clayswim
Well-known member
I consider it moot because in both cases you have bacterial populations only large enough to support the ammonia in the water. Both convert ammonia and nitrite to safe levels, and both are capable of scaling their populations up and down based on bio-load; so in that sense the argument is moot
What's of importance is the ability of either to support a sufficient anaerobic population capable of reducing nitrates.I don't consider water trickling over plastic balls natural, but to each his own I guess... lol. The ocean uses so many ways to process waste that we can't begin to recreate it, but bacteria living in live rock is very much part of it. Wet/dry filters lining the shore are not. That was my point. Bacterial conversion inside rocks happens in every reef in the world; and in every body of water for that matter. When we grow bacteria in trickle filters we're changing the equation a bit by creating an environment with unnaturally high dissolved oxygen. Looking at the enormous scale of the ocean one can only assume that tidal areas have very little impact on the ecosystem concerning ammonia and nitrites.
Clayton
