fluval 304 media

bretth7377

New Member
I have a couple questions about using the fluval media after reading some posts on here. Beth said not to use the carbon after 2 weeks because it can become a biological filtration. So I removed my carbon pads, but is it suggested to remove the bio balls as well? I thought it sounds best to just use the fluval for water circulation. Also, it comes with foam pads, do I keep those in there or not? Right now I removed the bio balls and carbon and kept the foam pads in. I am currently cycling my tank and after cleaning the fluval and taking the media out it looks like I lost a lot of water. Is it ok to put more water in (distilled?) Or should I just wait until after the cycle finishes because I heard it would prolong the cycle? Also one last question, ph is low... is it suggested to put the chemical in that raises ph to 8.2 even if its a cycling tank or wait until after the tank is cycled?
I currently have:
46 gl bow tank
55 lbs live rock
75 lbs live sand
2 damsels
pH 7.4
amonia 8.0
nitrie 5.0
nitrate 160
Thanks, Brett
 
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