Do i need to buy a denitrator or can i use a fluid bed filter with media?

[snaza]

Do i need to buy a denitrator or can i use a fluid bed filter with media? i have a spare fluid bed filter so do i need to spend a couple hundred $ on the denitrator. i know i need slow flow. what media is good? seachem denitrate? or sulphur based stuff. how long does the media usually last and how much would i need for a 110G tank?

thanks

Aaron

[snaza]

anyone

[DanInSD]

Personally, I recommend lots of live rock, a deep sand bed, and a solid water change regimen... I know, I'm a Nazi...

Dan

[snaza]

Originally posted by DanInSD
Personally, I recommend lots of live rock, a deep sand bed, and a solid water change regimen... I know, I'm a Nazi...

Dan

Thanks, i do have lots of live rock DSB etc and my nitrates aren't actually bad (around 5PPM) im just curious as to how they work and are the really just a fluid filter?

[Fishbulb2]

What kind of fluid bed filter do you have? Really the key to any denitrator is only large surface area and slow flow rate that creates anaerobic zones. A fluid denitrator would work fine actually if you could use a separate pump to keep the sand fluidized and another pump to provide the extremely slow flow rate into and out of the filter. Basically, this would be a recirc style design. If you used something like seachem denitrate, then the filter certainly wouldn't fluidize but would still be effective as long as the flow through rate stays below the 50 gph recommended by the manufacturer.