Nitrate Reduction

Thats what I've done in the past with the exception of, I've cleaned all of them at once. Thanks Luna

 

A small portion at a time. However, I've never done this. My huge turtle creates more waste than me it seems somedays and my bb's are fine in my wet/dry. I simply maintain the filter pad in the drip tray.

BB's could work for nitrates if the lower ones are submerged in a wet/dry... in a canister they should help from what I know.

I think that would help. But if I were you, I'd get a sump or make one - get a skimmer and ditch the canister. I think you'd see a reduction in nitrates if you did so. Canisters are good, but require more maintenance and trap debris a lot more. Plus you can put a lot of hardware in the sump. It's easier to maintain.

 

A very smart man once said, “Matter is neither created nor destroyed”. I'm a firm believer that whatever you put in your tank stays there in some form or another until you take it out.

You put in fish food and if all goes well it will get converted to ammonia then nitrite then nitrate. There it will stay until you take it out. The best you can hope for is to limit what you put in and remove uneaten food and fish waste before it starts the nitrogen cycle. This is usually done with a good skimmer or other filtration that is properly maintained (cleaned and waste removed before it starts breaking down)

After that there are four ways to remove nitrate that I know of.

Anaerobic bacteria will convert it to nitrogen which is expelled. These bacteria can live in a DSB, a nitrate reactor, deep inside live rock, or under a plenum.

Macroalgae will take up nutrients then you remove it by pruning the macroalgae

Water change

Nitrate absorbing material/reactor

The trick is to find the solution or combination of solutions that work for you. It could be a wet/dry filter, canister filter, bio balls, DSB, bare bottom, undergravel filter, algae scrubber or any other numerous methods that have been used. Most of them have merit in some way or the other.

Jack

 

For what ever its worth if you did not have NO'3 then you have a real problem. You have to understand the entire process of de-nitrification heterotrophic bacteria break down proteins ( the meat or life you start the cycling process with ) and organics into Ammonia that fist process is started with the addition of the first carbon waste form. These are bacillus bacteria they break down the solids and excess foods and fish waste many different types and all prefer different carbon sources as food some prefer carbohydrates and others like simple proteins , But sooner or later theses little guys get it all broken down and until they do nothing else is going to happen so its end of step one .

Now that their work is done you can start the process called oxidation many call the nitrification process and the first part is the Ammonias so now the nitrifying bacteria show up and convert the ammonia to Nitrites and Nitrites into Nitrates , Many think that these ammonia to nitrite converting bacteria are called Nitrosomonas bacteria's , Well in Freshwater they are but not in saltwater they are kin but a different family in The marine bacteria that break down ammonia to nitrites are called Nitroscoccus , And the Nitrite to nitrate conversion bacteria's are Nitrococcus , So the the entire process is done and done you have no3's totl end of the chain! so that should tell you your system is healthy and working as its supposed to right ?

Well for yrs I have watched this NO3 debate be addressed and yadda yadda . But its not the Bio Ball's that are causing it First off most have no clue how to set a wet dry up really . Seems if you read a book that Dr so and so says when I was a child I called him Simon , First off the wet dry makes the NO3 grow in such numbers simple because its oxygen rich water and that’s what the Nitrite to nitrate bacteria have to have to reach these numbers. And so smart guys again over thought the entire process from the firs plumbing connection to the end results of the NO3's But oxygen rich water and fish and corals love that !

Now being from the old school way back when one had to think and do for themselves some of the old timers figured it all out and how to
work around the problem for a stable system the natural way with very high 02 levels . A wet dry is nothing more then a reactor call it an oxygenator for want of a better term now we know NO3 converting bacteria's love that as do our fish and corals , But being a reactor and here is where mistake number one happens all of your water from the over flows should never be forced through the bio media , Its better you send a portion I shoot for 20% or so with every Hourly turnover rate through the sump so if I send 200 gal through the sump I try to send about 40 to 50 gallons through the wet dry . Give or take put the micrometers and pocket computers and slide rules away .. How many run any type of reactor ? who much water is it passing through that ?

And then using this simple method you will find that in most lightly stocked systems I see most running today then you'll have few NO3 problems once the ones holding up in your rocks and sand have been cycled out .. I have never had a single issue with NO3's and if I did I'd simple install a coil to convert them to simple nitrogen gas , That makes up about 78% of the air we breath daily , And again I have seen this ran into the ground trying to control simple Nitrates . First they said lighten the bio load and lower the O2 content of the aquarium water and let some magic bugs in the DSB's do the Job well then that did not take care of the problem then it went to well that’s another story that’s been done to death. Last I heard it was lets add sugar carbons to grow bacteria to consume the nitrates LOL . But lets not do a coil ain't high tech enough .. what can you say or write about them ? I have set back for yrs and just smiled ..

Then there was the Plenum Or the NNR system patented by Jaubert his filtration system worked by diffusion , nitrates are all contained as a chemical soup /sludge with in the plenum up under the sand . This area is totally deprived of O'2 or very 02 starved as its up under 6 inches of deep . But these are great as a passive system in a refugium or small coral frag grow out tank set up on a by pass to the main system but not as a total filtration system in my reef to control NO3 LOL nope ,, I'll keep my coil all that come from that is nitrogen gas no hydrogen sulfides and or methane ..

I myself have never had a wet dry issue with the causing NO3 and if it did my coil took care of it my coil here is 15 yrs old and has been on 3 different systems and still never a sign of NO3 and I have Dissolved 02 levels of 8,9 Meg/l last time I tested at 78 f of water temps.. and healthy fish and never had a ich problem that did not fix its self .. Suffocation cause stress and stress cause ich. Oh and I never change water ..Like mentioned above what goes in the little glass box stays in tha box Unless you take it out or convert it to somthing that can be dealt with.

You guys just keep chasnig yourselves around and round you have to break the circle Nuff said by me about it. I have no problems

 

I used a mangrove in the sump on my 55g, got it at lfs for 3bucks took my nitrates from 20ppm to 0 in under 3 days and have stayed there going on six months now