I tried biopellets (npx) for about 6 months and quit, since I couldn't detect any benefit. The tank, however, has been through quite a bit of phosphate problems, which gfo helped, though my skimmer never really ran anything but pale watery skimmate. And the fuge (20 gallons) is about 8 years old, and suffering, well, sort of 'old fuge' syndrome, though wedded to a much younger tank.
So I tried (lightly) carbon dosing via vinegar (I also run kalk in topoff). The skimmer began pulling extremely dark skimmate. I have increased the dosage to about the max I intend to run. And the skimmate still is about as dark as it gets, which I [somewhat blindly] assume means much more efficiency from the Marineland skimmer.
Corals are happy, fish are happy, fuge cheato is dark green and mysis are breeding like mink down there. Nothing wrong that I can see. A great deal of stuff that was in the water is being processed out of the water.
This at least has been my experience.
So I tried (lightly) carbon dosing via vinegar (I also run kalk in topoff). The skimmer began pulling extremely dark skimmate. I have increased the dosage to about the max I intend to run. And the skimmate still is about as dark as it gets, which I [somewhat blindly] assume means much more efficiency from the Marineland skimmer.
Corals are happy, fish are happy, fuge cheato is dark green and mysis are breeding like mink down there. Nothing wrong that I can see. A great deal of stuff that was in the water is being processed out of the water.
This at least has been my experience.
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