Re: [APD] An observation

["AZ Burns" <aerburns at hotmail_com>]

The plant guru at my LFS recomends a fluidized sand filter for plants tanks. 
 He has one of his 75 at home because it is very simple to maintain, and 
handles any nitrate spikes quickly.  He says other bio-filters caused him 
problems when he cleaned them since they would loose some bio filtration 
capacity.  He usually would get an algae breakout after cleaning out his 
canister filters while they were recovering.

I know he has a high fish load and feeds pretty heavily.  How much 
bio-filtration you need probably depends on how much bio load you have, in a 
planted tank or in a non planted tank.  Sand filters work for him, W/D work 
for you, some people have no bio-filters.  Maybe bio-load is the factor to 
look at closely in deciding what sort of bio-filter to use.

AZ Burns

> From: gbooth at frii_com
> Reply-To: aquatic plants digest <aquatic-plants at actwin_com>
> To: aquatic-plants at actwin_com
> Subject: [APD] An observation
> Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 08:55:15 -0700 (MST)
>
> Current aquatic lore holds that biofiltration is not as necessary in a
> planted tank as it is in a fish-only tank. Indeed, some authors go so far
> as to say that biofiltration is a bad thing and outcompetes the plants for
> critical ammonium. Everyone "knows" that plants prefer ammonium over
> nitrate since it takes less energy to use it.
>
> However, recent advances in nutrient management as promulgated by Tom Barr
> have shown that some level of nitrate (and phosphate) is good for plants
> and proper ratios of N and P are even bad for algae.
>
> While listening to Tom's Forum at the AGA 2K3 convention, I believe he
> also mentioned that algae can utilize ammonium very easily and that a
> dearth of ammonium may hold algae at bay.
>
> Hmmm, what better way is there to reduce ammonium and increase nitrate
> than biofiltration?
>
> Crank up dem wet/dry's, folks!
>
> ASBESTOS_SUIT=ON
>
> George Booth in Ft. Collins, CO (gbooth at frii dot com)
>  The website for Aquatic Gardeners by Aquatic Gardeners
>    http://aquaticconcepts.thekrib.com/  (mirror)
>    http://www.frii.com/~gbooth/AquaticConcepts/
>
>
>
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