BioLoad Question

[emmett0122]

you might want to add some more to it the rule of thumb is about 1 to 1 1/2 # per gallon of water you are alittle lite but not bad

 

[pkc]

This depends primarily on the type of rock that is used.
The typical reef rocks available in the hobby contain high portions of aragonite and are very porous.
With the combined effects of water movement, CUC grazing and erosion/dissolution of aragonite, it is virtually impossible to completely clog the surface area to the point of significantly diminishing bacterial populations.

Unless you are dosing carbon, then the surface has nothing to do with nitrate.

As i said about the surface-Externally on the live rock, if there is encrusting coralline or anything else growing on it, then the “aerobic” cyclers will become reduced over time as well.
Now not on the surface, this about “internally”, as I said-If your bio media is in the aquarium like live rock, then this media will cease to reduce nitrate over time as it becomes clogged.
If you are not carbon dosing, your nitrate reduction will be reduced, all this happens in low to no oxygen zones called anaerobic or anoxic, that’s “inside” the base or live rock, not on the out side!!

That area is called aerobic!
Aragonite or not, it all ends up the same and you need to think about cooking your rock with in the 6 month to 5 year time frame.
All tanks vary as to how fast the blocking affect takes away nitrate reduction, so just like near all other reefers you will be testing higher nitrate levels then previously.
Get back to me in a few years and say you didn't, that wont happen!

 

[emmett0122]

there again it depend on the type of rock and how much flow you can get thru the rocks i have south seas rock in my tank and 90% of the hole in my rock are 3/16" in dia. or larger and if you blast your rock every water change the you will keep them open in witch case you keep your bio filter and with that said how a person takes care of there tank plays a big part in it to. and one more thing the bio filter doesnt remove nitrates from the tank any how nitrates are the by product of the bio filter so the only ways to get rid of them is by water changes, macro algae and by dosing carbon.

 

[Big K]

What about an Algae Scrubber?

 

[emmett0122]

that would work just like your macro algae in your sump. and there are other ways im sure but those are the 3 main ones.

 

[RockStacker]

there again it depend on the type of rock and how much flow you can get thru the rocks i have south seas rock in my tank and 90% of the hole in my rock are 3/16" in dia. or larger and if you blast your rock every water change the you will keep them open in witch case you keep your bio filter and with that said how a person takes care of there tank plays a big part in it to.

For the purpose of bacterial colonization, "porosity" is not in the order of fractions of inches. We are talking about micrometers or even nanometers.
Even coralline algae that would seem like a solid mat over the rock would still be porous enough for the bacteria to colonize with the same efficiency as the original substrate itself.
So as long as you have sufficient amount of solid surface in the tank, then you can get the proper populations of bacterial biofilm pairs (aerobic bacteria on the outside, shielding the anaerobic strains underneath). Again, these biofilms are in the order of micrometers/nanometers in thickness.

and one more thing the bio filter doesnt remove nitrates from the tank any how nitrates are the by product of the bio filter so the only ways to get rid of them is by water changes, macro algae and by dosing carbon.

Actually there are several strains of bacteria that are in the reef aquarium that remove nitrates and phosphates via several methods.(Dissociation of nitrates into free nitrogen and oxygen gas, binding of nitrates and phosphates in bacteria to be later exported via skimming, etc)
They just do not occur in large enough populations to keep up with nitrate/phosphate production in heavy bioload systems.
Carbon source dosing encourages these bacteria to produce larger colonies and this allows them to increase the removal of nitrates and phosphates.

 

[emmett0122]

i understand that and i did say about carbon dosing witch is the only way you can get enough bacteria to do that. and the point i was trying to make with hole size is that they will never clog and stop the rocks from being a bio filter as was stated by PKC

As i said about the surface-Externally on the live rock, if there is encrusting coralline or anything else growing on it, then the “aerobic” cyclers will become reduced over time as well.
Now not on the surface, this about “internally”, as I said-If your bio media is in the aquarium like live rock, then this media will cease to reduce nitrate over time as it becomes clogged.
If you are not carbon dosing, your nitrate reduction will be reduced, all this happens in low to no oxygen zones called anaerobic or anoxic, that’s “inside” the base or live rock, not on the out side!!

this thread was about the bio load you can put on tank with the basic cycling of a tank witch is so you dont have ammonia and nitrites in the tank as they are very toxic to everything in the tank. and we all end up with nitrates witch most people keep in check by not over feeding, water changes, and macro algae. most people do not carbon dose there tank i have researched it and have thought about doing it but never have. now if you want to do a heavy bio load on your tank and go over the 1/2" of fish per gal. of water or 1 5" fish per 10 gals. of water (witch is the same thing 10 x 1/2 =5 10 x 1 = 10) then carbon could let you do this as it will help with the removal of nitrates.