nitrate removal cartridge

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

hello, i was wondering about a nitrate removal cartridge. i was doing research on building my own ro system with the products i use in my plumbing business. i stumbled upon a nitrate removal cartridge from aries filterworks through my distributor. it will remove 475 grains of nitrate in a 4.5 x 20 filter cartridge. wodering if this is safe to run through my aquarium to remove excess. has anyone heard of this being done?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2018

Gyerfat said:
hello, i was wondering about a nitrate removal cartridge. i was doing research on building my own ro system with the products i use in my plumbing business. i stumbled upon a nitrate removal cartridge from aries filterworks through my distributor. it will remove 475 grains of nitrate in a 4.5 x 20 filter cartridge. wodering if this is safe to run through my aquarium to remove excess. has anyone heard of this being done?

I do not believe it is possible to bind significant nitrate from seawater. Too many competing ions in seawater.

Do you have a link to the product?

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

Let me know if this works. Thanks View attachment afseriescartridges.pdf

Bulldog39 · Apr 7, 2018

Seems like it is just a carbon filter not sure if it will remove nitrate but will polish the water.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2018

I assume this is what you mean:

https://ariesfilterworks.com/products/af-series/nitrate

It is ResinTech®
SIR-100-HP resin
https://www.resintech.com/products/specialty-resins/sir-100-hp

and this show data here:

https://www.resintech.com/rks_images/shopcart/pdf_specs_90246.pdf

It won't work for a couple of reasons. First, they say:

"When treating waters with high hardness the brine dilution and displacement waters should be softened and a low hardness salt used to prevent scaling."

But more important, is not selective enough for nitrate over competing ions like sulfate and chloride.

In their tests, it claims testing when sulfate is 4x the nitrate level (we have 2700 ppm sulfate in seawater, so that would mean way more than 4x unless the nitrate is super high) and their graph on this page:

https://www.resintech.com/rks_images/shopcart/pdf

They show that as the TDS of the water rises from 100 ppm to 1,000 ppm, the retention of nitrate on a new cartridge (the lowest point, with a low loading of 5 lbs/cu ft) drops from 100% to less than 50%. In seawater, the ppm TDS is more like 35,000 ppm, where you would expect very little capacity by extrapolation.

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

thanks

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I assume this is what you mean:

https://ariesfilterworks.com/products/af-series/nitrate

It is ResinTech®
SIR-100-HP resin
https://www.resintech.com/products/specialty-resins/sir-100-hp

and this show data here:

https://www.resintech.com/rks_images/shopcart/pdf_specs_90246.pdf

It won't work for a couple of reasons. First, they say:

"When treating waters with high hardness the brine dilution and displacement waters should be softened and a low hardness salt used to prevent scaling."

But more important, is not selective enough for nitrate over competing ions like sulfate and chloride.

In their tests, it claims testing when sulfate is 4x the nitrate level (we have 2700 ppm sulfate in seawater, so that would mean way more than 4x unless the nitrate is super high) and their graph on this page:

https://www.resintech.com/rks_images/shopcart/pdf

They show that as the TDS of the water rises from 100 ppm to 1,000 ppm, the retention of nitrate on a new cartridge (the lowest point, with a low loading of 5 lbs/cu ft) drops from 100% to less than 50%. In seawater, the ppm TDS is more like 35,000 ppm, where you would expect very little capacity by extrapolation.

thanks for the info, that's why i asked. i wasn't sure why i haven't read anything on it. If it could be done, it would of been done by now i think. its just i keep reading everyone basically says they have almost 0 nitrates. i cant seem to get mine below 30. i have several medium stocked tanks on the same system with about 400g moving at 1100pgh. i do all the basics, i have a great skimmer, i cut feeding, big water changes back to back to back with no success. i also have a 40 gallon macro algae factory going. i have copeod habitat who multiply faster than i can feed them to fish. and also the coral are thriving, i have a lot of diffenet ones. fish, crabs, starfish, and everything else is doing very well so i dont understand how people can have 0, and i cant bring mine down any lower.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2018

Among the best ways to reduce nitrate are to grow macroalgae, and to dose organic carbon.

This has more:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Among the best ways to reduce nitrate are to grow macroalgae, and to dose organic carbon.

This has more:

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

Thanks. You seem to have very good knowledge about water. I want to show you a few pictures of my current battle with nitrates. And maybe you can help me.
I've been dosing this for over a month

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

My skimmer, I have 3 macro algaes going with copepods across 3 tanks. Kessil grow lights. I harvest once a month. And still no drops. I've used 4 different nitrate brand tested

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 7, 2018

Both the nopox and the algae are good.

What happens if you dose somewhat more NOPOX?

Gyerfat · Apr 7, 2018

I tried to read your nitrate link. I was good at first, but after a bit I get lost. I have a very hard time learning from books. If you were here and laid it all out I could follow and retain the info. It's been a lifelong struggle [emoji16]. I appreciate the time you guys spend helping