This year promises to be a great year for my system.  My system has been up and running for 11 months now.  I am not checking my system like I have in the past.  Last week my system had trace amounts of ammonia and Nitrites.  My Nitrates were sitting between 20-40.  PH was good.  I recently added another outlet to my fish tank.  The second outlet allows my to run a higher volume of water through the tank.  It was necessary because saw a fungus growing on some of my goldfish.