So how hard is it to get those screw in pipe clean outs to seal? Those are the ones without a gasket right? I went through kingofdiy designs on a bunch of the canister filters and couldn't get them to work without a leak. I got the buckets to work but when power was out it would leak if there wasn't someone to shut the valve. I hooked up a garden sprinkler valve that shut when power was lost it worked great but at that point it cost me near $200 so I returned the valve and components. I'll use the pvc when I plumb my sump, much easier to go drilled tank! I didn't try the pvc ones because I cant find the not schedule 40 in anything other then 3" and not a single flanged gasketed clean out anywhere.
Looks great! btw
You'd have some die off, longer it was out of water the more die off. If the media stayed wet the deep pores will still have a lot of bacteria alive. Even after a good scrubbing there is still bacteria alive in there somewhere. It only takes half the time to see results after a good scrub on the media as it first did when I first installed it. I have to many fish to see any major difference with it right now, the installation of the pothos and subsequent growth spurt have brought my nitrates down to around 20ppm with biweekly 30g water changes. I don't know how accurate this is but I cleaned my media the other day and tested my water last night I was a little darker then 20ppm id say in between 20 and 40 say 30. In the past when I did this id notice the same for about a week then go back to where it was holding steady before the cleaning. I cant tell you ill get the same results because I don't know what the pothos will do, but ill keep you informed.