Randy Holmes-Farley
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My Tank Thread
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Question: Does every tank have all the surface area it can possibly need or do these bricks/blocks actually help?
I would contend that they can be worse than not help. IMO, there's this idea that driving ammonia as low as possible is a goal. i do not agree. Organisms such as corals taking up nitrate need to spend energy to convert it to ammonia first. When given both, many preferentially take up ammonia and I see no reason to not give them what they prefer.
And any tank with lowish nitrate is also not helped by denitrification, but hurt. Some folks have to dose nitrate or feed more than they want just to maintain enough nitrate.
I personally would not (and did not) put such blocks in a reef tank, although in some scenarios, as mentioned above, they may be useful.