Slime in wet dry

[steve]

I have some nasty slime in the return area of my wet dry is this normal?

[AndrewH]

Does it look like fish slime, or "plant/algae" slime?

I would think the later is more common than the former. Do you have understand lights which stay on regularly?

[daijari]

I used to regularly siphon out the wetdry during a water change. Detritus really builds up after awhile, and that is just food for unwanted things to grow..... I suggest, once you turn of the pump, and let the wetdry fill with water, squeeze out the sponges in the water that is in there to get all the detritus out of them, then siphon out the wetdry, return the sponges, fill the wetdry back up to where it was before, then turn the pump back on.

Jerry

[steve]

I have no light under the tank. Its nasty slime I dont know want kind. Its white and smells when you sift it out. It seems to come from lack of water movement in the return. It also got worse when I added a sponge filter before the return. I have never had a wet dry so I dont know if this is normal. On syphoning it back into the tank is that something I want to do. Put this nasty slime back in the tank?

[daijari]

I wouldn't siphon it back into the tank.

Yes, low water flow will cause buildup. You might clean the pump to see if you can get your flow back up.

Instead of using a foam filter on the overflow box (providing you are using one), I would put a filter sock on the end of the down tube that empties tank water into the wetdry. For a filter sock, I just used one of the filter bags that has a drawstring on it, and used a rubber band to attach it to the downtube.

Do all you can to increase flow, pump, use larger return hose, etc, and then keep the filtration media as less dense as possible. Siphon out the wetdry as I described above when you do water changes in the tank. Treat the wetdry as it were just another tank, as that is what it is.

Jerry

[steve]

I have lots of flow from the pump but it does not aggitae the top seems to pull the water direclty from under the bio balls

[steve]

I have lots of flow from my pump but its at the bottom and does not aggitate the top. that is where the slime is.

[tsunderl]

Can you add an airstone to the sump to aggitate the water?

[steve]

didnt think of that yes I have an extra one laying around. Also here a pic I made of how it is setup its very beautiful I know. The water stay at this level at all times never varies.

[daijari]

The slime there is normal, but can accumulate over time of you do not regularly siphon the wetdry and clean the filter sponges. An airstone would work to add agitation.