good point superedge88. i do agree with you. i was just trying to eliminate the need of another pump. if i had "brisk" water movement on the top of the bucket though, i wonder if that would be good enough to keep the build up of organics on the sand. anyway, will probably take your advice because it is better to be safe than sorry. thanks again for the input!!
DSB in a bucket for nitrate control
- Thread starter Hobster
- Start date
- Status
Anthony Calfo
New member
(solids) prefiltered water across the DSB is a good idea... but dripping most any kind of water through the bucket is bad. Or at least... it will largely defeat the purpose of having a DSB- denitrification - by bullrushing the media/substrate with oxygen rich water.
Anthony Calfo
New member
not much flow is needed... just enough to keep any solids in the stream suspended and moving on/along. Simply observe and increase as/if necessary
Thank you Anthony,
Well,
I collected the sand(dry) yesterday from a very far beach where no people at all(no people=no polution) and filled my 5g bucket to almost the top. of course I have already made 2 holes.I used an old 260gph pump which was to strong in my case,Ballvalve was installed and every thing went just fine.I didn't wash the sand since I wanted more buffring capacity.
After 2min of oporating my skimmer went CRAZY! I already empteyed the cup twice.I don't know if its because I didn't clean the sand.Plus the water went littel cloudy.I will run some carbon today and see what happens.
Just to keep you guy in the pic.My only goal of running the DSB is to getrid of the Naitrats.Its over 50ppm in my 80g light stocked tank.Hopefully its going to work.
Well,
I collected the sand(dry) yesterday from a very far beach where no people at all(no people=no polution) and filled my 5g bucket to almost the top. of course I have already made 2 holes.I used an old 260gph pump which was to strong in my case,Ballvalve was installed and every thing went just fine.I didn't wash the sand since I wanted more buffring capacity.
After 2min of oporating my skimmer went CRAZY! I already empteyed the cup twice.I don't know if its because I didn't clean the sand.Plus the water went littel cloudy.I will run some carbon today and see what happens.
Just to keep you guy in the pic.My only goal of running the DSB is to getrid of the Naitrats.Its over 50ppm in my 80g light stocked tank.Hopefully its going to work.
Lrgclasper
New member
Why not just go down to home depot and spend 10$ on silica sand? In my opinion it isn't worth the hassel of collecting sand. Besides, sand from the beach is loaded with crap. Think about all the birds crapping in it, the occasional dead animal, dead seaweed and other plant matter, dissolved pollution in the water column, and dog crap and other mammalian love bites.
mwood
Premium Member
PS, if this price is correct and sand is safe and recommended for this application, this may be the way to go.
lowes / playsand
lowes / playsand
Anthony Calfo
New member
yep... agreed with our Alaskan friend here:
use clean, dry sand and avoid the baggage.
A DSB bucket should literally cost less than $20 to make (most of which is the cost of the bulkhead unless you skip that altogether and let the bucket gurgle/overflow its sides while sitting in a large open sump)
use clean, dry sand and avoid the baggage.
A DSB bucket should literally cost less than $20 to make (most of which is the cost of the bulkhead unless you skip that altogether and let the bucket gurgle/overflow its sides while sitting in a large open sump)
Lrgclasper
New member
I still think some light drippage would be much better than just letting the sand soak. I am thinking something on the order of one DSB volume every 3-6 hours or so. Heterotrophic denitrification (anaerobic) is very common in public aquariums and wastewater facilities. They always have a low flow going through the media. Having some flow through the media is critical to insure efficient operation. If you think about it, water towards the bottom of the bucket is not going anywhere (or at a very low flow), just sitting there. Organics will likely sink to the bottom and denitrification will occur, but not at a useful rate. There are many articles published on this (goggle heterotrophic denitrification).
I attached a link to an interesting cotton denitrification filter used in wastewater management. I have another article published in an Elasmobranche Husbandry Journal, if your interested I can get the citation.
http://www.wrc.org.za/downloads/watersa/2005/Apr-05/1794.pdf
I attached a link to an interesting cotton denitrification filter used in wastewater management. I have another article published in an Elasmobranche Husbandry Journal, if your interested I can get the citation.
http://www.wrc.org.za/downloads/watersa/2005/Apr-05/1794.pdf
Lrgclasper
New member
I am thinking of building a denitrate filter using sulfer beads and crushed oyster shells to buffer the effluent. Anyone used sulfer beads before?
Lrgclasper
New member
I would get silica sand from home depot. I have used that stuff for years without any problems. You might mix some argonite in for buffer.
- Status
