The system's dual filtration towers contain: A: Hi-Q Bio Balls, which provide a tremendous amount of surface area for the beneficial bacteria that reduce amonia to nitrite, and then nitrite to nitrates B:Each Hi-Q filter tower contains about 14oz. of the bacteria culturing mineral blocks which provide an anoxic (very low in oxygen) environment wherenitrates are converted into harmlessnitrogen gas.

Up to 20 Gallon - $59.99      Up to 120 Gallon - $99.99

Now you can keep an aquarium in your home without the mess and bother of changing the water. The The Hi-Q Filter System uses green marineaquaculture technology to provide the safest environment for aquatic life. Using an advanced combination of oxidizing and deoxidizing filters, the system breaks down fish waste in a continuous cycle, creating a mini eco system in your aquarium that cleanses itself, just as in nature.

Unlike traditional filters, theThe Hi-Q Filter System brings natures key biological process to fruition within the closed environs of a home aquarium. This process is known as thenitrogen cycle. Thenitrogen cycle is the consumption and metabolizing of aquarium waste by beneficialbacteria in separate stages. Physical or organic waste products such as fish excrement, uneaten food, and dead plant tissue serve as the primary source of nutrition forheterotrophic bacteria, which metabolize the waste intoammonia. This process, calledmineralization, is the first step of thenitrogen cycle.Ammonia is a toxic chemical compound which must be eliminated as it occurs in order to prevent harm to fish and aquatic invertebrates. In thenitrogen cycle this is accomplished by certainautotrophicbacteria, which rely onammonia as their source of energy and nutrition. Theseautotrophic bacteria (usually deriving from thnitrosomonas genus) consume and metabolizeammonia intonitrite. Nitrite, likeammonia, is an extremely toxic presence to fish and must be eliminated as it occurs. The reduction ofnitrite is accomplished by another group ofautotrophicbacteria (usually deriving from the genusnitrobacter ) which convertnitrite intonitrate. This sequence of actions in whichaerobicautotrophic bacteria convertammonia tonitrite and then tonitrate is the process ofnitrification, or the second phase of thenitrogen cycle. Although the presence ofnitrate is considered to be significantly less harmful to fish than eitherammonia ornitrite, it is commonly accepted among aquarists thatnitrate levels must still be regulated to preserve the health of the aquarium. With this last point, the difference between theThe Zero Water Change System and traditional filters comes into full view.

Conventional wisdom has long held that weekly water changes are the only effective method fonitrate removal. TheHi-Q Filter System is the first all-in-one aquarium filter that promotes and implements the process ofdenitrification instead.Denitrification is the last phase of thenitrogen cycle, occurring whennitrate is converted intonitrogen gas. Fordenitrification to occur,heterotrophbacteria must be provided with a low oxygen environment to colonize and oxidizenitrate. TheHi-Q Filter System facilitates this environment within its two reverse flow biological filters and undergravel cultivation system. The filters water flow compartment is divided into four asymmetrical columns, each containing large quantities ofaerobic,anoxic, andanaerobic cultivation media. Theaerobic media is a mass of sponge-filled bio balls, the dense centers of which provide an ideal environment for the cultivation ofaerobic,autotrophic, andheterotrophbacteria as stated, these are the beneficialbacteria responsible for mineralization andnitrification. Theanoxic/anaerobic media is a grouping of porous, cylinder-shaped mineral composites, each featuring a hard center allowing for the propagation of facultativeanaerobic as well as strictlyanaerobicbacteria.

By facilitating aerobic,anoxic, and facultativeanaerobic conditions throughout the aquarium, The Hi-Q Filter System stimulates robust growth of both nitrifying and denitrifyingbacteria, enabling a richautotrophic andheterotroph environment of exceptional quantity, biodiversity, and balance and thus, no water changes!