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hahnmeister · 02/25/2007, 07:14 PM

sure it has to do with the type of bacteria, or rather the state they are in. A media that has very deep pores can create the low-02 zones required for anaerobic bacteria that do nitrate conversion. Bio-balls and other media that dont have the deep zones for nitrate reduction cant reduce nitrate, so they can only get the ammonia to nitrite, and the nitrite to nitrate, but then thats it. Now, its possible that with bio-balls and LR, the LR is offsetting the nitrate being produced by the wet-dry, at least for a while, but the problem is that then you are making your LR less efficient. Really, the bio-balls arent doing anything that the LR cant do, and, there is no difference still between having bio-balls submerged or in a wet-dry... its just how much they do it.

02/25/2007, 07:14 PM	#27
hahnmeister Moved On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Brew City, WI Posts: 10,156	sure it has to do with the type of bacteria, or rather the state they are in. A media that has very deep pores can create the low-02 zones required for anaerobic bacteria that do nitrate conversion. Bio-balls and other media that dont have the deep zones for nitrate reduction cant reduce nitrate, so they can only get the ammonia to nitrite, and the nitrite to nitrate, but then thats it. Now, its possible that with bio-balls and LR, the LR is offsetting the nitrate being produced by the wet-dry, at least for a while, but the problem is that then you are making your LR less efficient. Really, the bio-balls arent doing anything that the LR cant do, and, there is no difference still between having bio-balls submerged or in a wet-dry... its just how much they do it.