Yes, the pump impeller chops them up and they take more time to navigate their way through the maze of the filter's media, so they wind up dissolving, although some may get trapped and build up, only to get spat out roughly when the pressure builds.. That's why I mentioned about the rattling and burping.
The best place to start for that Koralia is to have it's output vector match as best as possible that of the spraybar. Looking at your photo on the previous page, it appears that your spraybar does not extend all the way across the tanks back wall. There seems to be a gap between the right end of the bar and the right side wall. Right in the middle of that gap is exactly where the Koralia should be placed, about at the same height, pointing parallel to the jets from the bar.
Well, it should never take more than 10-20 minutes or so to completely clean the disk. Just dip it in bleach solution and then thoroughly rinse. The stronger the solution, the more quickly it will be cleaned (I use undiluted bleach and it vaporizes algae/organic film buildup in a matter of seconds, then I just rinse under a strong kitchen tap flow - messy, slimy, but quick). And yes, inline devices have the same problem - and are more difficult to clean because the bleach has to be poured in and is more difficult to purge. If you wrap your inline device in dark paper then it will stay clean and effective for much longer.
Apologies if someone else picked up on this, I did read through just never seen. If your 4DKH fluid with the bromo already added is green before you put it in the DC and tank then that sounds like a faulty batch unless some thing's changed I haven't heard of! Your 4dkh should be blue when exposed to atmospheric air. Another thing worth mentioning is you seem to be breaking down and cleaning your filter too many times IMO. Nothing against keeping a clean filter but after strip down they take a couple of days to get up to their full working capacity again and loaded with good bacteria. Once a week cleaning is breaking up the filter just when it's getting going.
It often causes you to knee jerk and try this today then that tomorrow and then something else when you read some more info from a post that may be similar to your situation or not at all.Apologies if someone else picked up on this, I did read through just never seen. If your 4DKH fluid with the bromo already added is green before you put it in the DC and tank then that sounds like a faulty batch unless some thing's changed I haven't heard of! Your 4dkh should be blue when exposed to atmospheric air. Another thing worth mentioning is you seem to be breaking down and cleaning your filter too many times IMO. Nothing against keeping a clean filter but after strip down they take a couple of days to get up to their full working capacity again and loaded with good bacteria. Once a week cleaning is breaking up the filter just when it's getting going.
Patience is another main factor. When I read back your OP you say you were ready for giving up! So many people have been there myself on many occasions
Nothing advised to you thus far will kill that algae off by the end of the week. Everything advised so far will, if kept up regularly sway your tank back in the favour from algae to plants. The high dosing of liquid carbon will without a doubt kill the algae but until the other issues are resolved it will come back. It's a constant battle between the two even when your plants are healthy. They just sit in the tank waiting for a chance to flourish.
I would heed all the advice Clive has said, put the Koralia where it needs to be for best flow, make sure your DC fluid is ok and set the co2 so it is yellow at lights on and pretty much stays that way until lights of. Generally 2 hours before lights on and 2 before lights off. Your dosing has been cleared as ok so keep that up. Once a week change 50% of the water and blitz that algae with EC by spraying affected areas with a syringe when dosing rather than just in the tank. Importantly, do that regularly and try and keep out of the tank for while.
Some faster growing plants would also be a benefit like hygrophilia. I couldn't see a full tank shot but it looked a bit sparsely planted.
OK, yeah, that happens because of the additional volume and outlet area which means a more muscular filter is needed to fill the volume and energize the flow through the extra holes. I normally use two filter, each attached to one of the bars, but that's more complicated and isn't always an option.
Yes there is always a benefit, as lo as you don't disrupt the flow patterns. There are a couple of options. You can mount the Koralia in the middle, just under that grey joint of the two bars, or you can mount it just under the middle of the last third to help boost that flow. Just keep it parallel to the jets from the bar. See which works better by crushing some flake food and dropping the flakes to see how the move. Keep in mind that the flow pattern of the Koralia is in the shape of a cone. Stick your hand in the water at various distances from the nozzleso that you can feel the shape of it's output.
Yes, but that's just life in the big city. Other people have different variations of the same problem, like having huge jungle style plant mass which also blocks flow. We just need to find enough flow to overcome the obstacles. Open style savannah type scapes have it a little easier. No big deal.
