• Bio-balls are a source of nitrates in the mine.

  • Daniel132

The mine is naturally empty! Bio-spheres are a source of nitrates. The fight of J.K. (living stones) in the mine is a hopeless endeavor - it's a complete stagnation zone.

Charles5941

Why? On what grounds? How can there be stagnation there if there is a constant and continuous "downpour"?

Dana4701

Based on personal experience. I see no point in describing it in this topic. This topic is aimed at more experienced sailors who know perfectly well how bio-balls work. Regarding live rocks in the sump, there is a continuous flow up to the middle of the sump. In the lower part of the sump, if you place live rocks, there will be a stagnant zone. What kind of battle for live rocks in the sump can we talk about when there are about 70 kg of high-quality live rocks in the aquarium?

James5103

Off-topic. As far as I remember, you have a shallow mine, a pocket, right? And in the column, detritus accumulates quite quickly to the bottom, and it needs to be removed periodically.

Destiny

+1, San, that's exactly the kind of thoughts I'm having these days... I've even consulted and checked for detritus - there's none there. But as a nuance: I would fill the S.R.K. (dry reef rocks) or J.K. (live rocks) into a net, so that in case of anything, it would be easy to take it out of the shaft...

Whitney

Off-topic. Why not? P.S. Doesn't it seem that we have strayed quite far from the topic of the original poster?

Theresa5149

Off-topic Of course, right!!! I mentioned this at the very beginning - the restoration of nitrates is called denitrification and occurs in an anaerobic environment. As for what consumes them, that happens in an aerobic environment.

Jeffrey6189

Great idea!!! That's how I bio-filtered my pool - I packed expanded clay in a potato sack and put it in a barrel. This method will also be good for shafts - really - what if you need to retrieve something?!

Jacqueline5976

I wouldn't even think of putting anything in there, especially stuffing it in nets. I have in the tank 14cm x 12cm so much sponge of different colors: white, black, orange, green, and about a hundred different sizes of calcium sponge of the genus Sycon, from 2mm to 3cm, that disturbing their world is a bad idea, as they perform their useful work. This whole world has settled in the tank over 10 months. That's how it is.

Teresa

Is the mine lit like the rest of the aquarium, or is there no light or very little?

Randy

Well, there are two different approaches here - you can use the mine as a bio-filter, and if not, something will grow there anyway and be useful.

Brandi

Here is the photo. The lamp is 5 cm away from the edge of the aquarium, which is 14 cm, but a little light from the sump gets into the shaft from below, as shown in the photo.

Joseph1346

If you want, you can put a lot of things in the sump, but the question is why? Is there not enough live rock? There are live rocks in the aquarium. If there isn't enough, you can add more to the sump. Why put it in the sump?

Jeffrey2277

I don't quite understand how the water circulation works there. The water intake in the mine comes from the top, so the water at the bottom of the mine doesn't circulate at all?

Wendy8540

Almost from the middle and from the top of the fence. Well, I understand that if the sponges are thriving at the bottom of the mine, then everything is fine there, right?

Sarah5423

It makes sense too.

Sheila

Just when I was visiting, you haven't put anything in the mine yet. I also have sponges at the very bottom of the hanging filter, by the way, and the circulation there is weak.

Patricia

Why not take water from the very bottom? Like I do.

Jessica9188

I stupidly filled the compartments of the lobster trap with oyster shells...

Gene1948

Photos of the lobster trap, please!!!!!

Joseph9057

I will do it...

Catherine

Cool, I wish there were close-up photos... Frankly speaking, I've been dreaming of getting a lobster tank for a long time too. How do they do with feeding and compatibility?

Diana3118

Offtopic Omaaryy ... "Delicious" (c)? Do they grow quickly? P.S. Do the shells of the oysters go down right after eating?

Gregory

This is an old photo, before my redo; now a new aquarium has been made with two overflows on the edges and a sump below. The first installer simply set up the aquarium with two external Atman filters, filled it with tap water, and added regular salt... At that time, I had to fix the situation, luckily I had prepared seawater. Then I ordered another aquarium with a sump, a protein skimmer, and a chiller. And the flaps of the siphons, of course, have accumulated several bags already.

Charles894

Lobsters can be quite mischievous, especially when they have recently molted. Rubber bands need to be put on their claws.

Erica752

Once in a store, I saw beautiful lobsters with rubber bands on their claws, and I understood why they were there. Unfortunately, in our city, there are no similar aquariums with live sea creatures, in my humble opinion. So I will have to find them in other cities.

Sherri1320

But still - maybe someone guessed - what kind of wonder on bio-shares - constantly nitrates and they don't go anywhere - probably because of their shape or color?

Barbara

What do bio-balls have to do with it? Nitrates are a byproduct of the biofilm that forms on any substrate, whether it's balls, cylinders, gravel, or expanded clay.

