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Whether a trickle filter is required for a reef aquarium depends on
the type of system that is being set up. Generally, however, they are
not required for the majority of systems. You can save the money and
purchase something else that is important, or spend more money on say
lighting or a protein skimmer.
A trickle filter is simply a container that is filled with high
surface area to volume media (typically something like "bio balls")
through which water is trickled from the top to bottom. This brings the
water into contact with the high surface area of the media, on which
bacteria can grow to process the nutrients in the water. So it is the
biological filtration, processing ammonia and nitrite to nitrate. It
also brings the water into good contact with the air, allowing more
free exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
Bacteria will grow on any surface in contact with the water, so all
you have to do is provide a large surface area with good water flow and
the bacteria will grow on it. This is why you don't need a trickle
filter. As soon as you place sand and rock in a system, that will
provide more than enough surface area (within reason). So since the
majority of reef aquariums have liverock and some sort of sand on the
base, then there is no need to have a trickle filter.
You will often here that people have it to assist or provide some
more area and the more surface area available for the bacteria to grow
on, the better. But the truth is, when you work out the amount of
surface area in an average reef tank with sand and liverock, the amount
of area provided on the
media within a trickle filter pales in comparison. Its absence
will not be noticed and having it in there doesn't really help that
much.
A
trickle filter does provide the benefit of extra gas exchange due to
the water having to run down over the substrate in contact with the
air. But
it is far better to build the system such that there is enough gas
exchange in the tank itself, which means having enough
water movement in there.
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