I have been away in Spain for a week (hitting a white ball as far as I can, and then searching for it!) and came back and the tank was looking like I’d never been away, apart from the glass needing a clean.
I’ve tried to automate as much as I can, with a large ATO reservoir, Apex autofeeder and general monitoring from Apex and a HD Camera. Apart from my mother changing the filter socks once, the tank wasn’t touched for 7 days.
I’ve decided to remove the last 2 Brightwell NO3 bricks as they are still breaking down and have made a right mess in the sump and I’m not convinced there actually doing anything.
I added 6 litres of Seachem Matrix a few weeks/month ago and I can say this is very good stuff. I’ve reduced the Nopox dosage down slowly to 18ml per day and the Nitrate is currently at 7ppm (from around 18).
The system and water just looks so much clearer since I added the Matrix and because of its make up, it’s stone, apart from maybe a quick wash it should never need replacing.
I have enough Matrix in the system for 1000’s of litres of water volume so this should keep Nitrate under control and I can feed a bit more which I enjoy.
I’ve taken a few different pictures of the sump, and there is still some residue from the Brightwell bricks as you can see, and this will get removed during water changes which I’m tending to do around 18% each month. Mainly to keep the sump reasonably clean
I also cleaned the NYOS Quantum protein skimmer today. To be honest the pump and impeller weren’t that dirty to say the last clean was around 8 months ago and I only cleaned it because on a few ‘restarts’ the pump seemed to be struggling and hence the clean.
Anyway pictures.......
Full sump, clean NYOS and down shot.
I’ve tried to automate as much as I can, with a large ATO reservoir, Apex autofeeder and general monitoring from Apex and a HD Camera. Apart from my mother changing the filter socks once, the tank wasn’t touched for 7 days.
I’ve decided to remove the last 2 Brightwell NO3 bricks as they are still breaking down and have made a right mess in the sump and I’m not convinced there actually doing anything.
I added 6 litres of Seachem Matrix a few weeks/month ago and I can say this is very good stuff. I’ve reduced the Nopox dosage down slowly to 18ml per day and the Nitrate is currently at 7ppm (from around 18).
The system and water just looks so much clearer since I added the Matrix and because of its make up, it’s stone, apart from maybe a quick wash it should never need replacing.
I have enough Matrix in the system for 1000’s of litres of water volume so this should keep Nitrate under control and I can feed a bit more which I enjoy.
I’ve taken a few different pictures of the sump, and there is still some residue from the Brightwell bricks as you can see, and this will get removed during water changes which I’m tending to do around 18% each month. Mainly to keep the sump reasonably clean
I also cleaned the NYOS Quantum protein skimmer today. To be honest the pump and impeller weren’t that dirty to say the last clean was around 8 months ago and I only cleaned it because on a few ‘restarts’ the pump seemed to be struggling and hence the clean.
Anyway pictures.......
Full sump, clean NYOS and down shot.