Eliminating Nitrates
- Thread starter josh f
- Start date
tangs_in_pacifica
Member
I fight these same battles with 1 of my tanks. Hmmm... let's see...
1. A Deep Sand Bed allows populations of Nitrate-Eating bacteria to thrive. Many reefers, including yours-truly, repot successes with this advance.
2. Are you using treated tap water? If so, test it. Your tap water may be supplying Nitrates to your system for you.
3. Yes, Macroalgae helps. I have refuguims on two of my systems and Nitrates are not an issue. I'm also horrible lazy with my water changes on these setups. Do a search on this board and other places for refugiums. Some of us refugium-types are crazy enough to run systems without skimmers or frequent water changes... these activities draw flames from most reefers.
4. Gadgets (Snake-Oil) - Coil De-Nitrators, special bacterias, Cell-Pore Bio Blox, etc. are all technologies that some people report successes with. I recently added a coil de-nitrator and Bio-Blox to the sump on my 100, but I'll probably be adding a refugium soon.
Oh yeah, things you should not have... i.e. Nitrate producers.
-Over-stocked tanks
-Trickle filters
-Sponge-style filters
-Crushed coral... change this to live sand for a noticeable difference
Hope this helps?
[ June 09, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
1. A Deep Sand Bed allows populations of Nitrate-Eating bacteria to thrive. Many reefers, including yours-truly, repot successes with this advance.
2. Are you using treated tap water? If so, test it. Your tap water may be supplying Nitrates to your system for you.
3. Yes, Macroalgae helps. I have refuguims on two of my systems and Nitrates are not an issue. I'm also horrible lazy with my water changes on these setups. Do a search on this board and other places for refugiums. Some of us refugium-types are crazy enough to run systems without skimmers or frequent water changes... these activities draw flames from most reefers.
4. Gadgets (Snake-Oil) - Coil De-Nitrators, special bacterias, Cell-Pore Bio Blox, etc. are all technologies that some people report successes with. I recently added a coil de-nitrator and Bio-Blox to the sump on my 100, but I'll probably be adding a refugium soon.
Oh yeah, things you should not have... i.e. Nitrate producers.
-Over-stocked tanks
-Trickle filters
-Sponge-style filters
-Crushed coral... change this to live sand for a noticeable difference
Hope this helps?
[ June 09, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
i3luedragon
Member
I've let my algae grow and they've been eating the nitrates.
7up
Member
I'm curious how a trickle filter adds to a nitrate problem. And more specifically, should I remove the bio-balls from the sump to cut the nitrates?
I'm sold on a refugium in the long term but until I have the time to make the box, I might want to change my trickle filter to reduce nitrate production.
Thanks.
I'm sold on a refugium in the long term but until I have the time to make the box, I might want to change my trickle filter to reduce nitrate production.
Thanks.
tangs_in_pacifica
Member
7up,
I've always found the phrase "Nitrate Factory" to be a little strange, but here goes:
-The idea of biologigal filtration is to convert bad things (waste) to harmless things
-Ammonia is worse, followed by Nitrites and then Nitrates
-Trickle filters, crushed coral, UG filters, etc. excel at converting Ammonia to Nitrites and then Nitrates. This was great in say the 1980s, when we didn't keep animals that were bothered by moderate levels of Nitrates. When our Nitrate levels got to the point that they could bother our fish, we'd do water changes or vaccum our bare glass bottoms and all was well.
-Recently, we've discovered means of depleting Nitrates in our tanks... unfortunately, trickle filters cannot do this
The reason trickle filters, UG filters, etc. cannot convert Nitrates is that they are aerobic filtration devices. The type of bacteria that eats Nitrates are anerobic (i.e. they work without Oxygen). Unfortunately, trickle systems with their dripping and splashing don't provide a suitable environment for anaerobic bacteria. So, you've got a filter system that excels at producing Nitrates... a Nitrate factory.
At the end of the day, I guess this isn't horrible, as Nitrates are better than Ammonia. Eventually, however, you'll probably want to investigate a system that will eliminate those Nitrates at a rate that is almost as fast as you're producing them. This is especially true, if you're keeping Nitrate-sensitive fish and inverts.
Hope this helps!
I've always found the phrase "Nitrate Factory" to be a little strange, but here goes:
-The idea of biologigal filtration is to convert bad things (waste) to harmless things
-Ammonia is worse, followed by Nitrites and then Nitrates
-Trickle filters, crushed coral, UG filters, etc. excel at converting Ammonia to Nitrites and then Nitrates. This was great in say the 1980s, when we didn't keep animals that were bothered by moderate levels of Nitrates. When our Nitrate levels got to the point that they could bother our fish, we'd do water changes or vaccum our bare glass bottoms and all was well.
-Recently, we've discovered means of depleting Nitrates in our tanks... unfortunately, trickle filters cannot do this
The reason trickle filters, UG filters, etc. cannot convert Nitrates is that they are aerobic filtration devices. The type of bacteria that eats Nitrates are anerobic (i.e. they work without Oxygen). Unfortunately, trickle systems with their dripping and splashing don't provide a suitable environment for anaerobic bacteria. So, you've got a filter system that excels at producing Nitrates... a Nitrate factory.
At the end of the day, I guess this isn't horrible, as Nitrates are better than Ammonia. Eventually, however, you'll probably want to investigate a system that will eliminate those Nitrates at a rate that is almost as fast as you're producing them. This is especially true, if you're keeping Nitrate-sensitive fish and inverts.
Hope this helps!
tangs_in_pacifica
Member
Oh,
I almost forgot... aside from water changes, two means of elimination Nitrates are:
-Providing an environment for anerobic bacteria... (i.e. a deep sand bed, coil denitrator, etc.)
-Introduce Nitrate-Eating plants... (i.e. a refugium or that pesky hair algae). As a bonus, the plants eat Phosphates.
Skimmers are a big advance over trickle filters, becuse they eliminate the waste before it becomes Ammonia, but will not eliminate Nitrates already present in the water.
The idea of a skimmer/DSB/LR combo is to eliminate as much of the waste as possible, before it becomes Ammonia. What little waste is converted to Ammonia and Nitrates by aerobic bacteria in the live rock & sand will be eaten by the anerobic bacteria in the DSB. This works for a lot of reefers, provided you have a light bio-load.
Personally, I'm trying a new approach with no skimmer and a lot of plants (i.e. a refugium). The jury is still out, but it's working OK so far.
[ June 11, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
[ June 11, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
I almost forgot... aside from water changes, two means of elimination Nitrates are:
-Providing an environment for anerobic bacteria... (i.e. a deep sand bed, coil denitrator, etc.)
-Introduce Nitrate-Eating plants... (i.e. a refugium or that pesky hair algae). As a bonus, the plants eat Phosphates.
Skimmers are a big advance over trickle filters, becuse they eliminate the waste before it becomes Ammonia, but will not eliminate Nitrates already present in the water.
The idea of a skimmer/DSB/LR combo is to eliminate as much of the waste as possible, before it becomes Ammonia. What little waste is converted to Ammonia and Nitrates by aerobic bacteria in the live rock & sand will be eaten by the anerobic bacteria in the DSB. This works for a lot of reefers, provided you have a light bio-load.
Personally, I'm trying a new approach with no skimmer and a lot of plants (i.e. a refugium). The jury is still out, but it's working OK so far.
[ June 11, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
[ June 11, 2001: Message edited by: tangs_in_pacifica ]
yvetterich
Member
when refering to a DSB, and I am assuming it means deep sand bed, how deep is deep?