remote dsb for freshwater?

[xhaust50]

I know these are marine forums, but figured we have some universal experts here. I was wondering if a remote dsb would work on a freshwater tank. My brother has a 125 with an arowana and some knife fish and he had a huge nitrate problem. Nitrates were around 80ppm with 2 50% water changes weekly. I convinced him to turn one of his AC110 filters into a HOB refugium, which he did, and they are now at 30ppm with the same water changing routine. I'm wondering if he could use a remote dsb like the reefers here do to help further reduce nitrates. Any thoughts?

125G tank, filtration is 3 AC110 filters, one of which has been converted to a refugium. A sump is not possible as this tank is on the third floor and we already had to do some home repairs when his 90G shattered, so no potential floods! I know the remote DSB can be closed loop so he wouldn't have to worry about anything. Just requires a pump, bucket, bulkheads, plumbing, and sand right?

 

[bertoni]

The DSB will be useless in freshwater, from what I understand. A planted and lit refugium would help a lot, though. A DSB can't really be a closed loop unless the two tanks are at the same level and of the same depth, or at least the tops of the water column match. In either case, a plumbing break could lead to flooding.

 

[law086]

I'm actually interested to hear what type of plant he's growing in that fresh water refugium?

Ron

 

[pjf]

RDSB in Freshwater

RDSB in Freshwater

Here is a link to the start of the very long remote DSB thread: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=595109&perpage=25&pagenumber=1.

On page 4 of the thread, Anthony Calfo states: "macroalgae in the sump cannot even begin to compare in potential (its inferior) in this application if typical."

Here is a link to freshwater “Bio-Spira:” http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/copy of ml_biospira.asp. You might check with Marineland Labs to see if it can thrive in anoxic conditions.

Good luck!