Nitrate Reduction Setup!
- Thread starter Fish Eat Fish
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Nope its pure freshwater. Mangroves can grow in salt, brackish or fresh. From what I can see the only difference it will make is I will not have to worry about the pores in the leaves getting clogged with salt.Dan Feller;1415944; said:
I know the Red Mangrove does fine in fresh. Are you sure about the other varieties?Fish Eat Fish;1415956; said:
Its definitely not bigger than the tank but it is very large in comparison to most refugiums....which is really the whole point because I actually am hoping for some results and improved water quality. Most refugiums do little to nothing but this one because of its size might have a better effect on the tank.Scorponok;1415943; said:What's this a diy refugium?
Is this thing trying to filter the tank above in the pic? It's bigger than the tank itself.
I dont know about the others but these are red mangroves so they should do great.cchhcc;1416776; said:
Ever since Miles brought up dissolved organic matter (DOM) I've been tearing the internet apart learning about DOM and this is what I've learned. Basically DOM is made up of any carbon compounds (contain at least a carbon and hydrogen atom) that are dissolved in water... dissolved meaning they will pass through a .25 micron- 1. micron screen. Anything caught in that screen would be particulate organic matter (POM). These numbers also seem to have a certain fudge factor, depending on who you ask and what the compound is...
Organic compounds in the ocean can change their state pretty quickly due to living organisms using them, then that organism dies/is used by another organism, producing other organic compounds, which are then used/converted by other organisms. Each time this happens the compounds become more refractory, meaning they become less and less usefull to organisms. The eventually end up in a state where there's nothing that uses them and thus are considered waste.
Can anyone confirm that I've got the basic concept down?
So it would seem to me that if the compounds are waste that nothing can use then they're pretty much non-reactive right? Also, in an aquaponics system we're constantly removing organic matter from the system in the form of fish and plants, so maybe this is where a lot of this stuff goes...
In traditional aquariums you don't really take very much out of the system.. you just keep putting food into it. Plants that you do have are probably planted underwater and can't even respirate with the atmosphere (and perhaps remove organic compounds from the system).
I guess this is a bit off topic by now hehe.
But in your setup I think it'll help reduce ammonium, nitrite and nitrate a bunch, but who knows about the mystery matter!
Guess is doesn't matter because you're still using a filter as well, right?
Organic compounds in the ocean can change their state pretty quickly due to living organisms using them, then that organism dies/is used by another organism, producing other organic compounds, which are then used/converted by other organisms. Each time this happens the compounds become more refractory, meaning they become less and less usefull to organisms. The eventually end up in a state where there's nothing that uses them and thus are considered waste.
Can anyone confirm that I've got the basic concept down?
So it would seem to me that if the compounds are waste that nothing can use then they're pretty much non-reactive right? Also, in an aquaponics system we're constantly removing organic matter from the system in the form of fish and plants, so maybe this is where a lot of this stuff goes...
In traditional aquariums you don't really take very much out of the system.. you just keep putting food into it. Plants that you do have are probably planted underwater and can't even respirate with the atmosphere (and perhaps remove organic compounds from the system).
I guess this is a bit off topic by now hehe.
But in your setup I think it'll help reduce ammonium, nitrite and nitrate a bunch, but who knows about the mystery matter!
Guess is doesn't matter because you're still using a filter as well, right?
Great Info Man!!
Clears up alot of thoughts I had..
So would you say that self-sustaining ecosystems success is variable to the size of the set-up?
Smaller setups being more sensitive, and prone to lack of nutrients without intervention?
Clears up alot of thoughts I had..
So would you say that self-sustaining ecosystems success is variable to the size of the set-up?
Smaller setups being more sensitive, and prone to lack of nutrients without intervention?
I think that an actual self sustaining ecosystem is impossible for humans to set up, but I think we can do a good job of mimicking one really close to where you wouldn't see a problem for awhile... and it would seem that the bigger the system the longer time you'd have before you saw any problems. If you'd doing something like I am, an aquaponics set up designed to raise food fish and food plants, then it's nowhere near a self sustaining system... I input food & top off water, fish grow, fish output nutrients, bacteria converts nutrients, plants take up nutrients, I take out plant and fish. So it's far from self sustaining, but the water does stay amazingly clean
I'd be stumped trying to create a self sustaining system where you don't even input food or do any water changes or take out anything. You'd have to have everything from bacteria up to whatever your top level predetor is (fish) and everything inbetween... would seem like you'd have to have a lot of room to accomplish that. In a true self sustaining system you'd not even take out the decomposing fish!
Every step in that direction though would seem to mean less maintenace and it really is cool to work with nature, even if we can only glimpse a tiny portion of it.
I'd be stumped trying to create a self sustaining system where you don't even input food or do any water changes or take out anything. You'd have to have everything from bacteria up to whatever your top level predetor is (fish) and everything inbetween... would seem like you'd have to have a lot of room to accomplish that. In a true self sustaining system you'd not even take out the decomposing fish!
Every step in that direction though would seem to mean less maintenace and it really is cool to work with nature, even if we can only glimpse a tiny portion of it.