Troy8808

So I say, "What do the balls have to do with it?" First of all, the topic for discussion is named, and secondly, 90% of the participants claim that the balls are the source of nitrates in the "mine" - apparently in other places they are the source of ozone...

Brian7092

Aren't there any wholesale food hypermarkets like Metro?

Angel2396

There is no anaerobic zone in biofilters. There are no bacteria that can process nitrate. However, due to the larger surface area, ammonium is converted to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate more quickly by aerobic bacteria. Nitrate does not get converted to nitrogen in time... I can't provide more details. It's difficult to write from my phone.

James1625

It is not needed there - a couple of posts above I wrote that even in that very Wiki it is mentioned. Denitrification (NITRATE REDUCTION) is the sum of microbiological processes that reduce nitrates to nitrites and further to gaseous oxides and molecular nitrogen. As a result, nitrogen returns to the atmosphere and becomes unavailable to most organisms. The bacteria that feed on nitrates require an anaerobic environment, and they will appear as soon as nitrates and conditions for their development arise.

Omar3497

Nitrosomonas convert ammonium into nitrite. Nitrobacter converts nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is processed in an anaerobic environment. I'm telling you now what I mentioned in previous posts. Bio-balls were used (some still use them) in fish tanks. The purpose was to reduce ammonium and nitrite to nitrate at the time of fish delivery, which is less harmful to fish. P.S. Before writing a bunch of theoretical posts, try putting bio-balls in your tank for three to four months. Then you can share what results you achieved.

Stephanie4990

You and I are burning that NITRATE! NITRATE is processed in ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS! This process is called denitrification. Ammonium to nitrite, nitrite to nitrate - this is the process of NITRIFICATION. Naturally, this process occurs in AEROBIC conditions. Anaerobic bacteria feed on nitrates (breathe them, etc.). This process is called DENITRIFICATION.

Patrick4439

Bacteria, schmaacteria - install an ozone generator and we will be happy!

Susan

Is this like "Groundhog Day"??? Or am I looking in a book and seeing a fig??? Didn't I post a link from Wikipedia in capital letters about what denitrification is in this topic??? The topic is called - Bio-balls as a source of nitrates in the mine. Whether this will be a source or their exterminator depends on the conditions of water circulation in the mine, and the fish farmers have nothing to do with it, and the shape of a ball doesn't matter either... What NITRATE NITRATE????!!!! Bio-balls, Bio-ovals, Bio-parallelepipeds, Bio-ceramics of green color, what do they have to do with it??? RPT.

Diana3118

bio-sphere, bio-triangle, square, etc. Area for colonization of nitrifying bacteria Accelerate the nitrification process. What I'm getting at is that if you just throw in spheres or squares without organized denitrification, nitrates will increase. One can talk a lot about this topic. It's better to try.

Russell8484

Sanya, what grievances! I had bio-balls in a 500-liter tank. They were sitting in the sump. Nitrate started spiking after 3 months. The levels went up. I gradually removed the balls, and the nitrate began to decrease. If there had been macrophytes, a larger amount of live rock, etc. In general, there are many "ifs." Just throwing balls into the sump and waiting for a miracle... For this reason, the answer is categorical—balls are a source of nitrates in the sump.

Christopher4125

1. Was the protocol complete? 2. Any biofilter has a long startup time and with a threshold of what it should supposedly absorb, as without this stage the "necessary" bacteria cannot settle. And the triangles? And the shell? A.J.K. (live rocks)? And S.R.K. (dry reef rocks)?

Katie5500

And the squares go there too. J.K. (living stones), S.R.K. (dry reef stones) are porous - it makes no sense to compare them with balls and other non-porous plastic. I will dig up bio-balls tomorrow and send you this good stuff by carrier pigeon.

Michelle

It's very surprising... it turns out the issue is with the pores... and how do the pores affect everything mentioned above??? And what about the shell??? I'll answer right away - porous material has a larger surface area relative to its volume - which is what bio-balls are known for.

Laura3673

The porous material will also have anaerobic zones unlike the spheres.

Ryan

In general, it is necessary to separate the processes in the irrigated filter/oxidation reaction/and flooded filter. These processes occur under the influence of different groups of bacteria. Therefore, it is probably incorrect to blame the balls in the irrigated mine for "wrongdoing."

Heather2018

Yes-sss - this is a very important distinction - because Stepanov's aeration filter - where the flute washes the semi-dry substrate from above and does not wash away the bacteria - is a super-collider that argues and gives shalabans to the serams...

Veronica

I'm not quite talking about that. It's not about denitrification. Both in the irrigated and flooded filter, aerobic processes occur, but with different groups of bacteria and different end products.

Kevin3114

About this - about this! Processes are happening - aerobic processes are occurring, but at different speeds, or rather, different productivity.