live rock & lights ???

[markm3]

does LR can survive in darkness ,, with no lights at all???
I am willing to fill my ehime consister filter (( clasic 2050)) with many small piece of LR and take out all the ceramic ehime media out becous its a nitrate factory , this is due to I am not using a sump !!!
So I hope that u give me a
good advise on that Idea or any other ideas to solve this problem .
Thanks for having reefsanctuary .

 

[cbrownfish]

Lack of light will not hurt bacteria or most microfauna......you end up with a small refugium where microfauna can grow without predation. However, be aware that LR in a cannister filter can be a detritus trap. I would advise having a pre-filter on that type of application.

 

[markm3]

thanks cbrownfish for replying , any other suggestion to put in the filter insted of ehime media

 

[BigAl07]

Keep in mind that even putting LR Rubble in there will still have a large potential to trap detritus and cause Nitrate issues. It's because of all the nooks & crannies created between the rubble. At least from my point of view (which isn't always IDEAL) I don't see much if any difference between LR Rubble and Bio-balls/Ceramic Media.

 

[Frankie]

Doing this will create more of a cryptic zone filtration. The problem is the water is moving to fast for the sponges to form defeating the purpose.
Here is a bit of info on it The cryptic zone | Practical Fishkeeping magazine
Like Al said this is just going to turn into a nitrate factory trapping waist as it passes through.
Unlike a refugium, the lack of light will prevent certain organisms from surviving in there. Add the turbulent flow and you end up with a canister filter that needs to be changed out once a week or more just like it was designed for.

 

[Amphibious]

BigAl is right markm3, it doesn't matter what media, ceramic, BBs, LR rubble or whatever, you are not going to eliminate Nitrate with a canister filter. Nitrate can only be eliminated by anaerobic bacteria which cannot live in the aerobic conditions of a canister filter. Water changes will help somewhat but they would have to be done often and in large volumes to lower Nitrates significantly because, Nitrate production is constant as part of the Nitrogen cycle. There are de-nitraters on the market but, they tend to be problematic in operation and therefore not reliable.

The best bet for elimination of Nitrate is a DSB of 4" or more of Aragonite sand.

Dick