Whats this stuff growing on the sides and bottom of my sump?

[Legonch]

Ive got this stuff growing all over the inside of my sump. Most of it is on the inlet side, all over the sides and the bottom. Been noticing this stuff getting sucked up into my carbon reactor, slowly plugging it. Took the sump all apart and cleaned it all out just a bit ago. What is all this stuff? Any advice most appreciated.

 

[JuanGutz]

No idea.


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[SkyShark]

Looks like it is just detritus, but if it is growing I'd say it is probably sponge.

 

[Legonch]

Is it possible to have a sponge outbreak? Probably a dumb question. But this stuff was stuck to the glass, and I found some in my tank on a couple frags. Im thinking sponge....but what the heck is it growing everywhere for? Is that normal?

 

[Jeremiah]

I think you have a combination of stuff. Like someone above said lots of detritus (the brown stuff)

However, stuck to the walls it looks like you have pineapple sponges growing. I've only seen them grow in the darker sections of my sump area.

 

[Walter White]

Looks like a combo of detritus and pineapple sponge maybe. How long has this system been up?

 

[Legonch]

System has been up since late October. Sump is under the tank and is always dark.

Is this a regular occupancy kind of thing? Something to worry about?

 

[Walter White]

Assuming just pineapple sponges and a little detritus perfectly normal. You are right in the right time frame for those to start springing up in the sump. Eventually they will die back or or die off altogether. Nothing to worry about they are good filter feeders.

 

[Legonch]

Okay, learned something new today! thanks guys!

 

[jda123]

It is definitely sponge. Be sure and remove some every now-and-then and export the nutrients. Otherwise, they will just reenter the N cycle when they die. I scrape a corner of my sump every few months and siphon/shop-vac the sump clean to get them all out.