Removing Nitrates

[mox]

I'm looking for a way to minimize maintenance and have a simple question about nitrates. To remove nitrates with bacteria, the water has to be without oxygen right? So why can't you just have two fluidized bed filters hooked up in sequence... The first one would remove ammonia and consume oxygen, and the second one would recieve the oxygen depleted water and consume the nitrates?

I know this must not work or else people would be doing it, but why wouldn't it work?

 

[kveeti]

Besides nitrates, there are many other toxins building up in the water that you can’t test for – we CAN test for nitrates which we use as an indicator. Water changes take care of everything, not only nitrates.

 

[mox]

but the Main purpose of a waterchange is to remove nitrates. I wasn't talking about an elimination of waterchanges, just a reduction. Regardless, I'm curious to know if or if not two bed filters in sequence would reduce nitrates.

Cheers.

 

[Holly9937]

Actually, the main purpose of water changes is to remove alot of other stuff in addition to nitrates, as kveeti said, nitrates are just an indicator that we are able to test for that undesirables are building up in the water. Sorry I couldn't answer your question. Another way to cut down on water changes is to seriously understock your tanks

 

[mox]

its alright... I understand what you are saying though. Just trying to work systems out in my mind/on paper.

 

[RTR]

Just repeating what others have already said - nitrate is an indicator, a fairly good estimate of total pollution build-up in a tank. Water changes are to reduce total pollution, not at all just for nitrate, which is one among many, many pollutants which mostly cannot be measured outside a laboratory.

 

[Watcher74]

Same here. Nitrates are an easy to test for indicator. If someone actually used something to get rid of only nitrates then it would give an aquarist the false impression that there was little to no need to change water.

This would be a bad thing. And the fish would suffer. Nitrate is what is pointed at, but only because it is a relatively easy thing to determine.