Display refugium effectiveness for nutrient export

[zwalter38]

Think to op used the canister filter as a temporary cleaning tool to remove algae and dirt and imo is an excellent way to clean. I personally do the same every few months.

Yea that’s exactly what I was using it for, however I do have to canisters that run as the main filtration. I have been considering using coarser sponges in them, or not at all.

 

[GARRIGA]

Yea that’s exactly what I was using it for, however I do have to canisters that run as the main filtration. I have been considering using coarser sponges in them, or not at all.

Setting up my FX2 experiment which has four compartments plus the side coarse foam going from coarse to fine with top layer being their new ceramic blocks which have large pores to first capture and decompose larger detritus then followed by different pore size sponges and all can be rinsed occasionally with tap should decomposition occur slower than expected to avoid clogging.

Ran something similar in the 90s and didn't open the Eheim other than to replace floss and/or ChemiPure. Didn't use sponges back but instead BioChem Stars which were first to utilize internal pore structure to allegedly house bacteria and increase nitrification.

The key is capturing the larger pieces then decomposition allows that to travel to finer media until left with mulm which is that fine dust being the final stage of decomposition before mineralization which can take decades to a century to fully decompose and release elements such as calcium and magnesium. Was hoping to figure out how to solve this final stage and now just content with occasionally rinsing the media when it clogs. Biofilm isn't affected by short exposure to chlorine or FW as often thought plus internal chambers of that ceramic media likely houses enough nitrifiers to quickly populate that lost along with bottled bacteria to the rescue should rinsing have gone longer than planned. The sponges, however, could be replaced and thoroughly cleaned since bulk of their function in my design is heterotrophic and that is easily populated. Although plan is to have the two finest sponges last with one replaced and the other lightly rinsed of bulk dirt and reused for seeding.