Newbie PH question 20gal nano

[jennm]

I highly doubt a tank can go from 0 ammonia to "crazy high" in half an hour... unless you've poured ammonia in the tank.

Ammonia comes from matter decaying and ammonia being produced as a product of the decay, and it becomes soluble in the water.

What do you define as "crazy high" and what test kit are you using? And what was the ammonia value before?

When you feed, there shouldn't be much, if any, leftovers sinking to the bottom. Maybe a few bits for hermits if you have them.

You should only need to feed every other day, what your creatures will consume in a couple of minutes. If you feel the need to feed more, feed a little bit at a time over the course of 20 minutes or so, waiting until all is eaten before adding more. Dumping a pile of food that flies all over and settles into nooks and crannies where it will rot instead of being eaten, can cause water issues but again, it will take more than 30 minutes to occur.

Your subject line said pH question but I did not see a question about the pH...

Jenn

 

[picoreefguy]

the way purigen works is similar to carbon in that the pores are what does the actual work. im not sure how purigen is made but its a synthetic polymer that attracts and traps organic molecules because the various pore sizes fit different organic molecules and they stay there till the bleach bath releases them and oxides them away. the difference between that and matrix is that the matrix it self doesn't do any filtering. its the bacteria that live on and in it that does the work. they eat the nutirents (ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate) and spit out a different less toxic one. its the internal surface area in matrix where the magic happens. the bacteria on the outside of the matrix use up the oxygen in the water as it passes through and the bacteria inside are the ones that eat nitrate and relase nitrogen gas. they cant survive in an oxygen rich enviroment which is why its inportant to get a biomedia with lots of surface area inside and out. not sure about the chemipure though. ill do some digging when i get home later and see if i cant figure it out well enough to explain.

 

[jennm]

In short: Purigen is chemical filtration, Matrix is biological.

 

[picoreefguy]

JennM;1020845 wrote: In short: Purigen is chemical filtration, Matrix is biological.

yea... im not so much with the words lol