Is This Algae?

[ellena]

Growing on the pump wire, most noticeably. I've had filter rinsings and mature media which both came with similar looking brown gunky stuff. There's some on the sand too, but couldn't get a good pic of that.
Does it need cleaning or leaving? Thanks

 

[waterdrop]

As soon as you dechlorinate an open container of water it begins to be populated with a vast array of things: algae, bacteria, fungus, all sorts of stuff. Once you've identified which types of media in your filter probably make up the majority surface area of biomedia, that's the only stuff you have to be careful with. Anything else is fair game to be removed and cleaned if you choose. When you are still cycling, its preferable to not even squeeze out your biomedia, if its sponges, or to do so extremely gently if you must do it due to clogging. For things like plastic filter parts, that electrical wire or various other random items, there's nothing wrong with cleaning them in tap water if you like. Its just the media that you want to protect and clean in tank water and of course you try -not- to clean that media during cycling.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[ellena]

Thanks for that I'll give it a little scrub then