I do have muriatic. We have one jug for the pool and one jug for fish tank use.Basically most bacteria do not like acid water. What Dr. T suggests will make very acid water:
Since its pH is less than 1.0 (<1.0 pH), muriatic acid is over a million times more acidic than neutral water (7.0 pH). This is one of the reasons why diluting acid is so important. Straight muriatic acid is so aggressive it can easily burn through flesh, metal and concrete. Plastic and glass can contain it, however.
What I had forgotten is I used several scrap pieces of Poret inside the AC 300. The heavily chorinated water with the 16 ounces of Amquel added di run through the filter and then I unlugged it still full of that water. That water sat in the filter for a long time before I found ut and rinsed it all. Neither the cube filter nor the scraps looked discolored. I have the cubefilter in the bathroon and it is still black almost 8 hours later.
I use 10 ppi foam for prefilters or tank dividers only. I mostly use the 20 ppi because it is the best compromise between bio and not clogging too quickly. I use the 10 ppi for fry or shrimp. I have a total of 35 cube filters: 3 at 3x3, 2 at 4x4 and 1 at 5x5 are 30 ppi, the remaining 9 at 5x5 and 20 at 4x4 are all 20 ppi. All of my Mattenfilters and one canister filled with only Poret are all 20 ppi. I also use 20 ppi for tank dividers. As the sponges in my AquaCklear hang-ons go wonky, I replace them with 20 ppi foam.
I rinse ATI sponges weekly, I rinse the cubefilters every 3 - 4 weeks. I only rinse out the Mattens about 4 years, but I do spend about 45 seconds weekly doing a quick siphoning of the front side. I spend 1/3 less time siphoning out the silt behind the foam. The canister also took almost 4 years before it needed to be cleaned. The secret to excellent filtration is that massive quality foam with a flow rate not exceedingly high is the best media set-up for most aquariums.
It is the best comprehensive media solution there is I have found in terms of promoting some degree of denitrification without requiring a separate unit. It is also great at mechanical filtration because most of the solid waste in a tank is organic and can be handled, to a decent extent, biologically.
I will confess that my original reason for starting to use the Poret was because it reduced the amount of work needed to keep tanks clean and running smoothly. I got old and do not have a fish room or any form of central anything. The best I have managed to do is run three groupings of tanks using a central air pump (1 pump per group).
I have spent a ton of time researching the bacteria and the nitrigen cycle. I have read a lot on filtration principles and how things work in nature. I have discussed these things with several PhD. level experts. This is why I now use so much Poret. I also know the best form of filtration is a planted substrate. However, some tanks cannot have this. The next best option then becomes massive amount of rigid, porosity controlled foam with a variety of pore size options.
I have a canister on the shelf and an unrealized but purchased sump system. Both of these were designed to use Poret. The 3 basket canister was to have the first basket in the flow filled with 10 ppi and the next 2 with 20 ppi. The sump was to have 4 sheets of Poret spaced about 2 inches appart in flow order 10->20->20->30 ppi.