Denitrator?

[Laz A]

So I seem to be 2 for 2 on this one... both times losing about 500 bucks or more in coral. I went out of town recently and my mother inlaw overfed the tank and destroied all my corals :/. My nitrate test was whacked out and wasnt reading my nitrates right so unfortunately I didnt properly react to the nitrate issue cause I didnt know how serious it was.
Anyways, I want to get a denitrator but I dont know if theyre really worth the money and if they are which I should go for. I read real good things about the aquaripure ones but then again youd expect them to hype their own product and I need an honest suggestion.

Thanks guys!

Laz

 

[bellareef]

Have you considered using a deep sand bed (DSB)? You can even add one remotely, in a bucket.

 

[cherokee_dude]

Tagging along. Anyone have a link for a RDSB in a bucket?

 

[kellyjn]

Hope I'm not violating any rules linking to other forums. Mods please feel free to edit this if it is.

http://www.linomareefs.com/topics/view/715

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[cherokee_dude]

Thanks, I'm going to try it and put up a write up in the next coming weeks After school vacation mayhem!!!

 

[Bio-nut]

Save your self the money and make one out of a Kent media reactor
http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_AquariumPage~PageAlias~filters_kent_marine_phos_reactor.html
then just plumb the in and out ot a maxi jet with 1/2" tubing.

drill and tap the top for r/o fitting and add the media.
here is some picks of one I made for my self and it worked perfect at 2 drips per second. I know mine is different but it is the same principle!

 

[bellareef]

I know mine is different but it is the same principle!

Thanks for posting pics. Is that a carbon fed denitrator?

 

[kellyjn]

Bio-Nut

What you have posted is nothing like a DSB, and will not achieve what a DSB can. You made a fluidized sand filter. That is a bacteria factory, just not the same kind of bacteria a DSB produces.

One would not get nitrate reduction using the method posted. What you made is the same as adding bio-balls to a sump, it gives more room for aerobic (oxygen using) bacteria growth. The water flowing through your tank is loaded with oxygen. It helps turn the ammonia to nitrite, the nitrite to nitrate, but does nothing in terms of removing the nitrates. A fluidized sand bed is really a nitrate producer not an exporter.

A DSB works as the water in the bottom of a bucket doesn't get oxygen. Bacteria that populate the anarobic (low o2) and anoxic (no o2) spaces are adapted to use nitrogen. Nitrogen is made into hydrogen and released. Otherwise, water changes, or macro algae, or DSBs are pretty much the only means to remove nitrate from the aquarium.

 

[bellareef]

Nitrogen is made into hydrogen and released. Otherwise, water changes, or macro algae, or DSBs are pretty much the only means to remove nitrate from the aquarium.

Carbon (carbohydrate) fed denitrators are also effective for lowering nitrate, and were more popular before the advent of plenums and dsb's.

The process you're describing is denitrification, where anaerobic bacteria use up nitrate as a terminal electron acceptor (instead of oxygen), and produce nitrogen gas, not hydrogen.

NO3 --> NO2 --> NO --> N2O --> N2

 

[Bio-nut]

Laz was asking about Denitrators in his initial thread, so I responded on topic!

Not to sound like a dick, but I am well aware of the use of a DSB or Jaberg plenum to bread anerobic bacteria. But at the same time you also produce Rhizobium bacteria which provide the reverse affect of breaking the triple bond in N2 then reducing it back to NH4. What I implamented was a simple denirtificator NOT A FLUIDIZED SAND BED. The ARM is in the chamber serves to buffer the free H+ that is a biproduct of converting NO3 to N2 when using a sulfur media. And further more in my 10 years of bio-chemistry I have noticed that that the best way to completely remove N2 is to allow it to bubble of as a gas and not to trap it in the sand bed.

I just put this on a fellow members tank and brought his system down from 0.33 to undetectable in three weeks.

Photometers don't lie.

 

[iani]

Bio-Nut

What you have posted is nothing like a DSB, and will not achieve what a DSB can. You made a fluidized sand filter. That is a bacteria factory, just not the same kind of bacteria a DSB produces.

One would not get nitrate reduction using the method posted. What you made is the same as adding bio-balls to a sump, it gives more room for aerobic (oxygen using) bacteria growth. The water flowing through your tank is loaded with oxygen. It helps turn the ammonia to nitrite, the nitrite to nitrate, but does nothing in terms of removing the nitrates. A fluidized sand bed is really a nitrate producer not an exporter.

