Here are some nice videos and reviews of the Hiatt filtration system. The Hiatt Filtration system is by far the most powerfull filter around and is available for both fresh and saltwater aquarium.

In a recent post we talked about how to reduce NO3 and PO4 by dosing vodka (see Dosing Vodka to reduce NO3 and PO4…). Today, we will have a look at an other technique, very similar to vodka dosing, where sugar is used to reduce NO3 and PO4.

I won’t go deep into the scientific area of this. I’ll leave this to others who are more comfortable with this topic. To make a long story short, the goal of dosing Vodka is to provide an organic carbon source to grow bacteria in order to consume phosphates and nitrates.

An organic compound is any member of a large class of chemical compounds whose molecules contain carbon and hydrogen atoms. There is actually no official definition of an organic compound. While some text books define an organic compound as one containing a Carbon and Hydrogen bond, other state that if a molecule contains carbon it is organic…

Activated carbon is by far the biggest selling maintenance product in the aquarium industry and is one of the most effective absorbents currently used.
However, using activated carbon in fresh or saltwater aquarium is a controversial subject and opinions ranged from “never use it” to “can’t live without it”.