Interesting. The idea of the chunk of styrofoam holding what I assume to be probes is nifty! Not sure about the whole cleaning thing though. So now you're removed all of these nasty feather dusters & tube worms that were presumably consuming some amount of nutrients or whatever in your system. Are you not somewhat apprehensive about how that may affect it short term? Might be a bit of a shock removing all that matter at once? Something else in your system now has to take up the nutrient consuming duties all these little critters were performing? Sorry, tons of questions, but really interested in what your observation & perhaps water parameters will be for the next little while.
I finally pulled a canister filter off line on my system a little while ago (it developed a leak). I don't have a sump & was kind of assuming the canister would operate as a pseudo or mini sump for me so I had been running one since pretty much day one. In the beginning, being a noob, I had all the filter media in there, ceramic, different foam pads, the works. In the end I just ran a bag of carbon. Over the years the media baskets developed the same encrustation of wormy things & I let them be during my cleanings, thinking they were a good thing. I've always had varying amounts of hair algae in my system & don't sweat it too much provided it doesn't encroach some of the coral I have. Didn't notice a huge difference after taking the canister off line. It has receded in some areas, most noticeable in the flow regions where the canister used to return to the tank. However, it still persists in some areas & I need to remove it manually from time to time. The term nitrate factory is used often in discussions about canisters. My theory is, ok, so it may be or may become a nitrate factory. What happens when you remove it? Something else in your system has to take up the slack, like your live rock or sandbed. Otherwise, would not ammonia & nitrite build up to toxic levels? As long as there is livestock that needs to be fed, your system will produce nitrates, with or without a canister. Getting a little off topic, but yeah, some info on the effect of your cleaning efforts would be interesting.
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