Definitions
Conventional wisdom recognizes three types of filtration:
- Mechanical filtration is the removal from the water column of particles one can see, i.e. very roughly those particles over 50 to 100 microns in size
- Chemical filtration is the removal of some colored organics and some smells from aquarium water
- Biofiltration is filtration by living organisms of particles less than 100 microns (food, algae, fish pathogens, etc.) and living organisms doing oxidation of some chemicals like dissolved organic compounds and ammonia.
Note there can be considerable crossover. For instance, 30 pores per inch foam acts both as a very good mechanical filter and as a very good biological filter media.
Filtration
Filtration is often misunderstood by those new to the hobby. They think filtration is only the removal of the particles in the water they can see, things like uneaten food and feces. They think that if these particles are removed the water will be crystal clear and healthy for the fish. Nothing could be further from the truth. The visible particle removal (“mechanical filtration”) is only a small and relatively unimportant part of filtration and does little for fish health or for crystal clear water.
Filtration should be looked at from a chart.
| Water contaminant | Biofiltration | Mechanical filtration | Most chemical filtration | Ultraviolet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammonia and nitrite | Removes | |||
| Bad bacteria | Removes | Removes | ||
| Pathogens like ich | Removes | Removes | ||
| Dissolved organics | Removes | |||
| Feces, uneaten food | Removes | Removes | ||
| Floating algae | Removes | Removes | Removes | |
| Tannic acid, dyes, smells | Removes |
Biofiltration is obviously easily 80% of the game per this chart.
The biggest myth about filtration is that one needs a clean filter in order for the filter to be effective. Exactly the opposite is true. The dirtier the filter media the better the filtration. The brown gunk inside a filter is many different varieties of very beneficial organisms, including so-called “beneficial bacteria”. The filter below filtered an aquarium with perfect water parameters and some very healthy fish. It was not a “nitrate factory” nor a spewer of disease pathogens.
The Three Stages of Filtration
Most of the well-meaning but ill-advised advice one gets on social media is that there are three stages of filtration needed in an aquarium:
- First layer: Mechanical filtration (removal of the large particles of food and fish waste)
- Second Layer: Chemical filtration (removal of “toxins and heavy metals”)
- Third Layer: Biofiltration (oxidation of ammonia to nitrate)
Mechanical filtration is a relatively unimportant stage in filtration and many, including the author, do no mechanical filtration at all quite successfully.
The major claim about chemical filtration is that it “removes toxins and heavy metals”. Just one minor problem: there are NO toxins or heavy metals in aquarium water that need to be removed. So chemical filtration only removes tannic acid, malachite green, and some smells and as such is pretty useless.
Chemical filtration is an invention of profit-driven aquarium supply companies. “Replace the cartridges containing the carbon once a month” is part of the instructions for every cartridge filter made in the past fifty years. It makes a LOT of money for filter manufacturers.
Biofiltration oxidation of ammonia to nitrate (and biofiltration of dissolved organic compounds to carbon dioxide) is very important and is the driving force behind having a filter in an aquarium.
What Science Says
Science says something different than what social media will tell you.
Science says aquarium water ideally should be filtered in the following stages:
- Mechanical filtration of the large particles of food and fish waste (a relatively unimportant task)
- No Chemical filtration
- Three types of biofiltration:
- Biofilter oxidation of ammonia to nitrate by autotrophic (i.e. “eats chemicals like ammonia”) bacteria. This is a very important task. It is the major reason a filter exists in an aquarium.
- AND, in the same media as biofiltration, biofilter oxidation of “DOCs” (“Dissolved Organic Compounds” like carbohydrates and proteins) to carbon dioxide, ammonia and water by heterotrophic (i.e. “eats normal foods like sugars and proteins”) bacteria. This DOC oxidation is very important and very overlooked. It is key to crystal clear water and good fish health.
- AND, in the same media in the same media as biofiltration, capture and killing of things in the water like bacteria and disease pathogens by heterotrophic (i.e. “eats normal foods like sugars and proteins”) organisms like rotifers.
The last three steps go on simultaneously in the brown gunk in a filter. The filtration breakdown between the autotrophic and the heterotrophic organisms is as follows:
| Water contaminant | Autotrophic Biofiltration | Heterotrophic Biofiltration |
|---|---|---|
| Ammonia and nitrite | Removes | |
| Bad bacteria | Removes | |
| Pathogens like ich | Removes | |
| Dissolved organics | Removes | |
| Feces, uneaten food | Removes | |
| Floating algae | Removes | |
| Tannic acid, dyes, smells |
This gives one a sense of how important heterotrophic organisms are in the filter.
This type of filtration is what large intense aquaculture operations use. They use something like a rotating drum filter to remove the large particles (i.e. mechanical filtration) and then use a large biofilter (typically a K1 fluidized bed) that oxidizes both the ammonia and the DOCs. It is noteworthy that I can find NO aquaculture operation that uses chemical filtration. NONE.
Biofiltration is VERY dependent on the surface area that is available for beneficial organisms to colonize in the filter media. It is also dependent on how often the flow goes over the media. For instance, a trickle filter is roughly 30% as efficient as a submerged filter such as canister. The reason is that only 30% of the surface area of the trickle filter is under water at any given time.
Filtration Schemes
There are about as many ways to stock a canister filter, bottom to top flow hang on back filter or sump as there are aquarium keepers. This is a typical “four element” scheme.
