Saying hello and asking a question...

[rbcjoker]

I'm brand new here, and already I'm asking annoying questions...

I have a 55 gallon FOWLR that has been up for about a year and a half now (with a short, cross town move in the middle.) I have a handfull of fish, and a cuc that probably needs a few additions soon. I was getting some dark red, velvet type film on the rocks recently, which I assumed was cyno, so I upgraded my PHs to two Koralia 2s. They seem to be working, as it's slowly going away. I also have a Bak Pak protein skimmer and a Fluval 204, which will be upgraded to a 305 next week. I use tap water, as I live in an apartment and can't add a RO system. I'm looking into buying from my LFS or bottled water at the grocery store.

The question is what to put in the Fluval. Right now I have two packs of Chemi-Pure Elite and one pack of Purigen, both of which I'm using per this site's recommendations. However, I'm seeing a lot of people saying that they don't use carbon, however, so now I'm confused. Is there something else that should be in there instead? I have healthy fish, but I'd like to see the rocks and such looking healthier, not to mention more coraline growing.

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

How often do you clean the fluval? When I had a cannister filter I cleaned it once a week or once every 2 weeks as they can become nitrate factories. I use Chemipure and have no problems. Also you might want to thing about upgraing that skimmer to something a little more powerful.

List your water parameters and you bioload here and we'll try to help as best we can.

 

[rbcjoker]

The last time I checked (Friday) the nitrite and ammonia was at 0, and I THINK the nitrate was at 20 parts per liter. I don't have a phospate or calcium test kit yet.

 

[anthony27]

Best thing to do , run a wet/dry filter for the tank. The fluval ( if not cleaned out well) can haven nitrites/trates. If the tank is not pre drilled for one then you can buy a hang on skimmer that can drain the water into the wet/dry filter but please do not use bio balls. Also this filtration will take away from teh stress and over load of the fluval. you can throw some chemi pure and phosband in the wet/dry and run it like that . aslo keep in mind that you should have a good flow rate from teh wet dry to the tank a good over turn rate of water flow. Good Luck..:splitspin