No3 Factory?

[horse1813]

hi all,

I'm new to marine tank keeping. I've done a lot of reading on the web. One of the confusing topics to me is that "a certain filtration methods (like bioballs, UGF, bio-rings, etc) do make a NO3 factory that over-produce NO3 and not being good in reef tank"!

my question is:

NO3 is coming from NO2 which comes from ammonia. it seems that it is the biological overload of the tank which produces too much ammonia, ending up with excessive NO3. rather than we are putting too much bioballs.......



so whats your opinions on this???

 

[AllenFord_SC]

Bio-balls and Bio-Bale are known for causing high nitrates. The term "nitrate factory" is a misnomer, because it indicates the bio-balls are creating the nitrates. Actually the bio-balls just retain nitrates. They cannot remove the nitrate the way that other forms of biological filtration can such as Live Rock or macroalgaes like Chaetomorpha and Caulerpa. So in my opinion it's not the bio load that is the major cause of high nitrate levels it is the lack of proper filtration.

Hope this helps!

 

[AllenFord_SC]

oh yeah and
[welcome]

 

[horse1813]

thanks for your reply.

how about UGF? or bio-rings? or Ehiem substrate? they are all "NO3 factory" and do they also "retain" nitrate as bio-balls?

 

[Spuds725]

Yes....

Anything that can trap detritus (including filters) without removing them from the water column are potential "nitrate factories"-- if you can clean the filters often (so the particles they trap are out of the water column) then you can reduce the amount they contribute....

A good skimmer with strong tank circultation to keep particles suspended so the skimmer can remove it can help alot.

I would only use alternate biomedia if you don't have adequate rock-- but consider filtering the water entering the biochamber with a 100 micron sock and then clean this very often (at least every other day) to prevent detritus from accumulating in the biomedia...