The Puffer Forum

I set up my FOWLR system about a month or so ago and left my HOB filter on it because i had base rock in the tank and wanted to wait untill it was seeded. So first question is do you think my rock is seeded enough to take out the media in the filter because my nitrates keep spiking and from what i heard is that was the problem.Also i kind of like the water movement the filter creates so have any of you guys had success with LR rubble or anything else in it or did it create the same nitrate problem?

from what I understand, keeping the media in there will be the cause of nitrate spikes. So remove it and then monitor the tank. But leave it running for the water movement

Was the base rock completely dry? Did you seed it with enough LR?

i had 45lb of dry base rock and 10-13lbs of quality live rock