Biohome vs Nitrate

[dnsfpl]

300g of Biohome in 1.2l of 80ppm NO3 water
lets see how long it takes for the Biohome to clean the water

cheers

[Shadow]

First of all, Nitrosomonas bacteria break down ammonia into nitrites (NO2).
Secondly, Nitrobacter bacteria break down nitrites into nitrates (NO3).
Lastly, Anaerobic bacteria break up NO3 to obtain oxygen and release Nitrogen gas.

Thus for your experiment you should use Ammonia instead of NO3. NO3 should not go anywhere because that is the final product.

[dnsfpl]

http://www.reinbiotech.com/biohome/biohome.jsp
It is a sintered glass filtration media that houses billions of beneficial bacteria to get rid of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...

based on my experience, biohome can bring down NO3
2x1x1 feet tank using OHF with 2kg of biohome
NO3 reading after cycling was around 20ppm
0ppm after 3 months, without any water change
bioload app 40 shrimps

doing this just to confirm my findings

cheers

[Shadow]

is that so? I need to remove it from my filter then

[alien54d]

http://www.reinbiotech.com/biohome/biohome.jsp
It is a sintered glass filtration media that houses billions of beneficial bacteria to get rid of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate...

based on my experience, biohome can bring down NO3
2x1x1 feet tank using OHF with 2kg of biohome
NO3 reading after cycling was around 20ppm
0ppm after 3 months, without any water change
bioload app 40 shrimps

doing this just to confirm my findings

cheers

can also test for NO2 and NH3?
to make sure that the anaerobic bacteria is actually working in oxygenated environment (ie with air pump).

[Shadow]

normally when you cycle tank, the Amonia, nitrites and nitrates relationship is like the picture below. You should be able to plot similar graph.

(Picture taken from http://faq.thekrib.com/begin-cycling.html)

[Shadow]

based on my experience, biohome can bring down NO3
2x1x1 feet tank using OHF with 2kg of biohome
NO3 reading after cycling was around 20ppm
0ppm after 3 months, without any water change
bioload app 40 shrimps

Is there a plant in this tank? and/or is there carbon media in your filter?

[dnsfpl]

i have moss in my shrimp tank, no carbon

that is why i am doing this experiment to confirm

cheers

[Shaihulud]

If the biohome is fresh from the packaging, there will be no beneficial bacteria and therefore false results. Using an established biohome from a tank would propably work.

[Fuzzy]

If the biohome is fresh from the packaging, there will be no beneficial bacteria and therefore false results. Using an established biohome from a tank would propably work.

Yeah I was about to bring this up, was the biohome previously from an established filter? or fresh out of the box?

[KeIgO86]

interesting experiment. I look forward to seeing the results as I've always been skeptical about biohome's claim about being so dense yet porous that it can house a significant amount of anaerobic bacteria that it will place a considerable dent in the nitrate levels of an aquarium.

Since you are at it, to make the experiment more interesting, I suggest including a "control" of "brand X" ceramic rings with established bacteria colony as well in another beaker. We might just find out ceramic rings can do the same too (though i doubt so).

Keep us posted with the result!

[dnsfpl]

no change in NO3 after a week
transfer a couple of biohome from my tank to seed
stay tune for next week test result

cheers

[Navanod]

The suggestion of a control is very valid. All experiment should have a negative control of some sort. Its certainly more work though...so lets see whether it worth doing a control at all based on the initial results.

Perhaps 20-40ppm may be a good comparison as well. 80pm may be approaching toxicity and affect the bacteria growth?

IMHO, even the aerobic bacteria needs more than a mere week to establish themselves. I would suspect that the anaerobic may take even longer...even with seeding.

[dnsfpl]

not sure what negative control you are referring to but i agree 40ppm is better due to the more obvious change in test result, if any

cheers

[Navanod]

not sure what negative control you are referring to but i agree 40ppm is better due to the more obvious change in test result, if any

cheers

Negative control - Perhaps using just normal CR instead of Biohome in a separate test?
But that can always be performed after the Biohome results are out. Just to be sure that the nitrates are indeed broken down by the biohome.

Not being picky, just that I work in a research lab...its an occupational thing

Thanks for great effort

[dnsfpl]

i will try to carry out further experiment using other media provided biohome can really reduce nitrates effectively

cheers

[StanChung]

Won't the nitrates be in fact absorbed by the moss?
I think Biohomme is a product made for fish tanks not planted tanks.
We like our nitrate in planted tanks.

[Shadow]

He is just trying to confirm it, means if the nitrate does not drop then moss is taking it and Biohome advertisement on their web site is wrong. If nitrate is drop then I need to take out my Biohome from the filter ... :LOL:

[StanChung]

Use Bio Rio lah.

[Shadow]

Honestly if your bioload is moderate and all your plant grow healthily, do you still need the filter media? by right the plant will take Ammonia before start taking nitrite and nitrate