Whats the deal with BIO WHEEL =High NITRATES?

[ny3papi]

First of all that whole bio wheel raising nitrates is a whole buch of crap, until theres a legitimate proof that the wheel causes high nitrate you should come to assumptions base on youre theories,it doesnt make sense that a nitrifying bacateria can cause more nitrates by itself unless it has more nitrites to feed upon, so looking at the bio whell as the whole blame for rising nitrates is nonsense u should look elswhere for youre broblems such as over feeding,too many fishes for youre tank to handle, using tap water without curing it,

 

"THE BIO-WHEEL was the only pwer filter to reduce NH3-N to non dectable leves , ranked 1st 2nd and 3rd out of 12 filters tested" Law Enviromental,Inc. Biotox Laboratory,Kennesaw,GA

[Cellenzweig]

First of all that whole bio wheel raising nitrates is a whole buch of crap, until theres a legitimate proof that the wheel causes high nitrate you should come to assumptions base on youre theories,it doesnt make sense that a nitrifying bacateria can cause more nitrates by itself unless it has more nitrites to feed upon, so looking at the bio whell as the whole blame for rising nitrates is nonsense

I agree with you. The nitrate can't appear out of nowhere. However, this is how I understand it to work. As the wheel leaves the water, it picks up a lot of air which is great for the aerobic bacteria that breaks nitrite down into nitrate. The problem is the bio-wheel is too efficient. It breaks down a lot of the nitrite before the LR or LS has a chance. And since there's nowhere on the biowheel to facilitate anaerobic bacteria, no nitrate gets converted to nitrogen gas, whereas some would using only LS and LS for biological filtration. Thus, leaving you with more nitrates.

 

Eventually, when that wheel gets dirty, it's going to start dumping those nitrates back into the tank faster then they can be processed. And if you clean it regularily, you will be disturbing the colonies of bacteria and will have very inconsistant filtration.

[Cellenzweig]

"Remove existing filters designed to facilitate the nitrogen cycle. Such filters do a fine job of processing ammonia to nitrite to nitrate, but do nothing with the nitrate. It is often non-intuitive to many aquarists, but removing such a filter altogether may actually help reduce nitrate. So slowly removing them and allowing more of the nitrogen processing to take place on and in the live rock and sand can be beneficial.

 

It is not that any less nitrate is produced when such a filter is removed, it is a question of what happens to the nitrate after it is produced.

 

When it is produced on the surface of media such as bioballs, it mixes into the entire water column, and then has to find its way, by diffusion, to the places where it may be reduced (inside of live rock and sand, for instance).

 

If it is produced on the surface of live rock or sand, then the local concentration of nitrate is higher there than in the first case above, and it is more likely to diffuse into the rock and sand to be reduced to N2."

- RANDY HOLMES-FARLEY

 

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/aug...st2003/chem.htm

[onthefly]

Think of it this way....

 

Biowheels are too efficeint. With the amount of O2 around, you'll never see any of the NO3 -> N2 + 02 reaction occuring in the biowheel. Since it is real good at creating N03 and your LR/LS is less efficient at breaking NO3 down to nitrogen gas and oxygen....nitrates will build up...basically your denitrification cycle is not balanced.

 

Now, if you system is balanced (and as you said stocked with proper bioload) the LR/Ls should be able to keep up the cycle.

 

Another potential problem that most people don't think about, your system is going to become "dependent" on this external form of filtration....what happens when you change the biowheel (8-12 months) down the road? Your system will loose a large portion of its biological filtration and you'll probably see a small cycle. If you leave the filtration to the LR/LS....this will never happen.

[ny3papi]

Hmm this is very interesting guys,maybe I need to look at this from another point of veiw, much appriciated with youre info guys.

[EtOH_is_good]

agree with the other guys. using a biowheel for a saltwaer reef tank will cause more problems in the long run. this info has been posted before. still don't know why newbs insist that they enough science to post after just reading a box.

[ny3papi]

first of all ill post whatever the hell I want to post regardless if u do or dont agree with what i say , i can care less and if u dont like it then u can ___ off, use ure imagination to fill in the blank.

[Primeval]

keep the bio-wheel if you want. but in the long run you will have more problems than you can handle. And as you become more knowlegable of the hobby, you will understand your error. I just hope that you do not kill too many of our saltwater friends in the process of your learning

[ny3papi]

im not saying im going to keep it , ill probally may get rid of it but can a fuge be added to deal with the extra nitrates?

[EtOH_is_good]

water changes in a nano gets rid of nitrates generated from ammonia and nitrite spike. to go lower use a protein skimmer or fuge loaded with macro algae.

 

btw, you posted in the general section. there's been another thread running on the biowheel in the general section nearly the same time that you posted your thread. you're fair game for getting flammed for a lack of knowledge or experience. in the beginner section is where things get explained.

[onthefly]

Hey NY3,

 

EtOH is right in that this topic has been beat like a dead horse. People always ask what you asked, and people always answer what we answered. Unlike ReefCentral, the search function here works.

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/search.php...rder=descending

 

I think if you go back to your original post.....the first part (up to the first comma)...you statment is inflammatory. Basically "calling out" someone to provide you with "legitimate" proof. My only offering is this.....this whole hobby is anecdotal, this is the internet, and take everything with a grain of salt. But if you polled the people here and asked how much time and money you would have saved if you had listened to the more "seasoned reefers"....I bet it would be alot!

[Primeval]

not to mention the numerous times ud have to clean the bearings on those things due to the ######

[Cesar]

I was just thinking of this for a while. Removing the Bio-wheel kinda defeats the purpose of it, doesn't it? That's where are all the filtration is at isn't it? Im no expert. Just asking.

[EtOH_is_good]

the biowheel is a type of biological filtration that will out compete the live rock. you don't need additional biological filstration source when you have sufficient lr. use of hang on backs (HOBs) are for extra water movement and a very small fuge. cesar, please keep asking those questions or do more searches before you start your tank. nr will save you some money before you make a big mistake.

[Primeval]

my LR works so well I took the wheel AND the filter pad out of my Penguin Bio-wheel mini. The pad was more of a detritus trap than it was a filter. now its more of a .25gallon sump