Bio Pellets for nitrate and phosphate removal
How does it work?
Unlike indiscriminate and potentially risky carbon dosing regimens such as Vodka which entail adding carbon sources directly to the main aquarium to promote bacterial spread and nutrient uptake, Nutri-Fix NP is a 100% pure, fixed carbon source bio-polymer that can be used in a fluidised reactor for the promotion of rapid bacterial growth within a controlled environment away from the main display, promoting only those bacteria relevant to the task of nutrient uptake.
The Bio-Polymer acts as a primary food source to encourage healthy bacterial colonisation which in turn assimilates or fixes Nitrate and Phosphate as that population grows. With these nutrients locked into the biomass of the bacterial population, this bio film or ‘bacterial mulm’ can then be exported via physical agitation of the media within a reactor to make way for further growth. The effluent carrying these bacterial films can then be directed towards the intake of a protein skimmer for physical removal via foam fractionation. Ongoing exportation of excess nitrate and phosphate are a direct result of this reaction.
By passing aquarium water through a fluidised reactor housing the bio-media, a fresh constant stream of both nutrient and oxygen can be supplied. Unlike alternate methods that encourage de-nitrification through anaerobic activity in a slow flow environment as a primary route to converting nitrate to free nitrogen gas, Nutri-Fix NP works in an oxygen rich environment by locking nitrate and phosphate into the rapidly growing bacterial biomass. Further nitrate reduction can also be witnessed as a result of underlying bacterial layers being starved of oxygen by several overlying populations. The removal of these layers via agitation to make way for further rapid colonisation is a crucial part of the process to prevent binding of the media via bacterial mucus secretion.
