SPR
Well-Known Member
Your ‘nearly’ as bad as I am! LolI ended up going for 2 32ox bottles, it says each will do 374l
also bough another 4 litres of seachem matrix and another marine pure block - no nitrates for me, thats 8l of matrix, 2 marine pure blocks, 1 Brightwell block all for the sump. I was going to have natural seawater delivered to fill the tank, but decided against it , so bought 20m of 1/4" tuning so I can fill with my rodi unit. My hottub needs a water change so I intent to use the waste to fill that,
ATM Colony does what is says, and 1 of the large bottles is enough, but hey if you’ve got them, then a turbo start. Or send one back.
I wouldn’t however put all of the Matrix etc., in yet. If you have zero nitrate you are asking for trouble with cyno, dino’s, and other annoying things spoiling your enjoyment. If your intending running an ultra low nutrient system then of course fine but you really have to watch things at low levels.
Otherwise I would monitor nitrates and when they get to around 5ppm maybe start adding the Matrix etc but slowly as you need it until you get everything balanced. A good target is around 10 but to be honest I’m probably between 15-20ppm at the moment and everything glows with life. But I’m trying to get down to 10-15 because I just ‘think’ that’s better.
What I would do, and get ready to add, is rhowaphos and reactor like the deltec FR509 which I have. This is the single best thing I ever did to my tank following a green hair algae issue, and I’ve never had any problems since locking phosphate down very low at around 0.03ppm. I have zero algae or anything else.
All of this will depend on your bioload, I do have just ‘a few fish’ so need massive biological filtration including dosing Nopox currently at 22-24ml per day (yes I know higher that the instructions but that’s fine). Nopox is something else for you to buy!
I also have a bag of 250ml purigen as well and this helps with water clarity and is very good.
Oh and the tank weight. It’s very heavy, and I mean very. You need at least 4 strong people to lift it unless their body builders like Nobbygas’s delivery drivers. If I did it again I would hire one of those mini scissor lift trolleys to move it around. Or go to a gym and offer money!