Maybe I'm missing something here, but I don't really see the benefit of these wet sumps vs wet/dry filtration, unless you are trying to prevent outgassing for a planted tank or are concerned about evaporation or noise from a trickle tower.
Not quite - the more nitrifying bacteria the more you can stock your tank. I agree that under identical conditions more media = more bacteria, but lots of media won't be useful if the conditions are wrong. For example, if you lower the pH of your system to the point where bacterial metabolism and nitrification is inhibited, you can have loads of media and will still get ammonia spikes.
I think everyone agrees that nitrifying bacteria are aerobic, so to get the most bacteria we want to provide high oxygen levels to promote better bacterial growth. It seems a wet/dry would do a better job of oxygenating the filter evironment than a wet sump and will therefore allow more bacteria for the same amount of filter media. It seems that in the wet sump you are creating less optimal conditions for the bacteria and then having to compensate for that by having more media.
Why not just have a bigger wet/dry (eg. bakki shower style) so you have more media + better conditions = most bacteria?
Now if the goal is to cultivate anaerobic bacteria for denitrification that's another issue, but I still think this isn't the best setup to do that (too much flow).
neoprodigy;2286327; said:
Not quite - the more nitrifying bacteria the more you can stock your tank. I agree that under identical conditions more media = more bacteria, but lots of media won't be useful if the conditions are wrong. For example, if you lower the pH of your system to the point where bacterial metabolism and nitrification is inhibited, you can have loads of media and will still get ammonia spikes.
I think everyone agrees that nitrifying bacteria are aerobic, so to get the most bacteria we want to provide high oxygen levels to promote better bacterial growth. It seems a wet/dry would do a better job of oxygenating the filter evironment than a wet sump and will therefore allow more bacteria for the same amount of filter media. It seems that in the wet sump you are creating less optimal conditions for the bacteria and then having to compensate for that by having more media.
Why not just have a bigger wet/dry (eg. bakki shower style) so you have more media + better conditions = most bacteria?
Now if the goal is to cultivate anaerobic bacteria for denitrification that's another issue, but I still think this isn't the best setup to do that (too much flow).
