At least with the wal-mart cat litter, the slightest disturbance and you would have a milky white tank.
My AFS (the main first one I put in) is now 58 days in. I have no more biomedia in the system. The other 5 BCB's are playing catch up but here's the latest results. After 5 days without w/c and still 3 feedings a day and pretty heavy, my Nitrates are 3 to 5ppm. Phosphates are at absolute ZERO. The plant growth is getting serious now too. The discus are incredibly lively and active like i've never seen them. Even my littel stunt amongst the 6 is now taking on a whole new attitude, they are simply better for it. The water is clearer and cleaner even more so without purigen in the sump.
From here I guess is that I will still continue to w/c every 5th day until I see further No3 reduction. This will be when the remaining BCB's have fully matured. I shall keep you posted.
I have also just installed the first BCB into my 220g system Oscar tank. This tank has some cyano and other algaes and I have deliberately left if the so I can document the changes and show its demise once the BCB starts working. As with what I did with the sump on the Discus tank, about half of the biomedia has been removed to this date. I am planning on another video about this tank shortly.
Hey Shau's Discus thanks a million for your updates with your tanks. I follow you on U-tube and getting my BCB's to settle in. So far all is good, just wish I've done this way earlier with my tank. Like you said I too have seen a difference the way the discus are reacting.
I can't tell you the level of anxiety and then subsequent relief felt with this whole laterite situation! I know folks say the fluorite red is acceptable substitute, but I haven't seen much anecdotal long-term success stories associated with it (unlike the laterite).
Which begs the question(s): Why is laterite so darn hard to find now (even globally)? Why have all the manufacturers discontinued it?
You don't even want to know all the conspiracy theories my mind can concoct with this one.
Every Day is a Bonus!
Laterite is plain soil. Nothing to manufacture. Demand maybe? Lack of I mean.
The term itself "conspiracy theory" is the conspiracy theory. The term's origins date back to 1967 and was invented by ,,,,,, yes the CIA. In an effort to silence anyone who questioned an "official story" or the like, you were labeled one of these. It's purely an attempt to distract from the truth.
Laterite is in abundance everywhere in nature and because of this I guess it wasn't really profitable for companies to dig it up, package and sell it. It's easier for them to make up a name like ADA Aquasoil, advertise that it can do this and that and its got this and that and our stuff is the best etc etc etc And in reality its all BS. Just imagine if everyone could learn how to make their own fuel for their cars !!
The anoxic filtration system can't be marketed and sold by the Big companies because if you have half a brain, anyone can build it and implement it, and the awesome part is that it's better than anything else out there in the mainstream aquatic scene being sold. Once my last tank is converted over to a sump system I WILL NEVER USE ANOTHER STINKING MUCKY CANISTER FILTER AGAIN.
Rant finished!!
Latterite is simply a clay based material with a high level of iron and other elements, flourite red is essentialy clay with latterite added to it. Basically, flourite red is just a little less concentrated version of laterite. There will be 0 difference in performance between the 2, only difference is because flourite red has less iron/ gram of it you will need to use more flourite red as opposed to how much laterite you would need. You could, as an arbitrary example use 1/2 cup laterite, or 2 cups flourite red. As long as you use the appropriate ammount, there will be no difference in performance.