The construction of the optimal nitrification filter

Steve Fast

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@Lasse i like the design of the Aqua Medic as it prevents the water from taking the path of least resistance and so evenly distributes the water across the surface area.
 

135zman

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@Lasse - wow what a flashback to old school late 80’s and early 90’s saltwater tanks with trickle filters loaded with bioballs and a drip tray at the top to disperse the water across all the bioballs. The DIY video of drilling the holes in the drip tray was familiar.

I worked in a LFS in college and we built a trickle filter tower like others described out of PVC pipe (probably 12 inch diameter and 6 feet high) filled top to bottom with bioballs. It was the primary filtration on the fish only saltwater livestock tanks. It sat in a large 100 gallon Brute trough that all the tanks drained into and then the water was pumped at high volume up into the tower.

Thanks for the discussion today. Great looking tank you have too.
 

Tenecor Aquariums

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We built and sold tens of thousands of these filters back in the day. They work exceptionally well. We would also pair them up with oversized sand filters in commercial applications where there would be a large bio load spike when a new fish shipment would arrive.
 

Tenecor Aquariums

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Another technique we would incorporate with a trickle filtration system would be the use of post trickle laminar flow baffles. Not to get into the technical weeds, but here we getting into the weeds, laminar flow is the opposite of turbulent flow. It is what aerospace engineers seek when designing things that go fast through the air. Laminar flow is a function of the viscosity and velocity of the fluid and is expressed by something called the "Reynolds Number". The objective in using them is for taking turbulent water which has just passed through a trickle column and "slowing" it down as it passes over the baffle honeycomb so that detritus settles out. Attached is a shot of a version of baffles we used. These systems are elegantly simple and reliable but need to be incorporated with other filtration. As such, we would place the mechanical filter post baffle, just before the water return pump.
 

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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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made a wrong call on this page Lasse.



by telling someone with rocks and sand that removing their bioballs will drastically impact their nitrification, you are implying a form of weakness in the remaining surface area that seneye nh3 machines have already proven able, across tanks, when we remove various active surface area zones in seneye ammonia tests.

no reef tank requires bioballs to nitrify correctly. Removing extra surface area doesn’t leave leftover surface area unable

you have seen our sand rinse / instant removal thread, removing surface area big time

for this thread: aquariums do not become ”linked” to surface area such that removing it leaves other surface area lacking, until it takes on more bacteria. Surface area mechanics absolutely do not work that way. The leftover surfaces are already full of bacteria, cycling didn’t leave gaps prior and stacking more bacteria on bacteria *reduces* surface area, the leftover surface area is simply sufficient without any form of catch up- that’s how aerobic high surface area filters work.


proof test, any reef reading:

if you hook up two canister filters full of rox blox or any other media, bioballs, to your reef and leave them in place for two months, they’re cycled. And your tank ran fine before them, they were mere extra which is how sandbeds are

you can remove those two filters immediately and your system isn’t in deficit, it wasn’t lacking before the two test filters.

Bacteria didn’t leave your existing surfaces to populate the filters, they reproduced and sloughed to get there.

and remained behind on all existing surfaces


The keeper can always remove their bioballs, or the filter you built here, from a common reef display, with their sand, and not a thing will happen due to lack of bacteria. They must only care for detritus waste, which can kill the system if cast about.

your filter provides a very handy function but it’s not making seneye machines read any differently than they’ll read in a bare bottom reef, or a reef packed with surface area beyond norms.
 
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Lasse

Lasse

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@brandon429 What makes something grow? Heterotopic bacteria, autotrophic bacteria or whatever? Yes surface can be full of bacteria - but is it full of the type you want for nitrification or is it full of bacteria competing out the nitrification bacteria? Do you know if it is autotrophic nitrification bacteria or heterotrophic breakdown bacteria that dominate your sand and rocks?



You mar read this - and try to understand what it means

Summary – optimal conditions for nitrifiers
  1. Enough space to colonize and maintain colonized and in direct contact with the streaming water
  2. No or few heterotrophs that compete about space
  3. Good oxygen concentration in the interface between biofilm and water
  4. NH3/NH4 (first step) and NO2 as energy resource
  5. Some PO4 in the water
  6. Alkalinity above 2 in KH
The filter should give
  1. A possibility for a fast flow that polishing the filter material
  2. The filter material should be course enough that it allows a thin interface between water and material all over the filter. Small pores should be avoided
  3. Free access for air in the whole filter
  4. Possibility to have a reversed flow of air through the filter – from the bottom up through the top
  5. Even spread of the water through the filter
  6. As high and maybe as narrow as possible allowing a strong stream through it
  7. No solid bottom - the water should not accumulate in the filter. Bottom of plastic grid as an example
  8. The water – flushed biofilms comes out into the water: If placed in sump – place it before the skimmer if you want the skimmer to take away the bacteria – if you want it up to your corals – place it before the return pump.

You always refer to seneye machines as the optimal ammonium detection product. Can you show one article or scientific report that describe the method and limitation of the seneye? Do you even know what it measure (NH4 or NH3)

You do not even measure nitrite - you think it is of no concern because it is not toxic in saltwater. But nitrite in the water is a sign that there is something disturbing the nitrification process. Most reefs (even mine) has some nitrite in it during normal run - indicating not so good nitrification process. @AquaBiomics discover that one of the signs of a good working reef can be that there is lot of genetic trace from nitrification bacteria in the water.

The filter above optimize the nitrification process, flush away the heterotrophic bacteria - either to the skimmer or to the corals. The filter contains - when it is working properly nearly only of nitrification bacteria - no detritus (your name on heterotrophic bacteria film) can build up here - it will be flushed away.

Sincerely Lasse
 

jda

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Is post #106 a joke?

On one hand we have a guy in Lasse that has decades of actual experience who studies, researches, tests and actually helps people with knowledge and experience. I don't always have the same experiences as Lasse, mostly because we keep somewhat different things which require some different methods on the edges and periphery, but I respect the hell out of him and all that he tries to do for the hobby. Nobody's foundation could be more solid. I want to read all that he does even if I do something different.

On the other hand we have a charlatan who looks for any shred of anything that fits his narrative living off of the backs of other people, deals in hyperbole and absolutes while not personally implementing any of his own agenda. The answer for everything is not "400 sand beds removed prove whatever I am saying" especially when there is no breath and depth of personal experience to know what is happening in these instances. Like I have said before, this is like somebody who only watches **** trying to tell a real person how to please their lover. You cannot reef on the internet and have really any idea what is going on and the fact that some think that this is possible is lost to just how simple of a thinker that they really are.

For any of you that don't know, which are probably few, it should be easy to tell whom you wish to read and pay attention to.

I cannot even believe that you took the time to respond since you likely know where this is heading... Q: Coke vs Pepsi A: 400 Sand Bed Removals

This will end my snarkiness today... sorry.
 
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