[Keelay]

Originally posted by douggiestyle
as far as collecting detritus i should not have said doesnt. in comparison to live rock, horizontal surfaces, sponge filters, poly filters and other similar subtances the bio balls will comparitivly not collect detritus. especially in a high flow area. as far as acting the same as a wet dry filter only more poorly, i believe you are incorrect. it has been shown that bacteria that process nitrates actually live symbioticly with the other bacteria in the nitrate cycle. i am unable to find the article at this time, it was in advanced aquarist and the site for old artcles is giving me an error. anyways in a submerged enviroment the nitrosomas live above the nitrobactors and directly beneath them are the anerobic bateria. all living symbioticly. the nitrobacters are right up againest nirosomas because this is where their food is and on it continues. the anerobic bacteria are directly beneath the other guys because the other guys have created a perfect enviroment for them; low O2 and high nitrate. in this article they showed how the largest concentration of anerobic bacteria is directly beneath the other bacteria. using wet/dry bacterial filtration inundates to much O2. this is great for the nitrosomas and nitrobacters but terrible for the anerobic so it breaks the symbiotic bond between the three basic bacteria. this is the reason for the decline in the use of wet/dry filters. without the sybiotic bond you have nitrate disolved in the tank. the only way to get rid of it is with water changes, anerobic bacteria or algae/plants. anerobic bateria cannot live on the surface of things because the O2 will kill them and now because the nitrogen has been already converted into nitrate there is no bacteria to move the nitrogen into an anerobic area. so basicly it does not matter what type of surface, its the amount of surface and where its at, and will it collect detritus and clog. im not trying to tell anyone how to run there tank. in fact i use a wet/dry filter (though plan to experiment without it). even using a wet/dry i am having none of the problems that people claim they will create. so much for the wet/dry bad theory. but i am always tinkering and plan to try without and see what happens. will also need a bubble trap as wet/dry is an excellent bubble trap.

Doug, Thanks for the description about the nitrate producing bacteria. Great concepts. If you do run into that article, I'm very interested. Please post it here.