Dan
your understanding of the Nitrite/nitrate system is fine....the main problem I have with bio balls is that the beggers, if not set up correctly, get incredibly dirty and start producing nitrates themselves (and hydrogen sulphide ) Colin in an earlier post in this thread discussed how he sets them up......which is terrific if you have the knowledge, time and money to devote to this kind of set up! I reckon if you got a simple system that works....use it!
Even our system at the lab and aquarium is pretty simple (of course it is helped by the fact it is a flow through system that only uses fresh sea water!) We use sand filters only!!!! It works a treat, so long as the tanks are kept as clean as possible.......which is why we don't open to the public until 12 noon.....we're tank cleaning in the morning (as a small aquarium we don't have a separate husbandry team....so the 1 or 2 staff on duty do husbandry, guiding and front of house!!!!)
Cheer
Jean
your understanding of the Nitrite/nitrate system is fine....the main problem I have with bio balls is that the beggers, if not set up correctly, get incredibly dirty and start producing nitrates themselves (and hydrogen sulphide ) Colin in an earlier post in this thread discussed how he sets them up......which is terrific if you have the knowledge, time and money to devote to this kind of set up! I reckon if you got a simple system that works....use it!
Even our system at the lab and aquarium is pretty simple (of course it is helped by the fact it is a flow through system that only uses fresh sea water!) We use sand filters only!!!! It works a treat, so long as the tanks are kept as clean as possible.......which is why we don't open to the public until 12 noon.....we're tank cleaning in the morning (as a small aquarium we don't have a separate husbandry team....so the 1 or 2 staff on duty do husbandry, guiding and front of house!!!!)
Cheer
Jean