and it says "Maximum output 200 US gal/hour."

Would you say that enough? or should I consider getting a HOB filter? I don't really want a sponge filter because they take up a lot of space and the I have never researched canister filters. Thoughts?


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## Complexity (Jan 30, 2008)

I think you have to use your judgement as to whether you have enough filtration or not. The more heavily planted your tank becomes, the more filtration I believe you'll need. My personal preference is to have more filtration on my tanks, but with a smaller tank like a 30g, you can probably get away with a single HOB filter. You'll just need to clean it out more often.

If you ever do decide to increase your filtration, I would strongly suggest that you look into getting a canister. Canisters seemed difficult to me at first, but they're really not once you actually use one. I prefer the Rena XP canisters. For a 30g tank, I'd suggest a Rena XP2. You could get away with an XP1, but I prefer to have the extra baskets to hold extra filter media.

Once you start using a canister and see how well they filter the water, you'll wish you had switched long ago. HOB filters can only use a thin amount of filter media to clean the water compared to the very thick amounts of filter media used in a canister. Plus, canisters are a lot quieter and require less maintenance.


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## creekbottom (Apr 5, 2012)

I know pond snails don't seem like what you're looking for, they do breed like crazy. However, I was throwing pond snails into a new tank that was COVERED in brown diatoms. I couldn't see in anymore. Everything was covered, I had a brown anubias instead of a green one. For a little while, maybe a month or so, there were egg blobs all over the place. 

They'll breed like crazy while there is food to support them, now that the algae is gone, I have a hard time finding any pond snails.


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