Coral Chips and Nitrates, In Sump Tank, NO3 Options

[GoldfisHub]

Hi Guys,

I am in the mist of setting a goldfish tank, for the sump tank, I intend to place lots of coral chips so that I can achieve the effect as in the marine tank and hopefully that can get rid of NO3. However, with lots of coral chips, will it affect the water condition and hence affect the grooming of goldfish, like pH, Calcium not sure what else. Anyone has any experience or thoughts to share?

[desireless]

Actually I have been waiting someone to burst "this balloon of mystery"

I asked "why specifically coral chips" is because I feel that there is a need to be opened about the role of coral chips in denitrifying mechanism. From what we (Goldrush and me) gather from hobbyists who use coral chips, there seems to be a mutual acceptance that it helps in controling nitrates. Except that from how the information was put to us, we could not understand how this was done.

The unwillingness to open up has caused quite a lot of misunderstanding about coral chips. It made people think that coral chips has some magical chemical effect on nitrates. I am not shy to say that I was one of them. So when Goh mentioned that "water flow is very slow and area passing through is low in oxygen", it suddenly became very clear, how the physical aspects of coral chips "help" in the denitrifying process.


It is NOT the chemical effect from the coral chips themselves that is doing the denitrifying, but rather, the physical textures that can sustain anaerobic bacteria, which in turn converts nitrates into nitrogen gas


This is basically the concept behind TT (Trickle Tower), which is widely adopted by koi hobbyists.

So, if someone is wondering why your friends keep telling you that "coral chips help in controlling nitrates", Goh has already given you an answer here.

[gohks]

Perhaps that could explain why my UGF laid with thk coral chips has constantly unbelievable zero NO3 compared to having an exploding NO3 on bare tank and people has been promoting layers of coral chips in sump tank to take care of NO3 is indeed true. Of course, the trade off would be the mentioned "time-bomb" if this setup is not well maintained.
Now I understand why some people stress and live by coral chips being a MUST and very important in goldfish keeping. )