The problem with this is a number of things:
1) Does it really detoxify nitrate, or just hide it from the tests?
2) What levels of nitrate are actually damaging to fish?
The first point is obvious, the second not so. I have tried to find any science papers on the effect of nitrates on fish and could only find this.
In Nitrate toxicity to five species of marine fish by Pierce, RH; Weeks, JM; and Prappas, JM reported in Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. Vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 105-107. 1993 it is pointed out that earlier tests have shown that prolonged exposure to nitrates over 100 ppm may be detrimental to fish.
This is fairly important as nitrates are considered far more damaging to marine fishes due to the operation of their osmoregulatory system (they are hypo-osmotic - having more salts and minerals than their surroundings - rather than FW fish which are hyperosmotic - having less salts and minerals than their surroundings) making them retain any pollutants in water for longer and in higher concentrations as they cannot afford to expel such large volumes of water as urine.
The above would indicate that 100ppm would be a safe level for our fish to be at, which could fesaibly lead to a hypothesis that nitrates are not the large killer but something else is that builds up as do nitrates. Whether this coul be phosphates or any other element I could not speculate, but it does provide food for thought.
Plants (or algae) provide a different form of nutrient up take as it is the harvesting of the growth that removes the nutrients. Always worth remembering is the fact that plants and algae prefer their nitrogen as ammonia rather than nitrite or nitrate, so a heavily planted (or algae filtered) tank will have no cycle as the ammonia is used directly, adn thus no nitrates are created. Algae (such as Algae Turf Scrubbers) can work fine in FW as well as SW where it is more commonly found.
For the person that asked on a protein skimmer, they remove dissolved organic compunds (DOC) before they can begin to rot and enter the ammonia cycle.
And to now turn to the product that is the focus of the thread, I wouldn't trust it, and certainly not with larger fish that pollute the water quicker and tend to cost more to replace.
Andy
1) Does it really detoxify nitrate, or just hide it from the tests?
2) What levels of nitrate are actually damaging to fish?
The first point is obvious, the second not so. I have tried to find any science papers on the effect of nitrates on fish and could only find this.
In Nitrate toxicity to five species of marine fish by Pierce, RH; Weeks, JM; and Prappas, JM reported in Journal of the World Aquaculture Society. Vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 105-107. 1993 it is pointed out that earlier tests have shown that prolonged exposure to nitrates over 100 ppm may be detrimental to fish.
This is fairly important as nitrates are considered far more damaging to marine fishes due to the operation of their osmoregulatory system (they are hypo-osmotic - having more salts and minerals than their surroundings - rather than FW fish which are hyperosmotic - having less salts and minerals than their surroundings) making them retain any pollutants in water for longer and in higher concentrations as they cannot afford to expel such large volumes of water as urine.
The above would indicate that 100ppm would be a safe level for our fish to be at, which could fesaibly lead to a hypothesis that nitrates are not the large killer but something else is that builds up as do nitrates. Whether this coul be phosphates or any other element I could not speculate, but it does provide food for thought.
Plants (or algae) provide a different form of nutrient up take as it is the harvesting of the growth that removes the nutrients. Always worth remembering is the fact that plants and algae prefer their nitrogen as ammonia rather than nitrite or nitrate, so a heavily planted (or algae filtered) tank will have no cycle as the ammonia is used directly, adn thus no nitrates are created. Algae (such as Algae Turf Scrubbers) can work fine in FW as well as SW where it is more commonly found.
For the person that asked on a protein skimmer, they remove dissolved organic compunds (DOC) before they can begin to rot and enter the ammonia cycle.
And to now turn to the product that is the focus of the thread, I wouldn't trust it, and certainly not with larger fish that pollute the water quicker and tend to cost more to replace.
Andy
