# Nitrogen gas in aquarium?



## kilnakorr (12 Jun 2020)

Hi

The product 'BIOHOME' filter media, seems to be getting more popular. I'm wondering if it can actually do what they claim, and if there is truth behind their words:

"Please note: Tanks with heavy stock and feeding (e.g. cichlid, goldfish, predator or fry tanks) and marine tanks may require 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres to achieve the full cycle filtration which will result in the reduction of nitrates. Do not worry about plant growth being affected in a tank which reads zero nitrates - the nitrate is processed into soluble nitrogen which is easily used by plants, boosting their growth."

Can it reduce any significant amount of Nitrates, and is the nitrogen gas able to stay in the water to be used by plants?
Also, I knoe nitrogen gas is used to remove dissolved oxygen in water, so we can expect a decrease in oxygen in the tank.

What's your thoughts?


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## hypnogogia (12 Jun 2020)

If it produces soluble N, then what happens to the O3?


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## MirandaB (12 Jun 2020)

The person who markets it is a very clever salesman but provides no actual scientific back up to his claims from what I can see.
It's overpriced and imo no better than most of the other biological media out there.


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## kilnakorr (12 Jun 2020)

I did find a 1 year test, and the product along with other similar products all showed no reduction in nitrates. The companies, when confronted with the results, had no scientific data to back up their claims.

If interested the whole test and more can be found here:
http://aquariumscience.org/index.php/7-5-denitrifying-media/


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## dw1305 (12 Jun 2020)

Hi all,





kilnakorr said:


> "Please note: Tanks with heavy stock and feeding (e.g. cichlid, goldfish, predator or fry tanks) and marine tanks may require 1.5kg - 2kg per 100 litres to achieve the full cycle filtration which will result in the reduction of nitrates. Do not worry about plant growth being affected in a tank which reads zero nitrates - the nitrate is processed into soluble nitrogen which is easily used by plants, boosting their growth."


Yes this has <"come up before">. @Niton was going to email him?





MirandaB said:


> The person who markets it is a very clever salesman but provides no actual scientific back up to his claims from what I can see.
> It's overpriced and imo no better than most of the other biological media out there.


Same for me.





kilnakorr said:


> .......and the product along with other similar products all showed no reduction in nitrates.


I'd actually see that as an advantage, if you were in a situation <"where anaerobic denitrification was occurring in the filter media"> you would be teetering  on the brink of low oxygen levels and at real risk of losing aerobic nitrification, with inevitably disastrous result. 

Personally I think that <"the advertisers"> of <"these products"> may be involved in some sort of private competition,  similar in scope <"to the one over the Pennines in Cumbria">.

cheers Darrel


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## sparkyweasel (12 Jun 2020)

kilnakorr said:


> If interested the whole test and more can be found here:
> http://aquariumscience.org/index.php/7-5-denitrifying-media/


Every-one should read that, especially the comments on marketing departments and science fiction.


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## jaypeecee (12 Jun 2020)

Hi Folks,

I'm doing my level best to keep an open mind about _Biohome Media_ but I'm finding it difficult! This is the first time I've heard of this product. But, I'm going to scour all that's been written about it and then offer my opinion. I'm certainly not planning to buy any and put it through its paces. It looks like aquariumscience.org has already done this and done it well.

JPC


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## hypnogogia (12 Jun 2020)

FWIW, I’ve used it for about two years now.  It doesn’t reduce nitrates.  It does work well as a bio media though, and because of its large size, it doesn’t overly reduce flow in the filter.  That’s the reason that I use it.


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## jaypeecee (12 Jun 2020)

hypnogogia said:


> FWIW, I’ve used it for about two years now. It doesn’t reduce nitrates.



The proof of the pudding...! I have nothing further to add. I wonder what the next miracle product will be. 

JPC


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## X3NiTH (13 Jun 2020)

jaypeecee said:


> The proof of the pudding...! I have nothing further to add. I wonder what the next miracle product will be.



Your wish is my command!

AGROSOL

How I came to find this is quite interesting, it was triggered by the post talking about low KH (and pH) and comment about both being low in the Amazon, which is a consequence of Tannin rich water, I went and looked at Tannic acid and it’s a huge molecule -






One look at that and my mind screamed ‘Chelate’, which coincidentally is true except not for minerals but for proteins! Which led me to look up taking out Cyanobacteria ability to use proteins to scavenge minerals by chelating them with Tannic Acid, turns out this is real! I found out 10mg/L is apparently the best dosage, which coincidentally is the same dose of Manganese to disrupt photosynthesis, could this be the double whammy!

What’s tannic acid got to do with the next miracle CO2 product, turns out they coat calcium carbonate with tannic acid which cages it up and if the solution is alkaline it stays that way, it only releases co2 when it reaches an acid environment within the plant (intended route is via stomata but that’s in foliage applications, could you broadcast feed this in an aquarium and be of benefit?). If I could get my hands on this I would try it out in an above neutral pH system with no co2 injection, could have interesting results!


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## Simon Cole (13 Jun 2020)

Biohome is horrible stuff anyway because it get grit and sand into your filter. How they believed it would work I don't know either.


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## jaypeecee (13 Jun 2020)

Hi @X3NiTH


jaypeecee said:


> I wonder what the next miracle product will be.



As this is a thread about nitrification and denitrification, my comment above was really about just this.

The scientific paper reference you provided is to a marine species of algae, not cyanobacteria as far as I can work out.

JPC


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## hypnogogia (14 Jun 2020)

Simon Cole said:


> because it get grit and sand into your filter


Must say I’ve not had that problem as long as it’s given a thorough rinse before fort use.


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