Does good benificial bacteria eat nitrates?

pepito113

pepito113

Member
Just wondering if the good benificial bacteria eats or lower nitrates. I know it eats ammonia turning into nitrite and then into nitrates. The reason I am asking is that I have a reading of 0ppm. I dont have much stock in my 65 gallon tank. Only 2 clown fish plus the CUC of 10 snails and 10 hermit crabs. I do water changes every 2-3 weeks. approx 10 gallons everytime. But I never get a reading. Plus I have used a second test to confirm.
PS I use a API test kit.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

No, the good bacterium breaks everything down to nitrates, that plant life like macro algae feeds on. The fish eat the algae and then poop, and the cycle continues. You have been so careful about water changes are what is keeping your nitrate levels down..good job.
 
pepito113

pepito113

Member
Thank you. Lots of time reading and alot of hard lession learned along the way. So I want to make sure everything goes well. I was thinking about waiting a little longer then the usual 2-3 week water change just to see if it starts to go up just a little. But then again I might not see a rise if consumed by the tank.
 
geoj

geoj

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3286275

No, the good bacterium breaks everything down to nitrates, that plant life like macro algae feeds on. The fish eat the algae and then poop, and the cycle continues. You have been so careful about water changes are what is keeping your nitrate levels down..good job.

Nope not completely right.
There are bacteria that convert nitrate in to gas the process is called Denitrification.
So the nitrogen cycle goes
Decomposition to ammonia
Nitrification takes ammonia and makes nitrite then nitrite to nitrate in oxygenated water
Denitrification takes nitrate back to nitrite and then to nitrogen gas and out the system we hope… in anaerobic water
It is true that algae take up nitrate quickly and this is why we need to keep it under control.
 
aquaknight

aquaknight

Active Member
Originally Posted by GeoJ
http:///forum/post/3286342
Nope not completely right.
There are bacteria that convert nitrate in to gas the process is called Denitrification.
So the nitrogen cycle goes
Decomposition to ammonia
Nitrification takes ammonia and makes nitrite then nitrite to nitrate in oxygenated water
Denitrification takes nitrate back to nitrite and then to nitrogen gas and out the system we hope… in anaerobic water
It is true that algae take up nitrate quickly and this is why we need to keep it under control.
Very much correct. I'll just reiterate to help the OP understand.
There are two types of beneficial bacteria in your aquarium. Aerobic bacteria and anaerobic bacteria. In your established aquarium aerobic bacteria grows on pretty much any surface. Things that have a very high surface area per volume, such as bioballs, the surface of live rock, the top layer of sand, have a significant amount of aerobic bacteria. Aerobic bacteria is responisble for taking ammonia in your aquarium, and changing it to nitrites, and then changing nitrites to nitrates.
Anaerobic bacteria only grows in certain areas in your aquarium, where it has been completely depleted of oxygen. These areas include the deep inter-parts of your live rock, and in the sand bed, roughly deeper then 2" (that's if you have a sandbed that deep). Anaerobic bacteria is responsible for taking nitrates and transforming it into harmless nitrogen gas (which leaves your aquarium).
Because of the limited areas anaerobic bacteria can grow, this is why we usually have to do water changes. And as pointed, algae does help consume nitrates. Because your bioload is so light, that's why you're not seeing a nitrate reading, because you have sufficient anaerobic bacteria to consume all the nitrates.
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3286275

No, the good bacterium breaks everything down to nitrates, that plant life like macro algae feeds on. The fish eat the algae and then poop, and the cycle continues. You have been so careful about water changes are what is keeping your nitrate levels down..good job.

There are bacteria that break down and eat nitrates and phosphates. This is what ULNS promote.
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Here let me take a stab at this.
Nitrification occurs as aerobic bacteria metabolize and oxidize ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. The ammonia and nitrate are a food source for the bacteria. Typically the bacteria Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradskyi however there are a considerably large number of species that do this.
Denitrification occurs as anaerobic (heterotrophic) bacteria use the nitrates as part of their biomechanical respiration, not as a food source. There are a large number of heterotrophic bacteria which can function as denitrifiers.
The other denitrification process is where the nitrate is directly absorbed into the tissue mass of algae or bacteria. The nitrogen is permanently removed from the system when algae is manually harvested by the aquarist and discarded or the bacteria are removed by some filtration method like protein skimming and are consumed as food by coral.
 
flower

flower

Well-Known Member

I learn so much here. I never understood anaerobic bacteria, I always thought bacteria was bacteria. Spankos words were too big for me to understand...when he said "Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradsky" I thought he was poking fun.. You know like calling something a thingamajig.
However, AquaKnights explanation of the bacteria living in the deeper areas helped me understand allot better. At any rate I’m glad you guys stepped up and gave a better explanation than the one I offered.
 
noah's nemo

noah's nemo

Member

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3286420

I learn so much here. I never understood anaerobic bacteria, I always thought bacteria was bacteria. Spankos words were too big for me to understand...when he said "Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradsky" I thought he was poking fun.. You know like calling something a thingamajig.
However, AquaKnights explanation of the bacteria living in the deeper areas helped me understand allot better. At any rate I’m glad you guys stepped up and gave a better explanation than the one I offered.
+1 ,noting against spanko,hes full of info too,they were both very helpful in helping us understand better.....thanks
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member

Originally Posted by Flower
http:///forum/post/3286420

I learn so much here. I never understood anaerobic bacteria, I always thought bacteria was bacteria. Spankos words were too big for me to understand...when he said "Nitrosomonas europaea and Nitrobacter winogradsky" I thought he was poking fun.. You know like calling something a thingamajig.
However, AquaKnights explanation of the bacteria living in the deeper areas helped me understand allot better. At any rate I’m glad you guys stepped up and gave a better explanation than the one I offered.
Hee Hee scientific names of the bacteria.
 
slice

slice

Active Member
Originally Posted by spanko
http:///forum/post/3286424
Hee Hee scientific names of the bacteria.
I agree with Flower, Nitrobacter Winogradsky sounds like someone we would make a trade for during the Hockey off-season....
 
pepito113

pepito113

Member
Yeah there are some big words in there... So I guess between the light bioload, the algae and the nitrates eventually turning into nitrogen gas, That would explain why I dont have any nitrates in my tank. Oh yeah cant forget the water changes too.
Thanks for your help everyone.
 
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