A DSB works as the water in the bottom of a bucket doesn't get oxygen. Bacteria that populate the anarobic (low o2) and anoxic (no o2) spaces are adapted to use nitrogen. Nitrogen is made into hydrogen and released. Otherwise, water changes, or macro algae, or DSBs are pretty much the only means to remove nitrate from the aquarium.

I don't think you know what a denitrator is. Do you realize that there is sulfur media in a denitrator?

 

[Bio-nut]

Thank you!!!!

 

[Paul_N]

I made a DIY sulfur denitrator. The work really well!

 

[Acroholic]

I just installed this H&S 150SR denitrator on my net 275 gallon system.

I bought it so cheap that it was about the same as a DIY and it is a recirculator. Love it. So simple and so effective.
Dave

 

[Acroholic]

Bio-Nut

What you have posted is nothing like a DSB, and will not achieve what a DSB can. You made a fluidized sand filter. That is a bacteria factory, just not the same kind of bacteria a DSB produces.

One would not get nitrate reduction using the method posted. What you made is the same as adding bio-balls to a sump, it gives more room for aerobic (oxygen using) bacteria growth. The water flowing through your tank is loaded with oxygen. It helps turn the ammonia to nitrite, the nitrite to nitrate, but does nothing in terms of removing the nitrates. A fluidized sand bed is really a nitrate producer not an exporter.

A DSB works as the water in the bottom of a bucket doesn't get oxygen. Bacteria that populate the anarobic (low o2) and anoxic (no o2) spaces are adapted to use nitrogen. Nitrogen is made into hydrogen and released. Otherwise, water changes, or macro algae, or DSBs are pretty much the only means to remove nitrate from the aquarium.

Sulfur Denitrators work like this: water passes thru them at a rate like 1-4 drops a second, the water inside becomes oxygen delpleted, allowing anaerobic bacteria to colonize and feed off the sulfur media. The anaerobic bacteria ultimately convert the nitrate into nitrogen gas. The gas bubbles out of the reactor. You add aragonite media to the reactor to counteract the low pH the effluent comes out at.

I am ramping up my H&S to the highest drip rate I can while still maintaining 0 nitrates coming out of the reactor. I am up to about 6 drops/second now. When I cannot maintain 0 nitrates in the reactor effluent, then I'll back it down a drop and just leave it.
Dave

 

[thincat]

I think you got this backwards:
anarobic (low o2) and anoxic (no o2)
It should be anoxic (low O2)

 

[Acroholic]

I think you got this backwards:
anarobic (low o2) and anoxic (no o2)
It should be anoxic (low O2)

Actually, the term is spelled anaerobic, not anarobic. Anoxic refers to no oxygen, particularly water with zero dissolved oxygen, not low O2 as you incorrectly refer. And when I used the term anaerobic, I was referring to the bacteria, not the water.

Please check your post, your spelling, and your logic before you erroneously try to correct someone.
Dave

 

[pakora]

I have no idea what this thread is about as I only noticed your title "Chalice Cartel". Are you part of the mafia that makes people disappear for trying to get those hard to get chalices? :crossedlips::tongue:

Actually, the term is spelled anaerobic, not anarobic. Anoxic refers to no oxygen, particularly water with zero dissolved oxygen, not low O2 as you incorrectly refer. And when I used the term anaerobic, I was referring to the bacteria, not the water.

Please check your post, your spelling, and your logic before you erroneously try to correct someone.
Dave

 

[MikeB]

Here is my DIY Denitrator made with 2 Phosban Reactors. I modded the reactors and running it with a Maxijet 1200. Mine is running about 2 drips per second right now until I get 0 ppm. Once that happens I will slowly boost the drops until I can have a full stream.

 

[Acroholic]

Here is a pic of mine in operation. I was going to go DIY on mine, except I got this $500 unit for $175, only a bit more than it would have cost to go DIY. Main difference is mine is a recirculator. It sits on a platform with an Aquabee 2000 under it. Water and nitrogen gas exit thru the top. You set the drip rate with the small needle valve. I just upped my flow to 6 drops/sec last night, as 5 per second had 0 nitrates.

Anyone with an old recirculating calcium reactor can turn it into a recirculating sulfur reactor.

Browns: I like your use of the Phosban reactors. I use two: 1 for GFO and 1 for carbon.