Hello; I agree with your question on nitrates. Let me add another question. If you only top off a tank to make up for evaporation then it seems to me that mineral salts and other such will gradually build up in concentration. How would these build ups be handled?
Do i need to do water changes if i have good filter
- Thread starter Ender024
- Start date
I tried this once. It lasted about 2 or 3 weeks then the bb crashed.
Yes. I understand how to accomplish the idea of it but ive not seen much in the way of any significant denitration. I currently have 2 5gal buckets plumbed together full of "biomedia". Filtered water enters the bottom bucket flows up through the media and up through the second bucket and out to the sump. It took the two buckets 5 min to fill up to where the water was trickling out of the top one. The biomedia is super porous with lots of interconnecting "tunnels" leading to the center of the media. Pouring water on the media the water will pass through it so I know the porosity is good for anaerobic bacteria propagation. Its been running for 8 months. I see no difference in nitrate levels from now to before.
When I had saltwater I used biopellets to achieve ultra low nutrients. Those work in saltwater well. But that is a home and carbon source for the anaerobic bacteria. I dont want to dose carbon but I think its the only true way to do it. Vodka is the easiest, sugarwater is the next then vinegar. I havent had a good answer if biopellets will work in fresh water.
This is why i asked T Tire Kicker and Flakers how he/she achieved the no water change results.
Probably done already but You'd have to measure gph to be sure.
I think its feasible but for me it was very hard to maintain a constant gph. My theory is as my sump would evaporate less pressure was exerted on the pump
Lowering gph. At least my story and sticking to it
I havent messured it in a while but its less then 40gph its somewhere around 20 gph it stays pretty consistent as I'm topping off automatically. I do ignore it for the most part. I figured if I left it alone itd probably be better then messing with it all the time. I should test the water comming out of it again, havent done that in a while.
I reset-up my filtration a few months ago with Seachem Matrix but have not made a dent in my nitrates. I attributed my failure to too high of a flow rate. The recommended rate of flow for this is 50 gph. I just can’t get there........
Sounds like you were there with the flow but still not successful.
Maybe we are destined to be water boys.......
Sounds like you were there with the flow but still not successful.
Maybe we are destined to be water boys.......
Its hard to say. With approximately 400 gallons of water in the system and only 20gph going through the "denitrator" what kind of dent is that actually going to make? It may be working great. I really need to take a few minutes and run some tests. Test the water going in and test the water coming out see what the difference is. If no difference then I'll try a low carbon dosing regiment and see what that does. If I'm getting a low nitrate reading coming out then maybe I'll try bumping up the flow and see what effect it has on the numbers coming out. Maybe it's working great and could work better? Itd be nice to get a complete cycle through the filter in maybe 2 hrs so 200gph.....
Yeah before this I tried a couple reactors in line with matrix didnt see a difference on my 75. Biohome is supposed to be porous enough to create the low oxygen environment in side it. My problem with it is the cost and how much you actually need. The pond guru loves the stuff. Ive watched quite a few of his videos. Lots of cool filtration ideas.
