ANYONE SEEN THIS?! Mysterious BROWN SLUDGE/MULM stuff

[Drew__ster]

So these pictures show it all, every day I suck this brown snow like sludge just for it to return the next day.

At first I thought it was beneficial bacteria from the intake side of my sump which is about 20 gallons volume, the tank is 100 gallons. So I also have other tanks that I top off with out this stuff.

To suck it up takes just 2 5 gallon buckets so I’m not adding much water If my water source is contaminated and I also do large water changes regularly as I’ve been in the hobby for 20 years and this is my dream discus tank.

Any ideas what causes this stuff to seemingly materialize out of no where daily? I just bought phosphate removing filter pads and am cleaning out the sump (obviously needed) and tank after posting this.
I will say I had to dose antibiotics which may have damaged my biological filtration but I have added various colonies of fresh bacteria since there was zero nitrate nitrite or ammonia now it seems the nitrogen cycle has started. I’ve got various fertilizers that I rarely use, if u want to get specific we can.

 

[1 2many]

Looks like a lot of detritus. Having your filtration working properly is necessary. You might need to add more filtration, and/or reduce feedings. Continue to siphon it out of your tank.
I’m not too familiar with the various types of fertilizers but I do have experience with Seachem flourish and API root tabs. By the look of your plants you shouldn’t need anything other than those.
What kind of fertilizer have you been using and how much?

 

[Drew__ster]

Looks like a lot of detritus. Having your filtration working properly is necessary. You might need to add more filtration, and/or reduce feedings. Continue to siphon it out of your tank.
I’m not too familiar with the various types of fertilizers but I do have experience with Seachem flourish and API root tabs. By the look of your plants you shouldn’t need anything other than those.
What kind of fertilizer have you been using and how much?

i honestly was only using diy CO2 diffusion before the crash (which I think was due to the antibiotic (ciproflaxacin) which seemed to destroy my nitrogen cycle. I’ve build into the sump a fine filterpad which turns brown when full of bio bacteria yet it’s white. I did originally think it was bio bac but as for fertilizer I forgot I had liquid brand Aquatics Macros and Micros, had an algae bloom not in the water but surfaces like plant leaves wood and glass. So I really only use root tabs regularly but something also killed off the plants that were flourishing (red watermelon swords) now the leaves are like hard and translucent and very very slow to grown a new leaf. I also have powdered ferts like potassium nitate which I only used twice over time when my nitrogen cycle wasn’t working. But I used Doctor Tims bio culture and now the cycle is complete. Not a big fertilizer guy but definitely a root tab guy. By saying rarely dosing I mean damn near never besides the flourish basics and not “constantly” if you will. I added a phosphate removal pad last night. So far after draining the sump last night no new brown “snowsludge”. Im the one picture of the pump side you can see the white filter media as a last line of filtration to keep the bio bacteria in the intake side which isn’t full of brown so I thought maybe my water has something in it making it materialize everywhere since I have town water. Just theories but yea just need to figure out what it is to address it sorry for the long post and thank you for your time ??

 

[1 2many]

I don’t have any personal experience using Co2 diffusers, powdered ferts or Cipro.
But I’ll say this, make sure your tank has biological bacteria or you will have an even bigger problem than dead plants. What are your water parameters? Your plants are dying because they are not receiving the proper nutrients. Check nitrates and phosphates to make sure they are at acceptable levels. Also important, what is the ph and hardness? Some plants are more sensitive to this than others. Sorry I can’t help further.
kno4te duanes and Hendre will be of greater assistance to you

 

[duanes]

Just curious when, you say large regular water changes, what that entails? (volume per each water change, how many per week)
What are water parameters (such as pH, and nitrate) before and after each water changes?

 

[Drew__ster]

Just curious when, you say large regular water changes, what that entails? (volume per each water change, how many per week)
What are water parameters (such as pH, and nitrate) before and after each water changes?

PH is neutral, by big water change it’s a 100g tank and lugging buckets I’d do a 40% a month my nitrates just came back I’m convinced the antibiotics damaged my bacteria and now I’m steady at 5-10ppm which I want for the plants. I don’t have a phosphate test how ever but I usually just ran some CO2 and the plants transitioned from the above air to submerged and were thriving. I didn’t clean the sump really until yesterday where I rinsed off highly sludged sponges which we’ll see if it appears again. Ohh and one major thing I forgot! I saw on YouTube people use hydrogen peroxide for algae on plants so I did that as per their instructions. That may have done something. I got phosphate removing pads to combat the algae instead. All my other tanks are essentially self sustaining. So either I messed the plants up with the hydrogen peroxide or antibiotics as well as the antibiotics destroying my nitrogen cycle for a month. Maybe it was just a build up of bio bacteria in the sponges and all other filter media that the pump was sucking up. So those are my theories. Something killed (seemingly they’re barely hanging on) and there was a lot of that brown stuff which came out of no where and built up over time until over night there would be what’s in the picture. Thanks for your interest!

so I guess there’s 2 issues the plants and sludge which so far so good on that after cleaning the sump

 

[duanes]

I try to do 30% to 40% water changes every other day, so 40% per month, does not sound like a large water change schedule to me.
But I don't use buckets. On my 300 gal system, I turn a valve, and old water gets pumped to the garden instead of the sump, so its much easier to do more often.
Hydrogen Peroxide is a very weak oxidizer, so I doubt it killed your BB, although it is possible depending on how much was poured in.
I experimented with peroxide as a control for latent Columnaris spores around 10 years ago, and that kind of sludge was not my result.
I poured an entire 1 liter bottle in the 55 gal hospital/quarantine tank, and another a few days later.
I use a 125 gal tank as my sump/refugium.