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re:BACTERIAL FILTER



>From: RWing137 at aol_com
>
>I read David W. Webb's responce "First time with CO2" and I am interested in
>his statement that he has no bacterial filters on any of his tanks anymore.
>My question then is what type of filters do you use or do you not have any
>filter system?
>Dave, can you please expound on this subject, or anyone else who has
>experimented with no filtration.

My tanks use mechanical filtration only, and the mechanical filter is a sump
tank with "dead water" pockets.  I just let debris settle out into the dead
spots in the settling tank and siphon it out every few months.  My smallest
tank has no active water movement of any kind and has been running successfully
for several months now.

I don't want a bacterial filter because I want my plants to get the first shot
at the ammonium in the water.  I have a high plant:fish mass ratio in my tanks
and have moved to primarily vegetarian fish because I had phosphate problems in
my 55g when I fed a high meat diet.

These tanks are as close to zero maintenance as I've seen.  I haven't touched
my 20g in weeks with the exception of topping off and adding an algae wafer
once a week.

My settling tanks are also harbors for fry and fish that get sucked into the
filter.  This was actually their primary design after I found that I didn't
need any bacterial filter in my tanks.

If you want to try this, try reducing your filter capacity incrementally over
the course of a few weeks.  You should not see any ammonia buildup.  If you see
ammonia, you probably won't be able to do this without a few adjustments.

David W. Webb
Enterprise Computing Provisioning
Texas Instruments Inc. Dallas, TX USA
(214) 575-3443 (voice)  MSGID:       DAWB
(214) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
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