well said Bio. if someone wants to run five canisters that's not going to harm anything, being way beyond needs of surface area is the reefing way. anyones live rock on this whole forum could be taken down to a quarter of the load and still run the fish they run, I've seen cuts that low in the sand rinse thread.
so if we're all using way more live rock than needed then there's no harm in running a canister filter and two hundred pounds of bioballs as well. surface area is never going to be harmful.
for sure you should cease nitrate testing and focus on the macro, for about three straight months. Pauls nitrate hits 160 sometimes, its time to not detail nitrate for a long time and change the way you reef it will work better for sure.
keep your calcium and alk ideal instead
dont run phosphate binding media either, let that and nitrate fall where the clean tank lets them fall, all variations are ok.
so if we're all using way more live rock than needed then there's no harm in running a canister filter and two hundred pounds of bioballs as well. surface area is never going to be harmful.
for sure you should cease nitrate testing and focus on the macro, for about three straight months. Pauls nitrate hits 160 sometimes, its time to not detail nitrate for a long time and change the way you reef it will work better for sure.
keep your calcium and alk ideal instead
dont run phosphate binding media either, let that and nitrate fall where the clean tank lets them fall, all variations are ok.