You are pretty much done, I would expect 0/0 in 24 or less.
As for cleaning the canister, or most filters for that matter, you know they need to be cleaned when you notice the return flow is slowing down. When this happens depends on the specific media one has chosen to use. This method will not work for stand alone sponge/foam based filtration. You should not need to clean your canister for some time since it is not processing much solid/dissolved solid waste yet.
I have generally cleaned my canisters twice a year- June and December. This year I had to clean two weeks ago for the first time in 18 years. It is on a pleco breeding tank that is about as well stocked as it could be and is a poop factory.
As for nitrate and water changes. This is an area of many myths in the hobby. Of the three nitrogen components, nitrate is considered to be the least harmful. It has also been the least researched of them as well. For the most part the sort of damage done by nitrate is not fatal unless the level is nuts. However, extended exposure to lower levels can do harm. The most damaging kind is the harm it can do over time to reproduction. A good rule of thumb is that one try to hold nitrate to 20 ppm or less. At much higher levels it can cause the same kind of harm as nitrite.
Before you stock, do as big a water change as you can. Water changes perform a number of functions. The most obvious is they remove "bad" things which might otherwise accumulate. But water changes also add things back to the tank that get use up. The carbonates making up KH are a perfect example. It is as important to do weekly water changes in a heavily planted tank as it is in a bare bottom tank with no plants. After 20 years in the hobby I have still never heard of fish dying because their water was too clean (this does not mean pure).
As for cleaning the canister, or most filters for that matter, you know they need to be cleaned when you notice the return flow is slowing down. When this happens depends on the specific media one has chosen to use. This method will not work for stand alone sponge/foam based filtration. You should not need to clean your canister for some time since it is not processing much solid/dissolved solid waste yet.
I have generally cleaned my canisters twice a year- June and December. This year I had to clean two weeks ago for the first time in 18 years. It is on a pleco breeding tank that is about as well stocked as it could be and is a poop factory.
As for nitrate and water changes. This is an area of many myths in the hobby. Of the three nitrogen components, nitrate is considered to be the least harmful. It has also been the least researched of them as well. For the most part the sort of damage done by nitrate is not fatal unless the level is nuts. However, extended exposure to lower levels can do harm. The most damaging kind is the harm it can do over time to reproduction. A good rule of thumb is that one try to hold nitrate to 20 ppm or less. At much higher levels it can cause the same kind of harm as nitrite.
Before you stock, do as big a water change as you can. Water changes perform a number of functions. The most obvious is they remove "bad" things which might otherwise accumulate. But water changes also add things back to the tank that get use up. The carbonates making up KH are a perfect example. It is as important to do weekly water changes in a heavily planted tank as it is in a bare bottom tank with no plants. After 20 years in the hobby I have still never heard of fish dying because their water was too clean (this does not mean pure).
