Bio Ball Question

[roland jacques]

I think I see what your saying. The question that that brings up is. If byremoving Bio balls, all I'm doing changing location of bacteria, then why doesn't the denitrification by the live rock work as well when you run Bio balls & w/d filter at the same time?

I think its more than just bacteria growing elsewhere, There is something to the relationship and proximity of aerobic & anaerobic bacteria with Live rock only. What it is exactly I'm not sure.

If removing Bio Balls lower nitrates, (And i guessing it always does) and does not raise Ammonia, nitrite, ... to a measurable level (using Normal Reef test kits). Then i come to 1 of 2 conclusions.
1, i have lowered the level of what i know to be toxic/bad to reef inhabitants and changed it into something not to be as bad.

Or

2, It removes waste from the tank to a larger degree then before.

I believe that # 2 is the case. I think the main byproduct of anaerobic bacteria is nitrogen gas. So a lot of the waste actually leaves the tank.

 

[suasati]

DannyBradley;79531 wrote: Are you suggesting zeolite for its porosity or for it's ability to remove ammonia? Zeolite cannot remove ammonia from saltwater. Zeolite exhanges an ion of salt for an ion on ammonia. It saltwater it just retains its salt.

I was suggesting it over LR rubble, Even though zeolites do not remove ammonia in saltwater like they do in freshwater, through ion exchange (sodium ion to be exact) they do adsorb organic materials thus becoming an excellent area for high concentration of bacterial colonies. By doing so they reduce the amount of ammonia being introduced in the water column, and being porous, the under lying anerobic zone takes care of the rest of the cycle.