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Biological
filtration for aquariums
Biological filtration is absolutely
essential to a successful aquarium. So how is this done? The bacteria that eat
the ammonia need to have a surface to live on and water flowing over them to
provide a supply of dissolved oxygen. We won't get into a
long discussion of oxygen right now,
but water that is flowing and can come into contact with air, will absorb enough
oxygen to sustain bacteria and fish. All we need to do is set up a system that
will supply a home for the bacteria with water flowing through it.
The problem of
removing the ammonia from your fish tank.
Before fishes can live in the aquarium, the bacteria have to be healthy and
happy. When a new tank is first set up, everything is essentially dead. You are
starting from scratch to create an entirely new ecosystem. Most new aquarists
are tempted to quickly acquire lots of fish to populate their new tank. But the
fish cannot survive without the unseen bacteria working hard to eliminate the
waste. So ammonia and nitrite build up in the tank, the fish become sick or die,
and the new aquarium seems like a total disaster. How can this be avoided?
One quick solution is to
change your fish tank water every day. But
there's an easier way. Turns out that, though ammonia is toxic to fish, it is
tasty to certain microorganisms: bacteria. Certain types of bacteria will
actually eat the ammonia. So all that's needed is to get enough of these
bacteria living in the tank to remove all of the ammonia. And the really nice
thing about these bacteria is that they need the same environment to live that
the fish need to live. They need water, oxygen and ammonia. So if we can keep
the bacteria alive, we can take advantage of biological filtration to remove the
ammonia that is harmful to the fishes
All that's needed is a little self restraint. Get the tank all set up with
water, gravel, and choose the right filter. Add two fish. Wait for
two to three weeks before adding any more fish. If you can make it through those
first two or three weeks, you will be home free. That's when the bacteria are
growing and colonizing your filter and tank and getting ready to handle all that
ammonia from the new fish you will be adding later. And where do the bacteria
come from? They come from the two fish you added at the beginning. They picked
them up from the aquarium they were in before you got them. If you provide a
nice home for them, the bacteria will settle in and grow like crazy. But give
them time.
Using two or more filters on a tank allows for some backup if one gets killed.
If you don't clean the aquarium filters
all at once, you will always have at least one healthy
bacterial colony to keep your fish safe. This begins our discussion of filter
systems. Most commercially available filters are designed to perform several
functions at once. The only one of these functions that is critical to your fish
is biological filtration. Following is a
simplified description of some basic filter types
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