After turning off my HOB in favor of berlin filtering, my nitrates have begun to drop.
I was in the 10-20PPM, leaning towards 20 yesterday.
This morning, ammonia and nitrites still zero, but nitrates are in the 5-10 range, without a PWC! I've tested it twice now to be sure.
Honestly, the AP tests are hard to read from 0 to 5 to 10, it could even be in the 0 to 5 range. I may reduce the sample by half and retest (expecting doubled results).
The design of the emperor 400's allows food and stuff to settle in the back/bottom. Lots of it. Adding a filter pad or sponge to the intake cuts the amount of flow going through the filter so much it loses effectiveness.
I've actually removed the filter now, and added a PH in its place. I think I'm going to need another PH though, not enough surface disturbance to keep O2 levels up. That's one thing the old HOB was good for, it created a nice wave, almost a foot across.
I was in the 10-20PPM, leaning towards 20 yesterday.
This morning, ammonia and nitrites still zero, but nitrates are in the 5-10 range, without a PWC! I've tested it twice now to be sure.
Honestly, the AP tests are hard to read from 0 to 5 to 10, it could even be in the 0 to 5 range. I may reduce the sample by half and retest (expecting doubled results).
The design of the emperor 400's allows food and stuff to settle in the back/bottom. Lots of it. Adding a filter pad or sponge to the intake cuts the amount of flow going through the filter so much it loses effectiveness.
I've actually removed the filter now, and added a PH in its place. I think I'm going to need another PH though, not enough surface disturbance to keep O2 levels up. That's one thing the old HOB was good for, it created a nice wave, almost a foot across.