Fresh water de-nitrators?

[Waterloo Kid]

I was just wondering if there were any freshwater equivalents to saltwater live rock for removing nitrates from a freshwater system. With the variety of life on this planet I'd have thought that some form of freshwater bacteria would efficiently use nitrates? I don't have a nitrate problem, I was just wondering!!!

WK

 

[Alien Anna]

I was just wondering if there were any freshwater equivalents to saltwater live rock for removing nitrates from a freshwater system. With the variety of life on this planet I'd have thought that some form of freshwater bacteria would efficiently use nitrates? I don't have a nitrate problem, I was just wondering!!!

WK

Wouldn't that be... plants? You could always try breeding various forms of algae. I'm really good at that. I can do it without even trying )

 

[CFC]

I beleive,and correct me if im wrong on this if anyone knows differently,that the bacteria that remove nitrates are already present in our aquariums.

They are known as anerobic bacteria and live in the oxygen deprived lower levels of our filters and substrates where they survive by removing oxygen from n03,converting it to harmless nitrogen which disperses into the atmosphere.

Regular gravel cleaning disturbs these bacteria and exposure to oxygen kills them off so it is best to keep gravel cleaning down to just once a month and to only penetrate 1" into the gravel with the cleaner,those with sand substrates need not worry.Another way to cultivate a good colony of these bacteria is to have the bottom tray of a external canister filter filled with gravel which is never disturbed.
There are several product available which rely on this process to remove nitrates from the water ranging from medias to add to existing filters to seperate sealed filters which are run by expensive computers,a search under "nitrate filters" on google will bring some up.

By far the best way to control nitrates is regular water changes using RO water (with the trace elements added back in).Most discus breeders and all the marine keepers i know use it exclusively as tap water is often full of nitrates,mine comes out of the tap with a reading of 50-60 ppm,higher than the level im trying to keep in the tanks!

 

[Waterloo Kid]

Ah, just like a deep sand bed in marine tanks! There are parts of my gravel bed that don't get disturbed for months at a time (under rocks and between densely grouped plants etc.).
Yeah, algae is my speciality too AA! My issue is with phosphate loaded tap water. Comes out of the tap at 2.5ppm! Going to try using partial RO water in my water changes for a bit to see if that helps. Just prior to a water change the phosphate levels are undetectable.

The reason for the question in the first place is that I was wondering if there was a freshwater equivalent to the Berlin filter system using fresh water live rock etc.!

WK