Need some guidance on feeding

[ben]

Finally one of my vids uploaded so this one is them destroying some fresh spinach leafs, it was meant for them to graze on but as you'll see it didn't last long, the bits that ended up floating got eat not long after the vid finished, no more than 5 minutes for them to eat the lot, hope you enjoy.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Glad it worked finally.

Honestly your water looks pretty good and that doesn't look like to much food. Flake and pellets will dirty the water more so than a real piece of spinach...

And once again, nice selection of a catchy song.

[ben]

lol can't beat some Clavin Harris baby lol

Yeah the cloudiness shows up more on the side view, I did have a vid uploading showing the flake and pellet I feed but it's been lost so I'll have to do another.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Ah gotcha. If you are using carbon, that alone should do the trick for the side view.

[ben]

Dec 6, 2015 13:09:32 GMT -5 Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7 said:

Ah gotcha. If you are using carbon, that alone should do the trick for the side view.

TBH Andrew I'm getting sick of using chemicals, carbon doesn't seem to last long and I feel like I'm recharging purigen all the time in fact I've 2 bags of the stuff sat in bleach now that and it cost too much money here in the uk.  I planning on using good old air driven sponge filters on the racks I'll be installing in the new year, I plan on buying them this week and seeding them in the QT tank to save time.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

I hear ya. For that reason I'm going to making a carbon chamber for my bigger breeder tanks. It will have a screw on canister and will be a branch off of the main return line that I'll be able to shut valves of to stop flow. Then I just unscrew the canister and then replace the carbon in a bag and put it all back together and turn the valves back on.

Does you purigen look very dark brown, almost black when you recharge it?

[ben]

Sounds like you've just described a reactor buddy, yes once the purigen turns dark brown I swap it out for a freshly recharged one.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Basically. But it won't be suspended in the water. The water will just run through it as it would inside a filter.

okay, gotcha. How long in between swapping out the bags of purigen?

[ben]

Yeah for carbon that's not a bad idea, if it was fluidised it would grind itself to dust.  With the Haps I had before I'd have to replace it every 6 weeks (ish) but currently with the Tropheus I've about 3 weeks and I've already had to replace it, they must be producing a hell of a lot more organics/waste and it's a pain in the backside to keep taking it out as you've already touched on.

[Mastiffman/ Duramax7Man7]

Yeah I figured that it would be a better way to go. Wow, yeah every 3 weeks. Seems really odd with a larger filter and a smaller colony like this. Forgive me if Ive already asked this, but how often have you been cleaning the filtration unit? Or haven't you cleaned the sponges and polishing pads out yet since getting the tank fully cycled and how long has that been?

Thanks.