nitrate rise

[Anonymous]

Ok, now this is something that has never made sense to me, the idea of bioballs increasing nitrate levels.

Nitrate is the necessary end of the oxidation/conversion process of ammonia (nitrogenous waste).

Not true.
It is the end process when the media to break it down contains no anaerobic capacity to process nitrates (such as bio balls).

Bio balls rapidly break down ammonia waste into nitrate, but does nothing to remove nitrate. It is in that sense that they "increase" nitrate levels. A more well-rounded biological filtration (such as live rock) will break down ammonia all the way, without any significant increase in measureable nitrates. Using bioballs prevents the healthier biological systems from establishing themselves.

You need to think about nitrification and denitrification. Denitrificatication takes place in anaerobic areas of which there are none in the usual bioball setup. One of the reasons sand beds became popular was because they are very good at denitrification - however they are not the only way to skin that cat. I don't know if I agree that bioballs prevent other biological systems from establishing themselves, and it may be the case that they just can sometimes produce a whole lot of nitrate.

I'm not sure if you're addressing me, but I would like to point out that PP has left out the rest of my statement regarding the process in question (nitrification, specifically). I thought I had addressed two means by which one can handle the end result of the oxidization process, which by its very definition requires it occur in the presence of oxygen. I was trying to be specific about that part of the "equation", and by inference that it is a separate occurrence from denitrification.

Perhaps I didn't make myself clear. It seems that you've restated what I intended to.