Peoples take on "nitrate factory"

[geologeek]

This term is very often being banded about and i wanted to see what peoples opinion on it was?

I see it daily being attributed to poor old filter floss, foam, ceramic noodles, sintered glass etc........in that you cant have them in a reef as they just somehow release nitrates........

Now forgive me if i am wrong and please put me in my place - but bacteria will grow on any suitable, available surface in an aquarium (glass, sand, rock, filter covers etc. etc. etc) and will grow in numbers to suit the available "food" in the the form of nitrogenous wastes..........

So bacteria will only grow to the point where there is a diminishing return - in that there will only be the bacteria in proportion to the availble food.

Now i see it that any detritus that is being trapped in these media - this is being kept from the critters, worms, bugs, pods etc that would otherwise eat it - and as it decays it will release more and more nitrogenous waste - and the levels of nitrate will go up and up.........But this is not the result of the foam etc - but is actually due to the aquarist being tardy in their daily/weekly maintenance.....

On the opposite hand i do consider super efficient filtration such as trickle towers and possibly fluidised sand filters as producing more nitrate than the denitrifying bacteria in the live rock can deal with - and as such nitrates can only rise - more so than they would if these supper efficent filters were not in place........

In either case - you dont really need to use other forms of biological media when dealing with an adequately rock stocked aquarium...........so the "nitrate factory" terminology has been adopted instead of explaining how the nitrogen cycle works under different filtration regimes.......

Am i completly wrong?

Discuss.............:tongue:

 

[RBursek]

This may answer your question.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

 

[AZDesertRat]

I think a lot of it has to do with aerobic bacteria vs anaerobic bacteria. Porous surfaces will support anaerobic bacteria, oxygen deprived or starved, while non porous surfaces will not and support only aerobic or oxygen rich bacteria. You need both for the complete nitrogen cycle so porous live rock and/or a deep sand bed are good choices over bio balls, bio bale, DLS, floss and many other medias.

 

[Yellowtang]

Naw. Your on the right track. IMO the entire reef tank is a "nitrate factory". Only small parts of it are suited to reducing nitrates. Most of the stuff you mentioned are good at the nitrogen cycle. They just dont finish it to best suit our needs of nitrate reduction. So the general consenses is that if they don't contribute to nitrate reduction why use them in your system. I agree that your maintenance of said items will greatly determine the nitrate level in your tank. my .02c

JR

 

[Fragged_it]

Now i see it that any detritus that is being trapped in these media - this is being kept from the critters, worms, bugs, pods etc that would otherwise eat it - and as it decays it will release more and more nitrogenous waste - and the levels of nitrate will go up and up.........But this is not the result of the foam etc - but is actually due to the aquarist being tardy in their daily/weekly maintenance.....

True statement.
Even the best aquarist will struggle with keeping something like bio-balls clean.

I try to be honest to myself. I know by nature I can be lazy.. In knowing that I know not to design a filtration system around something that I know in the long run, I probably will falter on the maintenance.

Once you drop the ball on the maintenance, you've got a nitrate factory!

That is where the sulphur denitrator comes into play

 

[CoralBandit]

I think a lot of it has to do with aerobic bacteria vs anaerobic bacteria. Porous surfaces will support anaerobic bacteria, oxygen deprived or starved, while non porous surfaces will not and support only aerobic or oxygen rich bacteria. You need both for the complete nitrogen cycle so porous live rock and/or a deep sand bed are good choices over bio balls, bio bale, DLS, floss and many other medias.

I personally believe this is the just of it

 

[geologeek]

Thanks guys..........and gals? - i think we have put the world to rights in a matter of a few hours

 

[beaslbob]

Thanks guys..........and gals? - i think we have put the world to rights in a matter of a few hours

:angel:

Gee I missed my say.

To me the aerobic bacteria reduce the bioload to nitrates then algae consume the nitrates (and phosphates, and carbon dioxide, and return oxygen).

 

[geologeek]

Hey were all reefers - so the topic is never closed to anyone who wishes to conribute

All i ask is you go slow and let it grow...........

 

[Hammmerhead]

I have been wondering if I should go ahead and change my overflows to the superflow set up where your overflows are almost filled with water. Right now I have the oldschool setup where my overflows only fill about 4 or 5 inches deep and I have 6 years of beneficial bacteria growing on them. I could use the extra few gallons of water filling my overflows but dont want to change my bacteria cycle enough to screw things up. Anyone have a take on this?

 

[Fragged_it]

The change will make it a lot quieter....