Nitratereductor

[Carlvdm]

Help Reefers

I am looking for plans or ideas on a DIY nitratereductor.

Please help

Carl

[cashman95]

Its called a Water Change!!!

LOL

[Gem Tang Rider]

I used a de-nitrater for years & they don't work any better than a DSB or a fuge full of cheato.

[Driftwood]

They do have media you can run in a reactor that removes nitrates.

You can use a deep sand bed in part of your tank or in a sump/refuge.

You could put some macro algae in your tank or refuge.

You could run a bigger skimmer.

You could do more water changes.

You could house less fish or feed them less often.

Good luck!

[Zoa06]

never use nitrate lock from www.magnavore.com/media.html?

[Carlvdm]

Cashman

Thanks but 200 to 400 liter water changes is getting very expensive. We are in the darkest of Africa.

Prugs

Granted Niratereducer are old fashion. 4 of our local reefclub started using the big Aqua Medic units on large sps tanks with great sucsess hence my interest but do not want to pay that amount for a named brand.

Driftwood

Got all of that but need more. Very guilty on feeding but **** if i walk past they all storm the font glass and i feel Sh!@##$T

Carl

[Fishbulb2]

There are lots of plans online and it's pretty simple. The simplest ever is just ~100 feet of airline tubing and siphon from your tank to your sump. Put a small valve on the outlet to adjust the flow rate. What I like about better commercial units, is the ability to does vodka directly into the denitrator. It really boosts the efficiency of the unit but doesn't have any of the risks or effects of dosing the vodka directly into the display. I would never dose my tank directly with vodka but I did dose into my reactor for years and it works very well.
FB

[RichT]

Do a search on sulfur denitrators. CaribSea also has a real simple plan on their web site for them also.

[douggiestyle]

ignore some of those posts carl. you are right to ask about them. yes live rock or dsb or fuge full of algae will help. but they are sometimes not enough. sometimes the tank is not overstocked but has messy fish. also there is nothing wrong with wanting to feed your fish and keep them healthy, in other words daily feeding is ok and recomended. again do some searching and you will find that some of the succesful tanks are feeding the fish at multiple times per the day. when water changes are done, unless they are very large or frequent, they have little impact on the nitrate level. so the question is why are these succesful tanks not having nitrate problems and doing huge water changes on a weekly or bimonthly basis? i therorize it is the filtering ability of coral. as the tank becomes more established and the coral colonies become large, nitate problems can diminish. one way to eliminate these problems in the meantime is to use a denitrator. and there are several types. the general consensous is that the sulfur denitrators are the most efficient. they also add calcium to the water by integrating a small calcium reactor. so by using one you can feed more, keeping the fishies happy, also stock more (dont confuse this as overstocking) and at the same time keep the corals happy with low nitrates and higher calcium.

using a small denitrator can equate to doing a 75 gallon water change per week. as an experiment, i was able to not do any water change for 2 years and only use additives. i was able to maintain with noticable growth a sps brain and a few lps and and varius leathers as well as the usual varieties of polyps and mushrooms (i do not suggest trying this). i have no fuge and only experienced very minor amounts of hair algae. the denitrator i use is a coil denitrator.

[Carlvdm]

Thanks Doug after this i feel signaficantly warmer to this site.

Carl

[douggiestyle]

BTW
welcome to reef central

[dhnguyen]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=470701

["Umm, fish?"]

May I ask a de-nitrater question? I don't wish to highjack your thread, Carlvdm, but this is the most recent discussion.

I know that the "scary factor" in regards to de-nitraters in general is the possibility of the production of hydrogen sulfide. I did a little research and found that the waste water industry deals with hydrogen sulfide by oxygenating the water. So, would it be advisable to run the effluent from one of these units through, say, a wet dry filter or a protein skimmer?

Thanks!

[Fishbulb2]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8928633#post8928633 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by "Umm, fish?"
May I ask a de-nitrater question? I don't wish to highjack your thread, Carlvdm, but this is the most recent discussion.

I know that the "scary factor" in regards to de-nitraters in general is the possibility of the production of hydrogen sulfide. I did a little research and found that the waste water industry deals with hydrogen sulfide by oxygenating the water. So, would it be advisable to run the effluent from one of these units through, say, a wet dry filter or a protein skimmer?

Thanks!

Absolutely! You nailed it. I ran my effluent into the a small container of CaCO3 with lots or aeration from the output of my protein skimmer. This helps drive off and H2S gas and H2S will even react with CaCO3 causing it to turn blackish. Ideally, if you tune your reactor well though, you should really minimize the H2S being produced.
:D
FB

[douggiestyle]

i suggest with a coil denitrator 1 drop per second = apx. 75 gallons per week. at start up i ran it full speed for a couple weeks.


also they do fill up with water, so premix a few gallons of make up sw.

[the other tang]

I would also search rdsb remote deep sand bed. It is similar in end result to a denitrator and much easier to use. No tuning just get your flow close and go. I just set mine up and have to data to support it...yet. There is an approx 50 page thread with all the pro and cons" mostly unfounded" of using this. It is even easier to build than a denitrator too, 10 bucks and a half hour will do it. If you want pics or details of mine just let me know.

[mr. pluto]

why not try a used ca. reactor filled w/70 % sulphur beads &
30% calcium gravel. maybe be reverse flow style
something like this cannot be that hard to make.

http://www.proteinskimmer.com.cn/c/cn/M_ViewImage.asp?ProductID=2129&user=

[douggiestyle]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8932622#post8932622 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mr. pluto
why not try a used ca. reactor filled w/70 % sulphur beads &
30% calcium gravel. maybe be reverse flow style
something like this cannot be that hard to make.

http://www.proteinskimmer.com.cn/c/cn/M_ViewImage.asp?ProductID=2129&user=

or convert a $40 phosphate reactor.

[mr. pluto]

maybe two of them, loop a small water pump in the flow.
tap a john guest fitting to the other one which is filled w/ ca reactor material. you could mount them on a small cutting board.

[douggiestyle]

where do you get the sulfur beads. ive looked (not to hard) and cant find any.

[mr. pluto]

custom aquatic , $20.00 a liter

[douggiestyle]

thanks