Sir Alex
Dragon the eel (below)
So I got home from a 5 say trip on Saturday. I tested the nitrates and they were incredibly low (about 12). So earlier today I did quick check on things and everything was fine. The protein skimmer was quite empty. So a couple hours later I looked and the skimmer was almost full. :confused::confused::confused:
I tested the nitrates and they were close to 80?????? :shock::shock::shock::grumble::grumble::frustrat::frustrat::shock::shock::death::death::pooh:
So how could the nitrates have shot up like that in such a short period of time?? The only thing that changed is that yesterday, I put some carbon I got at petco in the filter bag. Anyway, today I decided to clean the filter which I can't do with the carbon in it so I got another bag which had been laying on the floor for a while and I cleaned it in the washing machine on hot with no soap. Then I pored the carbon in the new bag and put it in. If there were some chemical that got on it it wouldn't have triggered the skimmer would it?
I did a %20 water change tonight and I plan on doing two more tomorrow. I guess there's nothing else I can do but I really want to know what happened.
I tested the nitrates and they were close to 80?????? :shock::shock::shock::grumble::grumble::frustrat::frustrat::shock::shock::death::death::pooh:
So how could the nitrates have shot up like that in such a short period of time?? The only thing that changed is that yesterday, I put some carbon I got at petco in the filter bag. Anyway, today I decided to clean the filter which I can't do with the carbon in it so I got another bag which had been laying on the floor for a while and I cleaned it in the washing machine on hot with no soap. Then I pored the carbon in the new bag and put it in. If there were some chemical that got on it it wouldn't have triggered the skimmer would it?
I did a %20 water change tonight and I plan on doing two more tomorrow. I guess there's nothing else I can do but I really want to know what happened.