That brown gunk in the cartridge...

[Tikibirds]

just out of curosity but that brown slimy gunk that accumulates on the filter cartridge and in the filter foam (I normally stuff aquaclear filter foam inside my aqueon filter instead of the cartridge but I added a cartrisge with carbon due to using Furan 2)..is that stuff the bacteria or is it just gunk? I keep forgetting to swish the foam and cartridge out when I do the WC's...

[Olympia]

It's bacteria filled gunk! I don't touch mine ever, but rinsing it around is fine too, I've seen arguments for both. It's basically a huge bacteria colony with a ton of decomposition, anything caught in it just adds to the bacteria party. Sometimes called a biofilm (but there's a few other things called biofilm in aquariums too).
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[Tikibirds]

OK cool, so I wanna keep that gooey gunk then...right? I tossed out the cartridge but there is a butt load of that on the foam that I stuffed inside the filter

[Hallyx]

According to OFL, there's only enough bacteria in your system to process the ammonia generated or left over after your plants eat it. The rest is just gunk. As long as it doesn't clog your filter....

[Tikibirds]

I don't have that many live plants..yet