Thank you very much zoidburg, jayc, and jc12. I will raise the temp to 80-82 today and will do a WC. Tap water is at 7.6 ph. My tds and ph meter are coming in within the next 2-3 days. Also, i was very confused about the Cu test, so thanks for clearing that up. Will get some ceramic noodles for the wasted space in my filter. Also, im gonna stop co2 injection and add a sponge filter sponge to cap off the filter tube. And jc12, i think the filter is good for its price, very simple no priming needed and nice size but the only thing that i hated was the tubing that came with it. Its so stiff that my inflow tube has to make a loop like a coil in order to attach it to the filter. Might get replacement hose once this onegets dirty :) If anyone feels like i need to read an article or specific forum/thread, feel free to point it out for me. I don't mind the reading if it can help improve me. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A using Tapatalk