DIY Denitrator

[jmh11788]

Decided to make a denitrator today for my soon to be 40g reef. I bought 4in PVC, 4in PVC cap, 50ft 3/8 clear tubing, and various fittings. Here's my progress so far...



I still need to drill the PVC cap and install the fittings. My question is, what do you think I should use inside the denitrator? I'd rather not have to go buy bioballs. Would LR rubble work well? Any ideas?

 

[lemures-ex]

LR will work just fine. Crush it into fairly small pieces and fill 'er up.

 

[mnestroy]

How exactly does this device work?

How does it lower nitrates?

 

[lemures-ex]

mnestroy: It's basically just a place for anerobic bacteria (the good bacteria that you always hear about) to grow.

 

[outy]

i built one didnt see any improvements possible negative

last year there were a ton of threads on these, one guy who tested like a madman came to the conclusion that not only do you need to have them tuned perfectly but it was also hard to get below 5ppm no3.

if this was for FO then ya they work.

for reef a maintained dsb and a fuge is hard to beat

 

[BurntOutReefer]

whats your flow rate going to be?

 

[jmh11788]

30 drops/min at first, then 60-90 later, still researching drip rates though. I finished it today though. Here are some pics...