Looking for some of your advice

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
i dont use carbon as it usualy has a high phosephate level and that leaches in to the water and causes alge to grow out of hand. i use ceramic rings and filterfloss basicly i just use mechanical and biological filtration sponge filters are great bacteria factories.
 
TheCanuck;4019360; said:
Correct about the skimmer.

To my knowledge there is no bacteria that can eat nitrAtes. Only amonia and nitrites. Water changes remove nitrates and adding a skimmer wont help current problems only future.


Other things can reduce them.
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The bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrite are aerobic, that is they need oxygen. The bacteria that consume nitrate are anaerobic, that is they live in areas with little or no oxygen. Examples would be in the deepest inner area of large pieces of live rock or in sand beds that are deeper than 4" with 6" usually considered the minimum. There are those who set up 5 gallon buckets filled with sand and let water flow over the top of it. It's called a 'Remote Deep Sand Bed', Look it up. Nitrates can also be controlled by vodka and sugar dosing. But, that's a whole other story.

Sorry OP it seems TheCanuck and I have hijacked your thread. I hope some of the information has been helpful to you though.
 
Nighthawk;4019915; said:
The bacteria that consume ammonia and nitrite are aerobic, that is they need oxygen. The bacteria that consume nitrate are anaerobic, that is they live in areas with little or no oxygen. Examples would be in the deepest inner area of large pieces of live rock or in sand beds that are deeper than 4" with 6" usually considered the minimum. There are those who set up 5 gallon buckets filled with sand and let water flow over the top of it. It's called a 'Remote Deep Sand Bed', Look it up. Nitrates can also be controlled by vodka and sugar dosing. But, that's a whole other story.

Sorry OP it seems TheCanuck and I have hijacked your thread. I hope some of the information has been helpful to you though.
Click to expand...

http://www.aquaworldaquarium.com/Articles/TonyGriffitts/AdverseAffectofNitrateontheAquarium.htm

Heres a good article about what you said.

I think we got caught up in the reducing and removing of nitrate. Anerobic bacteria has killed some of fish due to sand beds. I believe it eats some but not enough to be compared to you amon or nitrites eaters. Also with those deep sand beds disturbing them could be death to your whole tank. I will admit i don't know much about the sandbed and what it exactly does. All i know its not worth relying on and or massively disturbing it. Maybe you could send me some good links of this.
 
Cheers for your help guys, i have kept fish before so i understand this will translate to a small degree. Not running into this until i am confident first.

Andy
 
Canister filters are a pain in the ass...if you can avoid them, do so. Most marine people use sump filtration. If you can get your tank drilled for that, you might want to consider it.

If you HAVE to have a canister...dont go cheap. It will only piss you off when you realize that you want and need a better filter.
 
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