eco23 said:I never meant charcoal is useless, I said it is dangerous to switch out a cartridge every month. Are you speaking to the pH down part? That is to add phosphates, not to adjust pH. IMO, pH does need to be monitored during the cycle as I had a major pH crash which came very close to damaging my cycle. Thanks for reading the article, unfortunately I couldn't add explanations for everything I mentioned due to the fact he article was so long already! I hope you agreed with most of it.
I totally agreed with most of it. just wanted to add on a little.
I don't remember reading about ph down and phosphates, could you re-explain?
I've cycled 3 tanks successfully without monitoring ph, but I guess you can't be too careful. I was just trying to stress the fact that it shouldn't be tampered with unless necessary, and there is usually no need to adjust simply to accommodate specific fish.
if you aren't letting your ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels sky rocket, there shouldn't be worry of a ph crash, ime