nitrites,what critters can affect them?

[Monique]

Hello all, been awhile. Trying to go the natural way, and other than water changes, are there any critters, plants, or other things I can do to reduce nitrites? never had any probs with this before, tank is almost 3 yrs old, and haven't changed anthing. Anyone have any good experiences with mangrove pods, or anything else?

[Geoff]

do you mean nitrates? these can slowly build up in a tank over time. nitrites are the first step in the breakdown of ammonia. if you are getting this in any amount than you have a larger problem.

a build up of nitrates generally means you are overfeeding, overpopulated, or both. what kind of tank do you have? if you are running a wet/dry filter of some kind they can also help fuel a nitrate problem.

G~

[Monique]

sorry, meant trates. I'd just heard that certain plants could absorb some of them.....and was wondering if anyone had tried and had any success with this.

[theduker25]

Are you saying a wet/dry filter like a bio-wheel can aid in the build up of nitrates or help decrease them? I need a clarification on this one.

M

[OodleyBoodely]

Hi, Monique,

Many reefers use fast growing species of macro algae grown in sumps and refugiums to bind up nitrates and phosphates in the system.. These algal sinks must be harvested on a regular basis to actually remove the chemicals from the system. This is a very effective way to export nutrients from the system.

Hey Duker! yes, any biological filter, including biowheels, bioballs, sponges, ANY flow-through media, will produce nitrate as the end product of nitrification. In marine systems that rely on liverock and/or deep sand beds for filtration, the nitrification process continues beyond nitrate production in the oxygen-free levels of the rock and sandbed. In these systems, the nitrate in converted to harmless nitrogen gas which dissipates from the aquarium. For this reason, liverock and/or DSBs are the biological choice for marine aquariums and flow-through filters are shunned because they will result in high nitrates.

Hope this helps!

[theduker25]

OK, I have about a 2" LSB and about 20 lbs of LR in a 20gal long, for filtartion I use a CC PS and a 300gph biowheel along with the LR. I thought you were saying the Biowheel filters actually increase nitrates, which had me confused. I try my best to keep nitrates to a minimum as well as the phosphates. Phosphates tend to be more of a problem than nitrates. I was able to grow a healthy bit of calerpa for awhile, even with low phosphates (2ppm) ( I think that the correct number).

Thanks.

[OodleyBoodely]

I thought you were saying the Biowheel filters actually increase nitrates, which had me confused

That IS what I was saying! Bio wheels DO cause nitrates. They do not have the anaerobic function of liverock to convert nitrates further, so, the nitrates build up in the tank. Even if you turned your 2" sandbed into a true DSB (minimum of 4") it is too far away from the biowheel to effectively control the nitrate coming from the biowheel. The anaerobic function of converting nitrate to nitrogen works best when the anaerobic bacteria is in close contact with the aerobic bacteria, such as occurs in lr and ls. If it is seperated as in the biowheel to liverock, the nitrate will just accumalate in the water.

My recommendation is that you go to just liverock and sandbed combined with your skimmer as your filtration. You don't need the biowheel for a reef tank(unless you are keeping a heavy load of fish?). If your biowheel is powered by a powerfilter, keep the filter for added circulation and occassional use of carbon/resins. If you choose to run carbon (not mandatory) then you should replace or sterilize by thoroughly rinsing in hot tap water at least once a week to stop the nitrifying bacteria from developing there. (Remember; flow-through=nitrates). Hope this helps, or did I just make it more murky?

[tkjeffrey]

-QUOTE- That IS what I was saying! Bio wheels DO cause nitrates. They do not have the anaerobic function of liverock to convert nitrates further, so, the nitrates build up in the tank. Even if you turned your 2" sandbed into a true DSB (minimum of 4") it is too far away from the biowheel to effectively control the nitrate coming from the biowheel. The anaerobic function of converting nitrate to nitrogen works best when the anaerobic bacteria is in close contact with the aerobic bacteria, such as occurs in lr and ls. If it is seperated as in the biowheel to liverock, the nitrate will just accumalate in the water



Scientists have found that 80 percent of the denitrification process occuring in sandbeds is in the first inch (sugar size sand), and most of the life in the sandbed is in the first inch. Thus saying DSB's arent all they are cracked up to be. This article was in the 2003 annual of Marine Fish and Reef monthly (at least I think that was the title of the mag, my friend swiped it from me and havent got it back yet.)

[theduker25]

The filters I am using are the penguin 300 biowheels. I can remove the biowheel and still have the flow from the power filter, filtering throug the floss and carbon in the media containers. Will removing the biowheels actually help decrease my nitrates or do I need to remove entire filter?

I was always told at various LFS stores that you want aerobic bacteria.

[tkjeffrey]

just take out bio wheel. Remember to get nitrATes out of your system you need anaerobic bacteria (oygen deficient). The bio wheel would convert your ammonia and nitrITes into nitrates. Which is better than nothing. I would say the best way to keep your nitrates down is either water changes depending on your bio load or alot of really live rock (which is what I do)

[Pirate]

I would personally ditch the bio wheels like yesterday. And I know that about 50% of the folks here will disagree but here goes. I would not count on carbon long term, mine stays in the canister only 2-3 days tops. After that period I believe that it leaches more into the tank, than it takes out. Just my .02

[OodleyBoodely]

I would not count on carbon long term, mine stays in the canister only 2-3 days tops

I agree. I have only used carbon maybe 6 times in the past 4 years! And I only leave it in for about a week at a time. Any longer and it will turn into a nitrate factory.

Duker,

Will removing the biowheels actually help decrease my nitrates or do I need to remove entire filter?
[and]
I was always told at various LFS stores that you want aerobic bacteria.

If you keep the filter pads/carbon in, they will become aerobic biological filters that will increase nitrate in the system. You don't need them - your rock and livesand will do the biological filtering for the whole tank, including both aerobic and anaerobic filtering. Removing the filter pads and biowheels will result in lower nitrates because the nitrates produced by the aerobic bacteria in the rock (which replaces your power filter) will be taken up by the anaerobic bacteria in the same rock and converted to nitrogen gas.

If you wish to use floss and carbon on a regular basis, that's fine as long as you change it out weekly or more often so that it 1. does not hold decomposing organic matter to add nitrates and phosphates into the system and 2. so that it does not develop the aerobic bacteria which will turn it into a nitrate producer.