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Marine430

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I have a 40 gal breeder with soft coral and lps. It's fine if you feel like you have to roast me for having a bio wheel. However I am using a penguin 350. I am using the sponges from the aquaclear 70 and chemi pure blue.
I like having it catch debris and I like the idea having chemi pure blue. Can you think of a more efficient way or better way to upgrade the inner parts of the bio wheel?
I was thinking of getting rid of the wheels because I don't think that they help.
I also was thinking about doing some sort of ceramic like the aquaclear. So do the sponges, the ceramic and chemi pure. I also want to be able to polish the water with a felt pad somewhere.
I do have pura phoslock, rowa phos, seachem renew, and purigen if you think there is a better option then the blue.
In addition to the bio wheel I have a aquamaxx skimmer that does very well.
 

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So I run a sump-less system and I use a canister. I've written many times but I'll say it again: I don't doubt one bit the benefits of a sump (or AIOs), it's just that I don't have one, and a person can be successful in this hobby without one.

Ok, that's out of the way. Couple things that might help you...

I achieved much better parameters once I re-arranged the media in my canister. Specifically, my filter runs from the bottom-up, and I have a coarse filter pad, then a fine filter pad (polishing pad), then bio-media (SeaChem Matrix and Marine Pure gems), then chemical media, which for a while, was Chemipure blue (more on that in a bit). Why does this matter?

In my opinion, arranging media this way allows for the best environment for beneficial bacteria growth on the ceramics. Not getting gunked-up with detritus is probably the biggest factor in keeping nitrates low. People have always said that canister filters and HOBs can be nitrate factories unless you clean them all the time. This is true to an extent, and I struggled when my media was arranged differently. Now with this method, I clean mine no more than once a month and my nitrates are steady at 1ppm (Nyos test). Next, by putting the chemical media on top, it has the "cleanest" water (detritus-free) hitting it, and thus can better do its job. A lot of instructions that come with filters suggest putting the polishing pad last, just before the water is returned to the display. I think this is a mistake. The polishing pad should be first, or near-first. In this way it functions like a filter sock in a sump.

As for the Chemipure Blue, it is a great product; however, it's expensive. While it lasts long, I made the switch to the 0.8 high-quality carbon by BRS. I add one tablespoon per 10 gal as instructed and I change it once a month. I've seen no noticeable difference in parameters, including phosphate, despite the fact that Chemipure Blue contains phosphate-trapping resin. Now, I always have some GFO on hand in case I see a spike, but I've been at 0.06 (Hanna checker) for a very long time. You might be able to save some dough if you're willing to give that a try.

Finally, I recently moved the chemical media out of the canister and I put it in the return chamber of my HOB skimmer (ReefOctopus). I had the idea that it would make it easier to change more often, but the truth is it hasn't made a difference so I only do maintenance once a month and I change all of my stuff at the same time anyway. You could try that with your AquaMaxx if there is room in that and you're struggling for space in your HOB. Just a thought.

Hope this helps. I've been in this hobby for almost 15 years at this point and I've had a lot of success this way. It's just one person's way of doing it, not THE way to do it. Just thought I'd share.
 
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Marine430

Marine430

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So I run a sump-less system and I use a canister. I've written many times but I'll say it again: I don't doubt one bit the benefits of a sump (or AIOs), it's just that I don't have one, and a person can be successful in this hobby without one.

Ok, that's out of the way. Couple things that might help you...

I achieved much better parameters once I re-arranged the media in my canister. Specifically, my filter runs from the bottom-up, and I have a coarse filter pad, then a fine filter pad (polishing pad), then bio-media (SeaChem Matrix and Marine Pure gems), then chemical media, which for a while, was Chemipure blue (more on that in a bit). Why does this matter?

In my opinion, arranging media this way allows for the best environment for beneficial bacteria growth on the ceramics. Not getting gunked-up with detritus is probably the biggest factor in keeping nitrates low. People have always said that canister filters and HOBs can be nitrate factories unless you clean them all the time. This is true to an extent, and I struggled when my media was arranged differently. Now with this method, I clean mine no more than once a month and my nitrates are steady at 1ppm (Nyos test). Next, by putting the chemical media on top, it has the "cleanest" water (detritus-free) hitting it, and thus can better do its job. A lot of instructions that come with filters suggest putting the polishing pad last, just before the water is returned to the display. I think this is a mistake. The polishing pad should be first, or near-first. In this way it functions like a filter sock in a sump.

As for the Chemipure Blue, it is a great product; however, it's expensive. While it lasts long, I made the switch to the 0.8 high-quality carbon by BRS. I add one tablespoon per 10 gal as instructed and I change it once a month. I've seen no noticeable difference in parameters, including phosphate, despite the fact that Chemipure Blue contains phosphate-trapping resin. Now, I always have some GFO on hand in case I see a spike, but I've been at 0.06 (Hanna checker) for a very long time. You might be able to save some dough if you're willing to give that a try.

Finally, I recently moved the chemical media out of the canister and I put it in the return chamber of my HOB skimmer (ReefOctopus). I had the idea that it would make it easier to change more often, but the truth is it hasn't made a difference so I only do maintenance once a month and I change all of my stuff at the same time anyway. You could try that with your AquaMaxx if there is room in that and you're struggling for space in your HOB. Just a thought.

Hope this helps. I've been in this hobby for almost 15 years at this point and I've had a lot of success this way. It's just one person's way of doing it, not THE way to do it. Just thought I'd share.
I appreciate your information!!! I have always wondered if I had the order wrong of my pads and media. I will look into this a little more!
 
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