Fluidized Bed Filters

[herpchat]

I have been thinking of this since I bought some and was told I can't use them for Salt because of the silica sand.

Would they work if I replaced the silica sand with aragonite sand? If so how well would they work?

 

[dugg]

I have been told that fluidized bed filters are a no no for reefs.

 

[herpchat]

I know they are a no no because of the silica sand causing diatom blooms.

The question was would the theory work with aragonite sand since it is limestone based.

 

[captbunzo]

I believe that Gary @ A.R.T. is using one in his shop. I'd guess they are just fine.

 

[dugg]

The silica isn't an issue. Silica sand won't leach any usable silcates into the water, and even if it did, it wouldn't hurt a thing. The reason i was told not to use one, was because if the power goes out for a few hours undetected, and then comes back on, that it would possibly poisin the tank. The fluidized bed being completely void of oxygen, goes anoxic pretty quick with no flow, then when the power comes back on, it flushes all that toxin into the system.

It's been a while since i asked about one and was told about this, so i may be off a little, but it was something along those lines that i was told when i checked into them. The person i talked to told me they were fine for fish only, but very risky to use one on a reef.

 

[herpchat]

Wow,

Did not know that. I would agree that would be important but then would not the same hold true in a fresh water setup?

 

[waldomas]

"Void of oxygen"? I thought they were unable to accomodate anarobic (sp?) bacteria, and therefore, they are essentially a "nitrate factory".

 

[dugg]

The issue is with the corals, the fish can handle toxins way better then the corals can.

The thing to do would be to set up a remote deep sand bed using a 5 gallon bucket. The difference is that a RDSB doesn't perc the water up through the sand, it runs over the surface, so if the power goes out, when it comes back on, it doesn't flush through the sand and dump all the toxins into the tank.

 

[dugg]

Void of oxygen during a power outage. When they are running there is oxygen due to the cirrculation, but the instant the power goes out, things go sour fast. When the power comes back on, it gets flushed out into the tank.

 

[captbunzo]

There are a couple of important questions here.

First, what are you trying to filter? If the answer is ammonia/nitrite, then you can filter that using other methods (live rock, sand bed, etc). If it is nitrate, then just put in a RDSB.

Second, are they really bad - and for the best answer on this one, I'd call Gary at Aquatic Resource Technologies. He will be able to tell you in detail, why this will or will not work.