DIY Coil De-nitrator
- Thread starter jtesdall
- Start date
jtesdall
Premium Member
Hmmmm .... that is very interesting. Anyone have any logical reasons why sugar might cause this. I have been dosing sugar for some time now and all fish are very healthy and no fin rot or anything else. I do very small doses however.
P.S. I am not supporting the use of sugar long term, but it appears to be a viable bandaid for a short period. I am obviously hoping the de-nitrator will help with my solution long term. I am also increasing water volume by about 50% (while maintaining the same load), adding another 5" DSB to my new 90 and increasing my refugium/sump size by about 2x. Hopefully these will all work together and solve my issues. I have also increased skimming by adding a second skimmer.
fishquaria
New member
One tip. Instead of using one long piece of tubing, use several moderately long pieces. This prevents water from stagnating, thus preventing Hydrogen Sulphide build up. Plus, you maybe able to increase the throughput of the thing.
fishquaria
New member
No, but have drawn up many plans and have gone part way through building one, before I realized that I won't be getting my tank with a sump for a long time. And slow pumps are a bit hard to come by where I am. If you have sump, you can use a simple siphon to draw water from the tank and have the outlet in the sump. All the best, tell me how it goes.
fishquaria
New member
Another tip. You should have the inlet for the denitrator as close to the bio filter as possible. This will ensure that the intake is depleted of as much oxygen as possible... Just a thought.
fishquaria
New member
The water flowing out of the bio filter will be oxygen depleted due to the bacteria. Having the inlet or the point at which water from the tank is taken into the tubing, as close as possible to the outlet of the bio filter, might benifit from the oxygen poor water coming from the bio filter. Hope this makes it clearer.
fishquaria
New member
he he... But anyway... I wish you all the best with them. What I do know is that if you regulate it properly, it'll work wonders... but don't lax too much on water changes...
jtesdall
Premium Member
No way, I won't lax on Water Changes. They are important for many other things besides Nitrates.
You say they will work wonders, is this evidence from RC or do you know someone that has had these work wonders?? I am hoping wonders will happen. Then I will make two more for my freshwater tanks. I have heard of them working there as well.
You say they will work wonders, is this evidence from RC or do you know someone that has had these work wonders?? I am hoping wonders will happen. Then I will make two more for my freshwater tanks. I have heard of them working there as well.
fishquaria
New member
I had one of these things a long time ago... And once it was set properly, it sure worked wonders... No nitrates... And the fish looked better too... I've never tried one on my fresh water tanks (since it was easier to just do a water change)...
jtesdall
Premium Member
OK three weeks running. There is good news and bad news:
The good news is that it is beginning to cycle and go through the nitrogen cycle. I have 0 ammonia, .1 nitrite and 5 nitrate coming out of the de-nitrator. Nitrate in the tank is at 8 so it seems to be pulling out some nitrates as well.
The bad news is: I have .1 nitrites coming out! And my tank has a detectable level of nitrite.
I am fairly sure I was running it too fast and slowed it down. I will test tomorrow and see if the nitrites stop being passed through. I am also doing a water change tonight as well, of course. My reef is not connected to this system right now and is sitting by itself until parameters are under control. Only the aggressive tank is connected.
The good news is that it is beginning to cycle and go through the nitrogen cycle. I have 0 ammonia, .1 nitrite and 5 nitrate coming out of the de-nitrator. Nitrate in the tank is at 8 so it seems to be pulling out some nitrates as well.
The bad news is: I have .1 nitrites coming out! And my tank has a detectable level of nitrite.
I am fairly sure I was running it too fast and slowed it down. I will test tomorrow and see if the nitrites stop being passed through. I am also doing a water change tonight as well, of course. My reef is not connected to this system right now and is sitting by itself until parameters are under control. Only the aggressive tank is connected.
jtesdall
Premium Member
Are you sure???? My old memory from reading the threads is telling me slow down for nitrates, speed up for hydrogen sulfide (egg smell).
It makes logical sense to me. If the water is moving too fast then the aerobic bacteria don't have enough time to turn nitrites into nitrates. And if it is going too slow the anaerobic bacteria don't have enough food and start producing hydrogen sulfide.
If I am off base please tell me. This is what I remember. We will find out tomorrow when I re-test.
Sam: You said you were getting out Ammonia, how fast is yours running?
leeweber85
New member
I wouldn't think that small amount of nitrite would hurt anything...but maybe I'm wrong.
t-bone2
New member
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=470701&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
jt try this thread on denitrators
jt try this thread on denitrators
jtesdall
Premium Member
TBone, you are absolutely correct, page 4 says to speed up if you see nitrite. But the very first post in that thread says to slow down, RSMan also said on page 3 to slow down, although on page 4 four said he was wrong. I had read this thread twice three weeks ago when I built mine. No wonder I am confused. But slowing down still makes logical sense to me. I am out of town tonight, but I will test tomorrow and see if slowing down reduced nitrite. If it didn't, of worse yet if nitrite increased, I will speed up.
