Bio-media and nitrates (Trickle and wet/dry filters)

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Russy Pelican

Also, I'm assuming you had live rock in the system? Just in case any n00bs are reading, pulling bio media would be terrible advice for anyone with a FO tank with no other filtration.

yes, both of the main points, i think, were covered in my write up.
removing bio media doesn't remove nitrate, it removed the over production of nitrate.
however i have to object and say that while bio media may be helpful in a FO/FOWLR tank, it is my no means required. LR, remote DSB, refugiums, aggressive skimming, other mechanical filters, and water changes are all other methods that can be used with or without a wet/dry

[Russel P]

Absolutely. I just figured there are more than a few folks out there with nothing but a wet/dry and wouldn't want to cause any confusion.


PS: Renee, I wasn't trying to come across in a smarmy way at all. I don't run biomedia in my reef, but do in my trigger tank. It's crossed my mind to pull the media in that one, but it's one big messy fish.

[Rob]

Originally Posted by Russy Pelican

Absolutely. I just figured there are more than a few folks out there with nothing but a wet/dry and wouldn't want to cause any confusion.


PS: Renee, I wasn't trying to come across in a smarmy way at all. I don't run biomedia in my reef, but do in my trigger tank. It's crossed my mind to pull the media in that one, but it's one big messy fish.

yes, i agree.. its important to think about those that may be reading this (lurkers) both now and in the future..

[V]

Rusty, nothing like questioning everything, i do it all the time, namely cause i forget everything. but hey!

Bio media is a wonderful thing, wet/dry plumbing/systems can always be made versitile by pipe extensions or cause-way baffle hights adjusted to submerge media to achieve the ideal reef bactera. In your example, having a fish only tank you dont need to change anything. In fact, the humble sponge material we sometimes use is definatly one of the best bio material from the standpoint of mass>collonisation surface area. nothing within the hobby is immune to its draw backs though, using this simple sponge as an example, its effective yes, but traps detritus, slows flow, can polute without maintenance. So the point is regardless of which system you use, unless frequent maintanence is applied your going to end up keeping gold fish - just like me! lol

In terms of old school bio ball material, in therory you need as small as possible physical plastic material with as much as practical volume within the same space. Namely to increase & maxamise the total surface area ratio for collonisation. Its all about the bactera folks. making a point to know you friends, & know enermies bacterially can indeed save you time & problems down the track. Never would i go so far to say one way is exclusive for a particular setting, cause my ass would be laughed out of school, just over time with many of us hobbiest plugging away year after year with knowedge, science & observerstion as a guide we have narrowed down the "cause & effect" nature of each "system filtration engine" to where we can draw the line in the sand & stay within our chosen boundary.

Now, lets get back to my topic, "Fosters girls Do America"

[Nazaroth]

To get off the whole bio-media thing and back to your original question about you just having a box with water in it... Well that is a good thing in itself... I am currently building a sump/refugium for my filtration but lets just say you were to keep the sump as it is with no bio-media at all. Well it wouldn't be at it's full potential obviously but it would help with at least 4 things.

1. You are basically creating a bigger tank of sorts, simply in two different "buckets". Because they are all interconnected they share the same... well everything. As we all know confining an entire ecosystem to a small capsule versus a 200 gallon tank can be a lot easier for the simple fact that every action (such as fish dying, excrement, excess food, nitrates, etc..) will have a lot less of an impact on a larger tank. So to break it down in layman's terms.. if you had a fish poo in a 5 gallon it would create a lot more ammonia -> nitrite -> nitrate than if the same fish pooed in a 45 gallon tank. The excess bio-media that you can put in the sump is just a bonus because it won't fit in the other tank!

2. The tank itself stays topped off more so for aesthetic purposes it doesn't look like your tank is always running low on water.

3. Some people don't want or choose not to have a clean-up crew crowding the tank. I don't know why but they do.. In this scenario you could always put a cleanup crew in the sump to take care of things if you put sand or if you have algae they might clean the walls as is.. I don't know I always put something in the sump

4. A lot easier to distribute chemicals. When putting them in the sump it filters into the tank a lot slower so it isn't such a shock to the life.

Just my ideas on why a sump can be very beneficial regardless of what goes in it...

[CarmieJo]

Great analysis Chris.