Cascade 1500 Filter

[brendac]

I have the 1500 Cascade Filter and I know my Floss needs to be changed every now and then..But does the Charcoal thats in a black mash bag ever need changing? I think I have tracked where my nitrates are coming from..My husband brought home from work huge sheets of floss that was not really meant for aquariums but looked just like floss(actually it was somekind of floss) Well we used it to replace my Floss.. Would something like that make me have a nitrate reading?

 

[skywatcher]

The charcoal will lose it's effectiveness in a few days. Unless you need to clear up your water there really isn't a need to use it. I have that same filter and I do 10% water changes a week and clean the filter every other week. My nitrates are always between 0 - 5ppm. As far as the floss you were using don't know what makes it "aquarium floss" but I doubt that is your problem.