Nitrate

[Jimmy74]

Has anyone noticed a difference in nitrate maintenance when adding an old piece of filter floss to a new filter cartridge? Or is this dumb in an established system?

 

[Uberhoust]

I haven't notice a change in Nitrate levels due to filter media changes. The biggest change comes from the water changes. I have re-used filter floss when I have been short.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

The beneficial bacteria on the filter floss can't remove Nitrate. They can only remove ammonia and nitrite.

Nitrate can only be removed by water changes or plants.

There are some filter media from Biohome which claimed to be able to remove Nitrate though I have never tried/tested it before.
The bacteria that remove Nitrate need to work in anaerobic condition which is different from bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrite.


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[AbbeysDad]

As mentioned, aerobic bacteria on filter media from a healthy tank will process ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate (nitrosomonas and nitrospira), but will not oxidize nitrate into nitrogen gas. Very specialized anoxic or anaerobic bacteria are required to do that. I have tried some of the commercial bio-medias that claim to provide micro-pores to culture anaerobic bacteria, and am experimenting with Dr. Kevin Novak's anoxic biocenosis clarification baskets, but beyond floating plants that use ammonia as their nitrogen source and good tank maintenance (including sufficient volume/frequency of partial water changes), I have yet to find a magic bullet for nitrates!
Here's a deep dive into filtration and water quality that you may find helpful.

 

[Lajos_Detari]

As mentioned, aerobic bacteria on filter media from a healthy tank will process ammonia into nitrite and nitrite into nitrate (nitrosomonas and nitrospira), but will not oxidize nitrate into nitrogen gas. Very specialized anoxic or anaerobic bacteria are required to do that. I have tried some of the commercial bio-medias that claim to provide micro-pores to culture anaerobic bacteria, and am experimenting with Dr. Kevin Novak's anoxic biocenosis clarification baskets, but beyond floating plants that use ammonia as their nitrogen source and good tank maintenance (including sufficient volume/frequency of partial water changes), I have yet to find a magic bullet for nitrates!
Here's a deep dive into filtration and water quality that you may find helpful.

This is very useful information for us who want to understand more about filtration and how to have effective filtrations.
I read it again and again to understand filtration process and to ensure that I'm doing it correctly.

 

[Uberhoust]

@AbbeysDad, I am real curious how your anaerobic bacteria methods are working. I have read the theory but by time you get to the bacteria pulling energy out of Nitrate there isn't a lot of energy available so I would expect you would need a larger number of this type of bacteria to have any measurable affect. This is further complicated by the need for the water to be de-oxygenated. Typically in the literature I have read this means creating zones where the water flows slow enough that the aerobic organisms deplete the oxygen from the water. I am suspicious that the sand bed method works but is inefficient in relation to the other denitrifying processes.

 

[AbbeysDad]

I am real curious how your anaerobic bacteria methods are working.

I'm not sure they're working at all. I have two separate experiments on-going, but I haven't checked nitrates in quite some time... I lack the gumption to do a real controlled experiment with result tracking... Instead, I also have somewhat deep sand, lots of floating water sprite, and do weekly 50%+ partial water changes.

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[Uberhoust]

@AbbeysDad, I appreciate the honest response. This is an area where there really isn't a lot of good information. Fortunately Nitrates are easily handled.