It's amazing what works with enough water changes, but now that I hear once a month, I'm intrigued. Do tell!
Yeep, now I have to know, what's the nitrate count? - NOnce a month, about 50%.
One more example of how real life rarely lives up to imagination! The substrate is bone white when I show up, there will be a fair amout of brown diatoms on the glass (acrylic). What comes out of the gravel siphon is rarely even tan, usually white like when vacuuming new crushed coral, which btw is what keeps the system from crashing. That substrate is 100% crushed coral. The reason this tank shouldn't work with the current maintenance schedule is because the pH would crash which would halt nitrification. Water parameters are however remarkably stable: pH 7.2, NH3 and NO2 undetectable, nitrates run about 120 before the change, source water on average contains 3ppm or 4ppm. Filtration is an Aquatech hob (I forget the model, but it's essentially a Penguin 150 without the biowheel) and a Rena XP1. There's also an approx 200 gph powerhead in the tank. This is a very real set up, and I would suggest that anyone who wishes to comment negatively on it first ask themself "how many fish have I kept for 10 years?" and then comment accordingly. In pm.I imagine the sand does not look nearly as good as in this picture the day before the monthly water change?
Weird. You're right, not what I imagined at all, lol. Not my style in a lot of ways but cool how it works anyway.One more example of how real life rarely lives up to imagination! The substrate is bone white when I show up,