Tonight, wanting to be sure my heater was not buried in the sump chamber, I dug around in the sump to locate it and of course, it was partly buried under media bags etc. Freed it up--should try to stick it to the sides of the sump maybe--horizontal of course. And noticed there is a lot of gunk down there. Granted, some is still the real fine sand that got sucked down while i was replacing sand. I had vacuumed all water out in sept. but I hadn't emptied the skimmer side of sump of the media bags and marine pure. I am thinking this area is part of my no3 issues (removed all sand from the refugium area).
So I plan to remove all media bags (will put them back in-all are only weeks old). Some have phosguard or purigen, some have rubble, some are bio bead type media. I also have a large stack of marine pure. So will take it all out, put in a bucket to save any copepods, and vacuum out that side and get it clean. Noticed there is fine sand in the pump area so will try to get that too.
Question is, do the blocks of marine pure need replacing? Probably at least a year old. Or even 1.5 years. Or do I just put back. Or take out half? And order more? Really want to try to get my no3 down.
I've done probably a 100 % water change since September., doing 20-25% weekly, changing socks weekly. Food gets eaten immediately when I feed--the fish are little piggies! So I don't think it's overfeeding--I do feed heavy.
So is marine pure something that should be replaced every so often?
No3 was over 160. Down to 40-80 now. PO4 was 1.43 and now at .36.
edit: I put the marine pure in sump Jan 2020 so not a year.... Just feels like it....
So I plan to remove all media bags (will put them back in-all are only weeks old). Some have phosguard or purigen, some have rubble, some are bio bead type media. I also have a large stack of marine pure. So will take it all out, put in a bucket to save any copepods, and vacuum out that side and get it clean. Noticed there is fine sand in the pump area so will try to get that too.
Question is, do the blocks of marine pure need replacing? Probably at least a year old. Or even 1.5 years. Or do I just put back. Or take out half? And order more? Really want to try to get my no3 down.
I've done probably a 100 % water change since September., doing 20-25% weekly, changing socks weekly. Food gets eaten immediately when I feed--the fish are little piggies! So I don't think it's overfeeding--I do feed heavy.
So is marine pure something that should be replaced every so often?
No3 was over 160. Down to 40-80 now. PO4 was 1.43 and now at .36.
edit: I put the marine pure in sump Jan 2020 so not a year.... Just feels like it....
Last edited: