usefulness of adding a fluidized bed filter?

[bensenvill]

I have a 46 gal reef tank running off 3 powerheads and a cpr backpack. I have some leftover equipment and I wanted to know weither adding a lifeguard fluidized bed filter(100gal) would benifit the tank any. Theres about 70# LR, a large carpet anemone, a few small fish and soft corals. I hate to see equipment just sit around but I dont want total overkill.

thanks

 

[esmithiii]

I don't think you need it, and it can cause nitrates from what I have been told. Not to mention that most of the media you buy for it can add silicates which is typically responsible for most diatom blooms.

E

 

[cubera]

No

 

[gbtower]

Put it on ebay!

 

[Mouse]

If there was one that actually held the medea in the reaction chamber without spitting it back into the tank then that would be nice. I heard about one that can do this but its mega money.

 

[monkeyboy]

It'll keep that pesky nitrate from staying low!

 

[bensenvill]

thanks guys I appreciate it. I can be a overkill freak about filtration. I just wanted to know if it was going to cause an adverse reaction to adding it. I appreciate the input.

~Terrence

 

[stilmas]

In reply to saying that a fluidized biofilter will add nitrates. That's true, but so does ALL bio filtration. The only way out of that one is to not use any nitrifying bacteria, but that would be nearly impossible.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by stilmas:
<strong>In reply to saying that a fluidized biofilter will add nitrates. That's true, but so does ALL bio filtration. The only way out of that one is to not use any nitrifying bacteria, but that would be nearly impossible.</strong><hr></blockquote>
That is why most reef tank does not use any machanical filtration or Bio filtration other than DSB and LR in our tank these days. LR and DSB whick will convert ammonia directly to Nitrogen gas in the hypoxic area of the rock and sand. My ammonia and nitrate is alway measure 0 by the available test kits.

 

[stilmas]

Having 0 nitrates is nice, but for those of us who aren't using any live sand or live rock, like myself, regular 10% water changes every 2 weeks keeps mine down to <2ppm with a skimmer, wet/dry and fluidized biofilter. I will be adding some live rock in the future though.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

The issue is that the media will not support any anerobic bacteria.

This means you'll have no trouble making nitrate but you will have no bacteria to convert the nitrate into nitrogen gas (most nitrate reducing bacteria require anerobic conditions).

You would be better off proviiding a filtration method that can support all of the bacteria needed. Live rock and deep sand beds (meaning six inches or more) do this (the later being very good at supporting lots of healthy anerobic bacteria).

If you don't have enough bio-material in the form of rocks and sand to support your bio-load then you may need to add something else along the lines you're suggesting. You should view this as a short-term solution - it's far better to try to complete the nitrogen cycle (assuming your favourite part of owning a reef is not water changes).

 

[bensenvill]

No I have plenty of live rock (I think I'm up to about 70 pounds now) and a fairly deep sand bed.

 

[Minh Nguyen]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Terrence:
<strong>No I have plenty of live rock (I think I'm up to about 70 pounds now) and a fairly deep sand bed.</strong><hr></blockquote>
The sand bed should have air pockets in it near the surface. This is Nitrogen gas. I would not add the fluidized bed. If you don't overload your tank, the filtration should work fine after about 2 months or so. You should also seed the sand with fauna for optimal funtion.