Nitrate reduction in a canister

[loonz]

Hi, we have all come to understand that wool and floss in a canister filter is going to be a nitrate factory over time. I am using an Eheim and there are 2 compartments for media in which I put Chemipure and Polyfilters. These products mentioned that filter floss should be placed before the inlet water reaches them so that only water passes through the media. So how goes?

Is it okay to not use any filter floss at all when using these products in a canister?Thanks for any input.

 

[tangir1]

A little bit of floss won't hurt, since the chemipure and polyfilters going to provide as much surface area for the bacteria as the floss anyway.

The floss is recommanded for keeping the chemical filter media free of detrius.

 

[Len]

I agree. Filter floss is fine mechanical filtration and is intended to filter large particulates before they reach your chemcial media (e.g. Chemipure). They need to be cleaned out regularly since they get clogged up pretty fast, especially for marine tanks.

 

[Anonymous]

They need to be cleaned out regularly ...

Would you say this is at the crux of the problem with various filter types? Many of us quest to assemble systems which emulate nature, especially in the process of converting waste into something that's non-toxic and beneficial (nitrogen cycle etc).

Basically I've seen the same thing said about every filter type in question.

Bob: Check out my [filter XYZ].
Mike: Isn't that thing gonna be a nitrate factory after a while?
Bob: Not if I clean it regularly.

...

From my noob point of view, what I'm gathering from the discussions about this general topic is that
a) Most filter methods have potential to become Nit. factories
b) Most problems can be dealt with through regular cleaning
c) Just like the law of conservation of energy, perhaps there is the law of conservation of waste (poop!). Basically I'm hypothesizing that there's no true way to set it up, that we'll always have to manually export some waste (clean the filter).

 

[Anonymous]

I wrote this awhile back in the nanos forum:

"I thought I'd comment on the label "nitrate factories". A biowheel certainly doesn't cause more nitrates to be produced in a tank. It does, however, cause higher levels of nitrates to be released into the water column. This is because the conversion of nitrite to nitrate occurs in the absence of any area where denitrification takes place. In order for nitrate produced by bacteria on the biowheel to be converted to nitrogen gas in anaerobic areas of the sandbed or live rock, it must travel through the water column to get there. Here, it can be utilized by nuisance algae, corals, clams, etc. Usually, though, it is much more efficiently utilized by algae.

In the absence of a biowheel, the mineralization of proteins, other organics, etc. to nitrate occurs in close proximity (on the surface of LR, in the upper layers of the SB) to anaerobic areas where it can then be reduced to nitrogen gas without traveling through the water column to get there.

This is not to say a tank with a biowheel could not have a reading of zero nitrates when its water is tested. Actually, we have a newly set up tank here on campus with an incredible outbreak of Valonia nuisance algae. The water tests at zero nitrates because any nitrates produced are quickly consumed by the algae."

 

[Len]

Two things make any mechanical filtration a "nitrate factory." The most obvious is the acculumation of organic matter that will eventually break down into nitrogenous waste. If you clean it often so that this acculumation doesn't occur, you'll remove the filtered matter before it breaks down. The second reason is that these types of mechanical filtration is almost always aerobic. In live rock and sand, you have both aerobic and anaerobic zones in close proximity to one another so that nitrate is formed and removed (at least some of it). Mechanical filters like floss in canister filters are all aerobic meaning their end product is nitrate.

Basically, my goal is to use up as much energy as I put in (via food, light, etc.). Whatever is unused should not be allowed to acculumate.