Hello I am kindly seeking some advice on my AIO tank. Its been up an running almost 3 months now. I am completely new to keeping any type of fish and have found reef 2 reef very helpful in my quest.
My question is... in the back compartments that contain my skimmer, pump etc I have a sponge filter in the very first compartment followed by my skimmer then an empty compartment that I have filled with small 20mm lava rock, and then a return pump.... should I be cleaning the sponge filter regularly or should it be left alone. I was cleaning it every other day in RO water but the dude at my fish store told me to stop because id be removing healthy bacteria. I've also read a couple of discussions on whether to even use a sponge due to it holding lots of food and debris thus releasing lots of nitrates into the water. (also salifert nitrate test kit is reading between 25 - 50 on the colour chart in a 30G tank )
thanks in advance for any reply's.
My question is... in the back compartments that contain my skimmer, pump etc I have a sponge filter in the very first compartment followed by my skimmer then an empty compartment that I have filled with small 20mm lava rock, and then a return pump.... should I be cleaning the sponge filter regularly or should it be left alone. I was cleaning it every other day in RO water but the dude at my fish store told me to stop because id be removing healthy bacteria. I've also read a couple of discussions on whether to even use a sponge due to it holding lots of food and debris thus releasing lots of nitrates into the water. (also salifert nitrate test kit is reading between 25 - 50 on the colour chart in a 30G tank )
thanks in advance for any reply's.