Pond matrix n Purigen

[johnnymisty]

Definitely tempting me to give it a try...

+1 or find a big supply of pumice stone

[mnemenoi]

Definitely tempting me to give it a try...

[johnnymisty]

Good glad it's down for ya

[SunnyHouTX]

Nice. Very good turn of events

[morpheus]

Did not do my update on 2-21-14 since the nitrates were still 40ppm before WC.

I just did my next WC last night and the nitrate level was 15-20ppm. This is the first significant drop - about 50% decrease - before WC since introducing matrix again to the canister and HOB. After the WC it went down to 0-5ppm.

[SunnyHouTX]

Yeah man. Still it's good numbers

[morpheus]

Update #2 - Increased my WC schedule for this tank to weekly. The nitrates were at 40ppm, and after WC were at 20ppm. still a 30-40% change....so an increase of 20ppm in a week.

I doubled the amount of fish in the tank this past week too, so it makes sense the nitrates went up quicker than my first update.

[nightster]

Water change? What's that? Lol kidding...

[SunnyHouTX]

Yeah. Even with heavy bio load in the 450, nitrates barely get to 40 - 50 ppm before water change

[morpheus]

That's kind of high for after WC but maybe that's because you're only doing 30%. Thanks for the update.

No problem. Was not a large WC, but ammonia and nitrites were still at zero before WC. I will be increasing the frequency of changes due to adding more fish. The tank is still understocked, but I should move to weekly instead of 2+ weeks.

[mnemenoi]

Following, might have to add some to our HOB's... I always enjoy Seachem stuff and they usually always deliver

[SunnyHouTX]

That's kind of high for after WC but maybe that's because you're only doing 30%. Thanks for the update.

[morpheus]

As a followup - Just did first water change last night since reintroducing the matrix, so 15 days since putting it back.

nitrates were at 40ppm before WC, which matches what it was when reintroduced. dropped to maybe 15-20ppm after a 30% WC. again color cards are hard to determine which level.

will keep you posted after next WC in about 1-2 weeks. just added 4 new mbunas to the tank this week so that may skew the levels

[SunnyHouTX]

It will take about a month or two for the denitrifying bacteria to start working so just do a weekly check before and after WC till you see a noticeable drop in the reading before WC.

[morpheus]

Well I tested everything before putting matrix and purigen back and nitrates were definitely elevated to around 40ppm.

I hate these color charts cause 40 is red and 80 is like very dark pink...almost the same color. but I am going with 40.

I added matrix stones also into my HOB filter cartridges with the carbon.

When do you want the next test Sunny? Honestly I have no idea how long is enough time to notice a drop in nitrates.

Ammonia and nitrites were at zero.