Re: Fluidized bed filter and the planted tank

[Timothy Sherburne <tfs at mac_com>]

Hi Sam...

A teacher once told me that the only stupid question is the unasked
question.

As I understand it, plants make better use of ammonia and nitrite than they
do of nitrate. I would recommend removing the FBF from your planted aquarium
provided that you don't have an outrageous fish load. The FBF is very
effective at removing ammonia and nitrites from the water, both of which are
more useful to your plants. You could monitor ammonia and nitr*te levels
when you remove the FBF and do water changes to avoid spikes, but I don't
think you'll have any problems.

I had an FBF on my 90 gallon tank which I removed about two months after
planting to avoid starving the plants. (It now resides on my FO tank.) That
was about six months ago and I have only seen improvements in the plant
growth. 

t

On 7/9/02 12:48 AM, Sam Hopkins wrote:

> As I am new to aquaria plants please forgive me for any stupid
> questions. I run a Lifegard fluidized bed filter on my planted tank. (A
> fluidized bed filter is like a great big biowheel except it works by pumping
> water through sand) I just read a comment by someone which stated the
> bacteria it contains would outcompete the plants for ammonia thus starving
> them. I thought that the plants in my tank would use the nitrate that the
> bacteria in my fluidized bed filter produced as food. Any thoughts?