- What are the three types of aquarium filtration?
Aquariums require filtration.
That's pretty well common knowledge, even
for people who have never had an aquarium themselves.
But there are actually three different types of aquarium
filtration, mechanical, chemical, and biological.
And I say them in that order specifically
because that's the order
they should be in as water passes through them.
But I'll explain why in just a bit.
Mechanical filtration is any type of filter media
or material that is designed to trap and hold solid waste.
Sponge or foam pads, filter flaws,
filter socks, and fleece sheets
to name a handful of examples are all forms
of mechanical filtration that are designed to trap
and hold solid waste from the water.
So you can easily remove it
from the tank by throwing it away
or rinsing it out and then reusing it.
In doing so, you'll be removing
that waste before it begins to break down in the water,
into harmful substances like ammonia.
You'll also be keeping the water looking visually clean
by removing those little bits of waste
and debris that would otherwise be floating
around inside the aquarium.
Mechanical filtration can also come
in the form of protein skimmers,
which are able to remove liquid and microscopic waste
from saltwater through process called foam fractionation
which basically uses bubbles to attract hydrophilic proteins
and particles away from the water
drawing them up and into a collection cup.
Then you can dump out periodically.
Chemical filtration is any type
of filter media that is designed to trap
or remove different types of chemical compounds.
Aquarium carbon is usually what comes
to mind when most people think about chemical media
since it is often included with aquarium filters
it can remove things like coloration
and smell from the water
along with all sorts of other unwanted compounds.
There are many types of chemical media though
like granular ferric oxide or GFO, which is fantastic
for removing phosphate and specialty media
like ion exchange resin beads
for removing all kinds of different contaminants.
Chemical filtration is super handy
for treating issues that pop up
or even as a preventative measure
but it isn't strictly necessary for day to day filtration.
Biological filtration comes in many forms
and ultimately refers to any method of filtration
that utilizes natural biological processes to remove
or convert organic waste in the aquarium that is produced
by the inhabitants or through feeding the inhabitants.
When we feed the aquarium, that food goes
into our fish and comes out as waste.
And any food that isn't eaten also comes out as waste.
And if those fish perish, that also turns in a waste
then quickly breaks down into ammonia.
Ammonia is incredibly toxic and even
at low levels can quickly cause your fish, invertebrates,
or corals to suffer and even perish.
Thankfully, we can introduce an army
of beneficial bacteria that will happily
convert ammonia to nitrate
in a process known as the nitrogen cycle.
These bacteria like to live on surfaces
like the pourous structures within live rock
or specifically made biological media that is
often some form of centered glass, limestone, lava rock
or ceramic that can be added to an aquarium filter.
These microscopic bacteria will live on
and within the media
and once established will be virtually self-sustaining
and create the foundation of your aquarium's ecosystem,
keeping the water free of harmful ammonia.
There are also other forms
of biological filtration that utilizes bacteria
to help keep other potentially harmful nutrients
under control, bio pellet reactors, zeovit reactors
and liquid carbon dosing being the most common.
You can also use the power of algae and macroalgae
in a refugium or a scrubber
to help uptake those excess nutrients
which is also a completely natural biological
solution that can also help to provide shelter
for arthropods and cocoapods to proliferate
which not only graze on the biofilms and algae, but also act
as an all natural food source to help feed the aquarium.
Like I mentioned earlier
when you're stacking this media inside
of a filter like a canister filter,
water typically passes through them in a specific order.
And there's a good reason for that.
First, the water will pass
through the mechanical filtration to remove any
physical debris and waste, which prevents any of that debris
from clogging up the chemical and biological media.
If they get clogged, they would work much less efficiently
and would require cleaning more often
which is why that's important.
Next water travels
through the chemical media removing other unwanted compounds
before it finally reaches the biological media
where the physically and chemically cleaned water
can easily travel through the tiny network of open pores
in that bio-media giving the bacteria inside of it
access to any available ammonia in the water
so they can quickly convert it to much less harmful nitrate.
Now I know I used a canister filter as an example
but I'll admit canister filters
aren't the most popular choice
for saltwater and reef aquariums.
That contest was one by sumps by a landslide
for a few big reasons that I'm gonna go
over in this video right here, check it out.