![]() ![]() A single bedroom apartment won’t fit as many people inside it as a mansion.įilter media designed for biological filtration is essentially a mansion for beneficial bacteria. You see, the more surface there is for bacteria to cling to, the more biological filtration you can achieve. Given the correct environment, nitrifying bacteria can grow almost anywhere – even in the filter pad in your HOB filter.īut if you want to achieve the best biological filtration possible, then you want to use a filter media designed for housing bacteria.Īnd to do that, it’s all about the surface area.ĭid you know? When discussed online, “biological filtration media” is often shortened to bio media. Marine fish, invertebrates and corals all have a low nitrate tolerance – denitryfying bacteria are commonly used to assist in removing nitrates from saltwater tanks. Saltwater tanks are the exception to this. And to top it off, nitrates are removed from your aquarium when you perform a water change.Īnd because a water change has other benefits, including returning essential minerals to your aquarium, a water change is considered a good substitute to using denitrifying bacteria as biological filtration. The reason for this is that nitrates are not as harmful to your fish as ammonia or nitrites. The nitrogen gas then exits your aquarium through the surface water.īecause of this, denitrifying bacteria only exist in areas of your aquarium that are not oxygenated, such as inside rocks.įilter media that is suitable for denitrifying bacteria include:įor freshwater tanks, denitrifying bacteria will be the least important type of biological filtration in your aquarium – most people skip over it completely. ![]() But without oxygen, these bacteria use nitrates instead, converting them into nitrogen gas. The reason for this is when oxygen is present in water, the bacteria use it to breathe. Once an established colony of bacteria forms, they will be able to eat ammonia and nitrites as quickly as they are produced.Īnd once this happens, you can consider your new tank completely cycled.ĭenitrifying bacteria exist where there is no oxygen present. This is the precise reason why you cycle your tank.ĭuring the cycling process you wait for these bacteria to grow in number. Nitrifying bacteria work together as a team, with one bacteria providing a food source for the next.Ī new aquarium doesn’t have enough of these bacteria present to efficiently filter the nasties from your aquarium. Nitrospira and Nitrobacter – Eat nitrite, converting it to nitrate. Nitrosomonas – Eat ammonia, converting it to nitrite. The bacteria can be found on all different surfaces of your aquarium, but where it truly benefits your tank is in your filter media, where it removes ammonia and nitrite from your aquarium as it passes through your filter. Nitrifying bacteria require a source of oxygen, using it to convert ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate. Nitrifying bacteriaīacteria that remove ammonia and nitrite from the water There are two different categories of bacteria used in biological filtration: nitrifying bacteria and denitrifying bacteria. What types of bacteria are used in biological filtration? With enough beneficial bacteria in your aquarium, they will eat ammonia and nitrite as quickly as it is produced. That’s why they are commonly referred to as beneficial bacteria! You want these bacteria in your aquarium. Waste, such as fish poop or uneaten food, breaks down and releases ammonia.īacteria then eat the ammonia and convert it toĪnd then, another type of bacteria converts nitrite to nitrate.īiological filtration refers to when bacteria in your tank eat any compound, such as ammonia, nitrite or nitrate, and then convert it into something else. Think back to the nitrogen cycle for a moment. Now this may sound confusing, but it’s actually very simple. Mechanical and chemical filtration work by removing the unwanted stuff.īut that’s not how biological filtration works… Instead, it converts one chemical to another. Fishlab Fact: Any filter media that is designed to provide a home to the bacteria used in biological filtration is referred to as a bio filter.īiological filtration works a little differently from the other methods of filtration. ![]()
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