In Tank Media Basket Poly Filter Floss

[PrettyFish]

Hi, I have some questions about In Tank Media Basket and the Filter Floss That they recommend and I have been using since week one. My tank is in the 8th week. Coralife BioCube 29g.
Parameters: 0.0 Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates.
I still have some diatoms, mostly gone, though. I am just starting to notice some possible hair algae. I do partial water changes every Monday.
Did not add livestock until after cycling and then added one every two weeks.

Livestock: 1 one inch Blue green Chromis
1 Fire-fish Darter
1 half inch 6 line Wrass.
Cuc's
5 small hermits and four nasarious snails
Hitchhikers on live rock: torch coral started very small, doing well three heads, now and a mushroom or sponge coral started growing on third week.

1. Is it normal for the filter floss to get a very dark brown every three days, almost black all the way through?
2. I am having to change the floss every two-three days, because of this. Can I double it up, by stacking two pieces on top of each other?
3. Or, is there a thicker type of floss for the top level of the In-Tank Media Basket?

Also, I get many tiny clear bubbles at night on only one live rock and these clear bubbles drop off the rock every few seconds to float up and pop . Will this ever stop?
Thanks for help and advice.

 

[PrettyFish]

Anyone know?

 

[fishabbott]

I'm not familiar with the media basket for the Coralife models. I have the Oceanic model. If you have a local air conditioning supplier, you can pickup yards of the media for pennies on what you pay at your lfs. I often rinse it out in the water I pull for weekly water exchanges and reuse it. At 8 weeks old, you are still kind of fighting little unique cycles with your tank. Provided you aren't over feeding, the system should even out over the next few months. I got a small show of hair algae once and immediately switched to frozen or fresh food only. I replaced the bio balls with rubble rock bringing the rock ratio up to about 1.5 pounds per gallon. After that, it was smooth sailing. The GHA disappeared overnight and everyone is happy. Also, if you double up your media, it might drastically change the water levels. Be careful and have fun.

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[fishabbott]

I guess I should point out "over feeding" isn't quite what I meant. Sometimes a little extra food gets caught at the filter contributing to plugging it up. I have a horrible habit of leaving the pump running when I feed, but most of mine is target feeding.

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