Nitrate Reactors Vs Deep Sandbeds
- Thread starter roxsburyrage
- Start date
roxsburyrage
New member
Is there a DIY on these bucket setups.I havent found one yet.
Ya, Here you go:lol: Get out your reading glasses.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109&perpage=25&pagenumber=1
roxsburyrage
New member
I don't know if any you guys know about this.But wouldn't a denitrator by competing with a RDSB.And you would get balance by placing them together.Just curiosity seems to me it would be one or other.And plus spending money $$$ not needed.
tried a RDSB, after 3 months of nothing but problems I removed it.
tried a coil denitrator, after 6 months of moderate operation(nitrates went from 60 to 40) and constant adjustments, I removed it.
now running a DIY sulphur denitrator, after 2 weeks of adjustments my nitrates went to 1-2, I feed more often, have more fish, less algea and better coral color and growth.
I do have to add a bit more alk to the system, but thats not a big deal with the dosing system now so who cares. Plus its much easier to maintain(degas every few weeks, and replace media every 2-3 years) with less worry about it causing anything to crash.
tried a coil denitrator, after 6 months of moderate operation(nitrates went from 60 to 40) and constant adjustments, I removed it.
now running a DIY sulphur denitrator, after 2 weeks of adjustments my nitrates went to 1-2, I feed more often, have more fish, less algea and better coral color and growth.
I do have to add a bit more alk to the system, but thats not a big deal with the dosing system now so who cares. Plus its much easier to maintain(degas every few weeks, and replace media every 2-3 years) with less worry about it causing anything to crash.
anothermineral
Member
I've been running a RDSB since last October. It's housed in a 75G AGA with 6" of sand and ~40G of water (Total system water volume ~300G).
The flow through the RDSB is ~300GPH and I have a small power head in the RDSB for some laminar flow just above the sand bed.
My nitrates are and have been 0 since the beginning. I perform my twice monthly water changes from the RDSB tank and lightly disturb the top 1/2" to 1" of the bed monthly.
I'm very happy with the performance of the RDSB as I've always struggled with Nitrates in the past.
The flow through the RDSB is ~300GPH and I have a small power head in the RDSB for some laminar flow just above the sand bed.
My nitrates are and have been 0 since the beginning. I perform my twice monthly water changes from the RDSB tank and lightly disturb the top 1/2" to 1" of the bed monthly.
I'm very happy with the performance of the RDSB as I've always struggled with Nitrates in the past.
roxsburyrage
New member
You have a RDSB in a 75 gallon tank or a 40?.
roxsburyrage
New member
I am doing a 75 gallon Fudge with Cheato and a 8 inch sand bed but I get nothing but Brown algae now in the past few months.It seems to be getting worse.I added a Phosphate reactor to keep Phos in check.Its my nitrates are around 12ppm.WHich is a good as it gets even after several water changes with Pure Ro water.
anothermineral
Member
Roxsburyrage, my RDSB is in a 75G tank. The RDSB is not lighted so I have not had any problems with algae.
If nitrate control is your main reason for the DSB, I would recommend either removing the chaeto to a dedicated fuge or removing it all together until you get your levels where you want them.
Did you start out with live sand or did you seed it with LR or a small amount of LS? If the latter, it may take awhile before you start to see the benefits of the DSB.
If nitrate control is your main reason for the DSB, I would recommend either removing the chaeto to a dedicated fuge or removing it all together until you get your levels where you want them.
Did you start out with live sand or did you seed it with LR or a small amount of LS? If the latter, it may take awhile before you start to see the benefits of the DSB.
roxsburyrage
New member
I actually had both live sand and 225lbs of High Quality live rock.I added a recharge to my 75 gallon fudge with my deep sand bed and Chaeto.The tank has been running a little over two 1/2 years now.There is a ton of life in the fudge and the sand in the main tank worms pods snails etc.But I have been struggling with the Nitrate and Phosphate of late.Plus I did upgrade my skimmer about 8 months ago and the thing is doing a great job.I just see a lot of brown and red algae growing in the fudge over the last few months .The worst part is my tank glass I will clean it today and come home tomorrow and it has plenty of brown algae on it.
I have a RDSB on each of my tanks. I run 300 gph of water over it; both are covered so they are effectively without light. Each RDSB is a 15 gallon plastic vat with about 10 inches of sand. I run a refugium into each of the RDSB. Nitrates are not measurable. This may be overkill.