“Typical recommended” four basket canister filter stacking:
- basket #1: small pore mechanical filter (typically polyester floss, “Pinkie pads” or 40 ppi foam) – removes some of the visible waste does nothing for the problematic ammonia and dissolved organics waste. It can significantly decrease the flow of the filter. It requires opening the filter once a week to clean or replace it. Often called “polishing filtration”
- basket #2: chemical filtration, activated carbon – relatively useless, only makes money for manufacturers
- basket #3: “special chemical” media – useless, only makes money for manufacturers
- Basket #4: biofiltration media – where ammonia and DOCs are oxidized and the majority of the reason for having a filter.
This design thus devotes 25% of its media to the main reason one has a filter on an aquarium, namely biofiltration. Not a good idea in my opinion. Also note that invariably the biofiltration media is something like ceramic rings, which testing shows is the WORST biofiltration media.
Now as mentioned, there are thousands of “filtration” schemes used in the hobby.
Another common scheme seen on social media for three basket filtration is:
- small pore mechanical filter (typically polyester floss, “Pinkie pads” or 40 ppi foam) – removes some of the visible waste does nothing for the problematic ammonia and dissolved organics waste. It can significantly decrease the flow of the filter. It requires opening the filter once a week to clean or replace it. Often called “polishing filtration”
- chemical filtration, activated carbon – useless, only makes money for manufacturers.
- biofiltration media – where ammonia and DOCs are oxidized and the majority of the reason for having a filter.
This scheme devote 33% of the volume to biofiltration. Better but still not what I would recommend.
Many very good aquarists use the following scheme:
- Basket #1: small pore mechanical filter (typically polyester floss, “Pinkie pads” or 40 ppi foam) – removes some of the visible waste does nothing for the problematic ammonia and dissolved organics waste. It can significantly decrease the flow of a canister filter. It requires opening the filter once a week to clean or replace it. Often called “polishing filtration”
- Basket #2, #3 and #4: biofiltration media – where ammonia and DOCs are oxidized and the majority of the reason for having a filter.
This devotes 75% of the volume to biofiltration. In canisters this scheme is typified by filter floss or Pinkie pads on top of a ton of various biomedia. Typically the aquarists will use five or six types of media. This is just kind of humorous as all this biomedia only do biofiltration. They only vary in how well they do biofiltration. But note I used three to five types of media in all my many filters for some fifty years so I can’t throw any stones.
A version of this scheme is a sump with filter socks and a ton of various types of biomedia. This is a perfectly acceptable method and works well for many.
I now use a somewhat unique filtration method on all sixteen or so of my aquariums:
- 100% biofiltration media (ONLY foam, K1 or plastic pot scrubbers)- where ammonia and DOCs are oxidized and the majority of the reason for having a filter.
I’m too lazy to open my canister filters (I have about six canister filters!), or to clean socks from my ten sumps, so I do NO mechanical filtration. So I accept that I will have a 10% to 30% increase in the load of dissolved organic compounds in my aquariums. I just use EXTREMELY heavy over-filtration to handle the load. All my aquariums also have under gravel filters which I never clean.
If a filter rapidly plugs up with brown gunk in a week or two weeks the filter is simply too small to do an adequate job of filtration.
While low biofiltration (i.e. filter size) is the major factor other factors can contribute to it:
- Heavy stocking
- Heavy feeding
- Low protein food
- Low aeration
Note that filtration in an aquarium is a natural process. Mother Nature is both very flexible and very forgiving. I’ve seen many different filtration schemes which have all worked very well.
One very good YouTube presenter uses only air operated sponge filters in many of his aquariums. He cleans his sponge filters thoroughly every week under running chlorinated water. His sponge filters have all been established for a long time so, as our testing showed, the beneficial bacteria in the sponge is in a very tenacious film on the foam matrix. So he doesn’t clean away or kill his beneficial bacteria. And his many aquariums of fish are very healthy and his water is crystal clear. Not the way I would do it but it works fine for him.
Filtration in More Depth
Filtration is a very misunderstood topic because there is so much money to be made by manufacturers all claiming to make the “best filter” and the “best filter media”. The barrage of fake marketing hype is astonishing. And this get parroted on much of social media. The science of aquarium filtration can be found in these links:
6.1. Mechanical Filtration
6.2. Biological Filtration
6.3. Over-filtration
6.4. Crystal-Clear Water
6.5 Water Flow Rate
6.6. Aquaponic Filtration
6.7. Nitrate Factory Myth
6.8. The Mistake of Thorough Cleaning
The myth of chemical filtration is debunked in the following link:
7.4. Chemical Filtration Media
The Science of Filtration in Depth
There are some aquarium hobbyists who are interested in delving deep into the science and the calculations behind all aspects of filtration. For those who are so inclined the following is pertinent:
6.2. Biofiltration
6.2.1. Detritus Explained
6.2.2. Brown Gunk in the filter
6.2.3. Cloudy Water
When one “cycles” an aquarium one is actually cycling the biofiltration part of the filter. Thus the science of cycling is an integral part of any filtration scheme. This science is reviewed in the following links:
2.10. The Nitrogen Cycle
2.11. Inoculate for Cycling
2.12. Beneficial Bacteria
2.14. The “Mature” Aquarium
Translated in Dutch by Elise Rijdes van Soest
Startpage Aquariumscience
Source: Aquariumscience.org – David Bogert
