Nitrogen Cycle Bacteria..Bio Filtration

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
rcarbonell;1178348; said:
Tnx guys!

I guess by keeping the water low on nitrate i could lessen the water changes..
Are there any chemicals to treat nitrate?
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The water test will tell you when you NEED to do water changes. Pick a max reading that you want to maintain, say 20 or 30ppm max. When it gets up to that then you need to change some water to bring it back down again. After a while you will work out what size and frequency of changes you need to do.

There are ways to remove Nitrate, but they are a lot more hassle than just changing some water ;)

Algae is a plant, so it needs light and nutrients to grow. Nitrate and phosphate are the most important I believe along with various other trace elements. So reducing the amount of light will slow the algae growth and keeping the water quality good (low nutrients) will help too. Having plants in the tank will also help as the bigger plants take up a lot of the nutrients that the algae would otherwise use. Floating plants are especially good, they suck up the nutrients and shade the water below them.

Cheers

Ian
 
Ianab;1178394; said:
The water test will tell you when you NEED to do water changes. Pick a max reading that you want to maintain, say 20 or 30ppm max. When it gets up to that then you need to change some water to bring it back down again. After a while you will work out what size and frequency of changes you need to do.

There are ways to remove Nitrate, but they are a lot more hassle than just changing some water ;)

Algae is a plant, so it needs light and nutrients to grow. Nitrate and phosphate are the most important I believe along with various other trace elements. So reducing the amount of light will slow the algae growth and keeping the water quality good (low nutrients) will help too. Having plants in the tank will also help as the bigger plants take up a lot of the nutrients that the algae would otherwise use. Floating plants are especially good, they suck up the nutrients and shade the water below them.

Cheers

Ian
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I think i'll go with your floating plants suggestion.. Go Waterlilies!!!

Tnx bro!! I'll get back to you when things work out for me..

BTW how will the plants affect with the nitrogen cycle? I've read that they become decompose and adds up to the bio load.. (not sure again if i remember it right..)

Tnx agen.. happy fishkeeping!
 
Got these form wikipedia.org

Aquarium_Nitrogen_Cycle.png


I guess keeping lots of plants and a large bio mass will help with the nitrogen cycle.. hopefully may lessen the water change.. :headbang2
 
Growing plants improve the water by absorbing ammonia and nitrate.
Dead plants increase the bioload.

Si yeah.. keep your plants growing and take out any dead bits :)

Cheers

Ian
 
pacu mom;1180788; said:
It is possible to have a heavily planted tank and not do water changes. On our pacu forum we have a member whose plants consume the nitrates. He even adds nitrates and phosphates to the water for his plants. No water changes in 6 months in his pacu tank. Look for Gaspinggurami's posts in the following threads:

http://www.postring.net/pacuforum/index.php?showtopic=37&hl=

http://www.postring.net/pacuforum/index.php?showtopic=107&hl=
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I had aplanted tank setup last Christmas that was running zero nitrates, I went 6-8 weeks without a water change and could've gone longer

click here to see that planted tank
 
Actually, Johnptc is correct in that aquarium friendly bacteria will consume nitrates. Contrary to popular thinking (more like accepting), there is research going on in Japan with wet/dry filters actively consuming nitrates in outdoor koi ponds. It has been found that the filters need to be very tall because anaerobic conditions cause some aerobic bacteria to switch to anaerobic feeding. This is when they consume nitrates and release nitrogen gas.

Also, something else to think about is that a Master Test Kit will test for four compounds. The periodic table contains over a hundred elements that make up a bazillion compounds. Your best test kit will test only four of them. That's still a bazillion things that you can't test for. Trace elements are very important and only come with regular water changes. Sure, plants will keep your water nitrate free for six months or better...but....:grinno:
 
True.

And there are other trace chemicals that can Build Up in the tank over time. Normally we ignore them because we change the water out to reduce the nitrate a LONG time before anything else becomes a problem. But maybe after 6 months they may be an issue?

If you really want to avoid the hassle of doing water changes then you could allways rig up a continous overflow system that trickles fresh water into the tank all the time.

Cheers

Ian
 
Diane Walstad's got a couple of aquariums she hasnt changed the water in for a year plus. Grab her book if your interested.

Do you think that a monaco reef style dead water zone under the substrate would reduce nitrates in a fresh water aquarium, too?
 
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