Nitrification filter materials

[justin guest]

Just curious given a wet/dry with 100% various submerged media, do you see any benefits of adding a bubble wand in the sump where the bubbles would float up through and throughout the various media?

Airation of submerged media has pros and cons.

The pros are reduction of mulm on and below the media (mulm buildup also equals dead bacteria - even occurs after a fine mech. stage), better oxygenation which increases nitrification, and reduced channelling of water through the filter which means a better contact time and larger surface contact each time the water flows through the filter.

The cons are that if you are also trying to denitrify then you won´t have much luck. Just for the record i´m not talking about denitrifying a heavily loaded monster tank but for instance a planted tank with mixed tropicals (it does work because the mulm is utilised as the carbon source).

j<><

 

[B_IN_SD]

Thanks for the info ! I had never thought about mixing the media or why. I have alawys kept it separate. Now there is another project for next weekend. lol

 

[Ramesh]

Hi there Justin thanks for the great info it provides alot of food for thought.
Have you heard of Aquaclay??
I am giving it a go as a Biological filter material that hopefully will be both long lasting and effective.
It manufactured in Germany actually.
Any thoughts...

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

Ummm never heard of aqua clay before....

 

[Oosh]

Looks a lot like hydroponics growth media.

Edit: P.S. Justin: Thanks for the extra info. I think I need to learn a bit more about sand filters in general before ask further questions.

 

[Ramesh]

Looks a lot like hydroponics growth media.

Edit: P.S. Justin: Thanks for the extra info. I think I need to learn a bit more about sand filters in general before ask further questions.

Yes they do sell a product that you can use in Hydro setups, you guys should check out there web site.
They do the same media in different sizes for different applications e.g.
Hydo, tank substrate, aquarium filtration and pond filtration.
I think it could great stuff at a good price in comparison to the Eheim media which is some what similar but much dearer.
I am waiting to hear from Justin.

 

[justin guest]

Thanks for the info ! I had never thought about mixing the media or why. I have alawys kept it separate. Now there is another project for next weekend. lol

Have fun.

Hi there Justin thanks for the great info it provides alot of food for thought.
Have you heard of Aquaclay??
I am giving it a go as a Biological filter material that hopefully will be both long lasting and effective.
It manufactured in Germany actually.
Any thoughts...


Yes they do sell a product that you can use in Hydro setups, you guys should check out there web site.
They do the same media in different sizes for different applications e.g.
Hydo, tank substrate, aquarium filtration and pond filtration.
I think it could great stuff at a good price in comparison to the Eheim media which is some what similar but much dearer.
I am waiting to hear from Justin.

Hi Ramesh
Glad the thread was of help. I´ve tried the stuff in three large trickle filters but found it took a long time, 3-6 months, to cycle in. Not bad as a filter material but only because the price was low. There are better materials out there. Normally the stuff is used in hydroponics setups. If it´s cheap and you have the space then buy some but not because you think it may be the best thing since sliced bread!

Edit: P.S. Justin: Thanks for the extra info. I think I need to learn a bit more about sand filters in general before ask further questions.

I´m not planning on going anywhere. Fire away when you reckon your ready

j<><

 

[Oosh]

Do you have any experience with the Seachem Matrix products?

That's the regular kind for use in a canister and the Pond variant in wet/dry situations?

 

[justin guest]

Do you have any experience with the Seachem Matrix products?

That's the regular kind for use in a canister and the Pond variant in wet/dry situations?

Unfortunately not. i´d only be guessing which isn´t worth much

j<><

 

[MeAko]

Mixing filter media

One thing that i see very little written about on this site though is about the importance of combining different filter materials in one filter chamber (forgive me if i´ve missed a post on this). The number of surface loving bacterial species in a filter qaudruples as a rule each time a new filter media type is added due to a reduction of species dominance. This is due to the fact that certain bacteria like certain surface types more than others. If you have different surfaces then no one species can become and remain dominant. A wider range of nitrifying bacteria species also means the filter becomes more biologically robust. It isn´t that important exactly what filter material you use (given that surface area isn´t too bad for a given filter material) but extremely important that you mix your filter medias - not layered like we aquarists love to see but mixed up with each other in the same chamber the way mother nature likes it

Something like this?