Why does everyone overdo the bio?

[Jgray152]

Just like the example of not doing a water change for a year. It is true that water changes are not meant to reduce ammonia nor nitrite and therefore, to a degree, water changes whould not really be considered as a helpful part of ammonia/nitrite oxidization... Yet when we look at the full range of aquarium maintenance, we understand water changes and/or filter cleanings remove waste that breaks down to contribute to ammonia, excessive waste can clog bio media, excessive waste by-products can kill fish increasing ammonia producetion, etc, etc...

Its being taken to far. The point of this specific conversation was someone suggesting more bio media will help with reduced or missed water changes which is 100% false. More anaerobic bacteria will not help with missed water changes at all. Yes over a spread of time organic matter breaks down into ammonia but that is happening from day one.

Lets not take this further and confuse the newbies further. More BB does not mean you can go longer without water changes because the BB will be producing more nitrates which will need to be removed by WCs.

This will be a never ending thread, I am sure I will be out of it long before it ends because it is already becoming pointless with misinformation and disinformation being brought in as facts and then others arguing against this misinformation while select few try to stretch the truth by trying to be to scientific.

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[dwilder]

from one point of view extra bio media can help a missed water change not false when talking about ammonia from another it has no effect nitrate we have to be careful when we say no effect in a general term

maybe not one missed water change but several especially a year

 

[cvermeulen]

dwilder, what I was saying is that you may be correct, but you're missing the point. Yes if you don't do water changes, waste will build up and generate more ammonia, and if your biofilter has extra capacity for the BB to expand and handle this waste, then MAYBE the AMMONIA and NITRITE spikes will be managed better. However the point was, nitrate will absolutely not be helped by increasing the size of your available bio area. Please stop poking holes in the "1-year" example that are completely off track with what it was meant to say. Obviously going a year without water changes in most setups is ridiculous, it was just meant to convey a specific point.

Now, if there's any hope of getting this back on track let's look at OnceLoyal's post about his very large tank looking much better than his smaller, but adequately filtered tanks. I'm too tired to think of reasons that might be right now, but everyone else, have at 'r

 

[amehel0]

use a fluidized bed filter. they are able to handle shock loading. the problem most people dont get on this forum (most forums) if a filter is not designed properly it will create more ammonia then it is removing.

 

[dwilder]

not trying to poke holes trying to keep my statements on track by not talking about nitrates but focusing on the ammonia side and how water changes and some extra bio media can help i did not bring up the water change nitrate thing all i did was correct misinformation and try to bring it around to how it can effect what we are talking about and there were more than one person making comments about this so was not directing my comments to any one person

and i guess if i am gonna stay on topic i need to answer the question of the thread why do most people overdo bio media because they dont have a true understanding of how it works, people tell them they need tons of it and it will help ,and none of us seem to know how to calculate what area we do need and leave room for growth also so it is hard to know how much is to much and most people especially when new feel safer by overdoing it rather than underdoing

 

[Toby_H]

Following the Original Poster’s request…
　

...let's look at OnceLoyal's post about his very large tank looking much better than his smaller, but adequately filtered tanks.

　
OnceLoyal… what is the ammonia & Nitrite readings on your smaller tanks?
　
If you take brand new tap water and put 50 ppm of ammonia in it… it will look like perfectly clear / clean water, yet will be deadly to living organisms…
　
If you take brand new tap water, and soak peat in it for an hour… It will “look dirty” but will have zero ammonia/nitrite/nitrate and will be a healthy environment for a variety of living organisms…
　
Regarding Bio Filtration… looks can be deceiving…
　
　

　
A healthy bacterial colony will keep ammonia & nitrite at zero… water changes are meant to keep nitrates and other pollutants & by-products at a low to moderate level… as well as having other benefits not related to the oxidization of ammonia & nitrite...

　
We should keep in mind that the overall size of our bacterial colony will be limited by one of three factors… 1) Dissolved Oxygen, 2) Ammonia or Nitrite and 3) surface area to exist on.
　
In a healthy aquarium, the limiting factor is Ammonia, or food. Therefore if more food is offered, the bacterial colony will increase. If the quantity of food (ammonia) is offered to a tank is suddenly increased, it will take some time for the bacteria to increase it’s size to accommodate this increase. If it is slowly increased, then it is likely the bacterial colony will increase along with it preventing a detectable spike.
　
This is why we do not see constant spikes as our fish grow and increase their ammonia output. Because it happens slowly and constantly. The same thing will take place when we neglect to clean filters or clean our tanks. The waste that builds up will slowly increase the amount of ammonia introduced to our system on a daily basis, and our bacterial colony will grow along with it. Although it is completely possible for the ammonia to increase faster than the bacterial colony will increase…
　
Not doing water changes should have minimal impact to ammonia/nitrite build up… yet can cause a whole list of other problems…
　
Not cleaning filters can allow waste to excessively build up causing a list of problems… Allowing physical waste to collect in Bio Media can clog pores that host bacteria thus cutting the bacteria off from resources… which reduces the overall quantity of bacteria in the system as well as reduces the available ‘surface area’ for bacteria to grow on.

 

[Jgray152]

all i did was correct misinformation

Please be more specific.

 

[dwilder]

i dont feel a need for a pissing contest the post are there to read some were making it sound like water changes do nothing more than effect nitrates in an aquarium which is false waste in an aquarium which is removed by water changes effect plenty including bb ph jumps around which can effect bb waste produce ammonia if not taken care of can max out a system the list goes on this thread has already jumped around alot i didnt feel like i was going anywhere more than anyone else and as someone stated before newbies that read this could get a false idea about water changes

 

[Marcelitegti]

So I guess I might take at least one tray of biomaxx of my fx5 since I have it on a 75 gallon tank with only one fahaka...it always did seem kinda over kill

Oo and on that last not I do about 50 to 60 % water changes every week and never had any kind of ammonia or nitrite spike in the 4 months I've been keeping my fahaka

 

[cvermeulen]

i dont feel a need for a pissing contest the post are there to read some were making it sound like water changes do nothing more than effect nitrates in an aquarium which is false waste in an aquarium which is removed by water changes effect plenty including bb ph jumps around which can effect bb waste produce ammonia if not taken care of can max out a system the list goes on this thread has already jumped around alot i didnt feel like i was going anywhere more than anyone else and as someone stated before newbies that read this could get a false idea about water changes

I dont' mean to be annoying about this on purpose, but I didn't even read this statement, as I can see it is one long run-on sentence. Can you please add puntuation for clarity? Reading your posts is a lot of work just trying to figure out what you're saying, as all your sentences run together.