Injecting mulm into the substrate

2294 Views 6 Replies 3 Participants Last post by bharada, Aug 24, 2004

bharada

Discussion Starter · Aug 23, 2004

I just started to setup my new 125g tank got ahead of myself in putting in the substrate.

What I did was dust the bottom of the tank with some peat, then put in a 2-4" contoured bed of a 50/50 coarse quartz sand (~1/8" diameter)/Shultz Aquatic Plant Soil. I capped it off with another 3/4" of straight quartz sand.

I'm at a rest point now since I'm waiting for my PC lighting to arrive later this week. So all there is in the tank is driftwood and substrate. Once the lighting arrives I'll start tearing down the 29 and relocating its plants into the 125.

At that point would it be beneficial for me to syphon out some mulm from the 29 and use a large bore syringe to inject it into the virgin substrate? Or would I do just as well by sticking in a bunch of Flourish tabs?

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plantbrain

· #2 · Aug 23, 2004

Turkey baster should work fine. Slowly.

Regards,
Tom Barr

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bharada

Discussion Starter · #3 · Aug 23, 2004

Thanks, Tom.

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chrisl

· #4 · Aug 23, 2004

Tom, Congrats on the tank! 125's are real nice imo.

You can do what I did: Take the python and suck up mulm and water into a 5 gal bucket. Wait 30-45mins for the mulm to settle, then use the python, or just slowly pour out the water and the remaining mulm is safely at the bottom. I did this 3-4 times and had a really large amt. of mulm to add to the new planted 75gal. Worked out nice. Just a thought for ya!

Chris

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bharada

Discussion Starter · #5 · Aug 23, 2004

Chris,
The 125 is definitely going to be a fun challenge to get planted...thus the need to get as much going in my favor as possible. I just picked up a CoraLife 3x TurboTwist UV sterilizer to minimize any green water and of course I have my trusty diatom filter for water polishing.

I'm debating on getting a HOB overflow box to feed water to the CO2 reactor and UV. I'd like to keep the in-tank syphons to a minimum and I already have the Eheim tubes on one side of the tank.

Bill

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chrisl

· #6 · Aug 24, 2004

Bill, that was Only to get the mulm collected from the old tank to put into the 125. I'd try personally to get as much mulm as I possibly could from the old tank to put into the 125. The more you put in there, the less probs you'll have as a 'new' tank setup.

Chris

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bharada

Discussion Starter · #7 · Aug 24, 2004

Chris,
I just started to tear down the 29. I've taken out all the plants and syphoned out most of the mulm. There's still fish in there so I've been stirring up the grave and letting the Magnum 350 filter out what mulm is left. I'll wring out the filter floss later to get as much mulm as possible.

Now I'm just waiting for the mulm in the 5 gal buckets to settle.

Once I get the mulm injected into the new tank I can start filling it with water. I installed all the filters this morning so I'm itching to get started!

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