Phosphate Media

Is that GFO or GFH?

 

Same thing. Randy HF have disc used this a fair amount. The names are just marketing terms. also, most seems to come from the same source. These companies don't actually produce it. I would go with the least expensive.

 

GFO and GFH are different names for the same thing. GFO is granular ferric oxide, it is supposed to be the dry form of the media. GFH is granular ferric hydroxide or a damp or wet form of the same thing with some water or other liquid in it. They do the same thing except if you are buying by weight the wet form will cost more for less media since it contains water too.

 

Thanks for the Info...I will look into the BRS products.

I don't have room in my 10 gallon sump for an algae scrubber or macro algae

I have an Aquaripure so my nitrates are always 0 when I test them.

 

This is what I was getting at. If it was GFO it would be OK. But, GFH seems like a lot of money for water.

 

I would say BP may be cheaper, but they will not work well if nitrate is low either. And they can be ore problematic for some people. GFO is probably the best bet. Also, make sure your water source is pure. But the biggest contributor is always food. So, make sure the food you feed is low P and you feed enough, but don't feed too much extra (or at least remove the extra).

Also though, why do you think you need to lower P?

They're sneaky aren't they

 

Well after much debating, I decided to go ahead and get the BRS single media reactor. I got 2 lbs of their GFO to go with it. This seemed like the best and cheapest thing for the long term. Hopefully this along with my Aquaripure nitrate filter will keep my tank algae free. Thanks to everyone who provided advice.

 

Very interesting... I never thought I would see the day where someone would actually recommend dosing nitrate!! Seems logical though.

 

Yes, sounds funny, but I also dose Silica, so, I'm pretty odd for sure ;D Seriously though, what goes in, mostly follows the redfield ratio (or some rough variation), that is the nutrients in the food we feed has a fixed ratio of C, N and P, but in reality, Nutrient usage ratios differ from levels found in tissue, because some is used for energy and not used for tissue development. For C, much is generated via photosynthesis, although bacteria can still become C-limited because, for the most part, they can not fix CO2 - hence carbon dosing. The same goes for nitrogen, as nitrate is preferentially used as an electron acceptor for carbon oxidation, such as in the case of denitrifying bacteria. Again, some organisms do fix N too, bringing some in, but actually, in the ocean the primary source of nitrogen fixation is cyanobacteria, which we usually try to kill off ;D Also, phosphate tends to be artificially raised to begin with, as it is used in food preservatives, so, if we want to naturally reduce "P" due to this and the other reasons listed, the ratios are out of balance and will will eventually tend to get N and C limitations before we can fully use up P naturally.

 

Again, very interesting. However, I am not really following why you would dose nitrate for denitrifying bacteria. I understand that nitrate is the final electron acceptor in the respiratory chain of these organisms. However, the purpose of denitrifying bacteria is to remove nitrogen from the aquarium. If nitrate is absent from the aquarium, doesn't that imply that the biological filtration system is working properly? Is the point to establish large populations of denitrifying bacteria to keep things running smoothly?

I am not really familiar with carbon dosing... However, I am familiar with aerobic respiration as I work in a yeast lab that studies mitochondrial function. What exactly is the carbon source that is dosed? I have heard of vodka dosing, so I'll assume its ethanol? What exactly is the purpose? In other words, is there certain organisms that carbon dosing benefits? Or does it simply benefit anything and anything that respires?

Also, what do you mean when you say that bacteria can become carbon-limited because they cannot fix CO2? I understand that carbohydrates are produced via photosynthesis (using CO2). However, I am not following how this ties in to bacteria and CO2.