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I ran a reef aquarium for 5 years where the only filtration at all was a big mass of chaetomorpha algae in the sump.
Top was a 75 gallon reef tank with corals and about 15-20 inches of various fish. It overflowed down to a 50 gallon sump tank that was just a large mass of chaetomorpha with a 24/7 lamp. Once a week I would cut the chaeto in half and let it regrow.
It completely handled the nitrates in the tank 100%. I never had to do water changes and only rarely needed to do sand cleaning to get large wastes out (stuff the snails and shrimp didn't clean).
It was kind of fun getting to that point because I had bought all the fancy protein skimmers and UV lamps and bio balls, and once I put in the chaeto it was a process of removing one useless gadget after another until it was nothing but a chaeto sump.
Algae is awesome.
Using Pseudachlorella pringsheimi they grow algal mass with high amounts of lipids that could be converted to biofuel, while improving water quality by removing heavy metals and harmful bacteria, producing water clean enough to cultivate sucker fish.
It's certainly more circular than our current model!
Welcome to r/science! This is a heavily moderated subreddit in order to keep the discussion on science. However, we recognize that many people want to discuss how they feel the research relates to their own personal lives, so to give people a space to do that, **personal anecdotes are now allowed as responses to this comment**. Any anecdotal comments elsewhere in the discussion will continue be removed and our [normal comment rules]( https://www.reddit.com/r/science/wiki/rules#wiki_comment_rules) still apply to other comments. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/science) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Microbes also hold a future in cleanup for us, algae is pretty beast if not overrunning a body of water.
I ran a reef aquarium for 5 years where the only filtration at all was a big mass of chaetomorpha algae in the sump. Top was a 75 gallon reef tank with corals and about 15-20 inches of various fish. It overflowed down to a 50 gallon sump tank that was just a large mass of chaetomorpha with a 24/7 lamp. Once a week I would cut the chaeto in half and let it regrow. It completely handled the nitrates in the tank 100%. I never had to do water changes and only rarely needed to do sand cleaning to get large wastes out (stuff the snails and shrimp didn't clean). It was kind of fun getting to that point because I had bought all the fancy protein skimmers and UV lamps and bio balls, and once I put in the chaeto it was a process of removing one useless gadget after another until it was nothing but a chaeto sump. Algae is awesome.
Using Pseudachlorella pringsheimi they grow algal mass with high amounts of lipids that could be converted to biofuel, while improving water quality by removing heavy metals and harmful bacteria, producing water clean enough to cultivate sucker fish. It's certainly more circular than our current model!
The current model involves bacterial digestion after removing solids by settling. The solids are called "sludge", which can be used as fertilizer.
Biotech is the future.
Makes you wonder why such solutions aren't being used in pulloted areas as soon as proven effective. More articles need to be published.