De-nitrification coil

[Paul B]

I built this coil a few years ago and it worked well. A de-nitrification coil is a simple device that reduces nitrates to zero for no money and it is a simple design costing maybe $25.00 to build. Hurricane Sandy put an end to the thing as it needs constant water flow and a few days without water flow will make the thing as helpful as some of our rock singers. I have posted the construction before but I will do it again in my book that is not out yet. Basically it is a long tube where anerobic bacteria grow on a diet of nitrates and Vodka. The Vodka keeps them smashed so they don't realize they are working for free. The thing also needs 3 weeks to a month to start working but now it reduces nitrates from 40 (which my reef is) to zero. It is still cycling in my workshop and I will again install it on my tank as soon as I get some time.
The device is just the blue tube, the rest of the stuff is just my normal workshop stuff.

The tube on the right is tank water and the tube on the left is water that leaves the coil.

 

[reefwiser]

Nice and simple Paul as always. Where are the supermodels?

 

[Paul B]

The Supermodels are on their way because many Supermodels are also fish Geeks.
OK, I just installed it on the tank and tomorrow I will test the water coming out of it. In my workshop it reduced the nitrates to zero but with actual use on a tank I am curious if it still works like that. I rigged up a system so that it can very slowly get an infusion of Vodka but this is still an early experiment so I will see how it goes. If it doesn't work as planned there is always the recycle bin

 

[EricTMah]

I've always wondered how these actually work on a tank.

My concern is. Yes it removes nitrates. Your tests clearly shows the reduction of NO3 when leaving the chamber. But how well does it keep up with the bio load in the tank itself. I've read these need slower flow through them to effectively remove decent amount of NO3, but does that speed actually keep up with and stay in front of the NO3 produced in your tank.

I'm following along to see the results you get when it's running on your system

 

[Paul B]

I have no idea as it is an early experiment. I had a previous model of this but after Sandy I took it apart and re-designed it. I am not sure if it is better or worse but it is less likely to leak and much simpler to build. If it reduces nitrate at all would be a benefit and if not, who cares, I have fun building this stuff. It reduced nitrates to zero in my workshop but that was in a small volume of water. When I installed it in my tank I had to shut off the flow for 20 minutes or so and I think the bacteria are not happy so it will take a while for it to start de nitrifying again.

 

[seasaltedinsrq]

I built one of these about 7 years ago. cost me about $50. They look very cheesy, but work very well. imo toilet flange as base, pipe, pipe cap, 40ft coiled airline tubing, media floss, couple valves, and a cheap tiny pump. I haven't had a nitrate prob since. well worth it! Reef-On!

 

[Paul B]

Everything on my tank
looks cheesy. Look at my skimmer and brass boiler thermometer on the wall. I like cheesy, anyone can buy something as that takes absolutely no talent or creativity.

 

[seasaltedinsrq]

I do not knock cheesy.lol I am impressed. Functional for 1, And a thumbs up for thinking outside the box. Saves money to buy other things, like "dinner"!

 

[chefjpaul]

Plain and simple awesomeness!

 

[Paul B]

My simplified system. The large clear thing is an empty bio pellet chamber, There are just brittle stars in there, like a 5 star hotel, it is just there because I wanted to build one but I hate bio pellets as I think they are stupid and I almost crashed my system with them. The smaller acrylic thing is a chamber where I can control the water height and it controls the amount of water going through the de-nitrification chamber. As you can see, I have an acrylic fetish

 

[tzsetzse]

LOL. I wrote this up 15 years ago on ABOUT.com's saltwater website. I used precoiled airhose tubing from compressors. Cut the metal ends off and fitted inside a length of PVC pipe. As already mentioned, it actually works AND without any food, (sorry vodka lovers).
This one has been around quite a long time but that doesn't mean the science has changed, LOL

 

[Paul B]

The thing finally seems to be cycled and it is working about twice as fast as the original design. This one is the same coil but I added about 5' of sand in a 3/4" pipe. It is processing about one drop a second and so far turns nitrates of about 40 to zero in the 10 minutes or so the water takes to get through the device. I am not going to install it on my tank yet as I still need to do more testing. It has been cycling for one month but I still want to process water faster. The test results are from the water entering the device and coming out.