Well for years aquarist (inc myself) have use LR and DSB's in the SW hobby to reduce nitrates. I have never really set one up specificaly for denitration in FW though. Well depending on how the market plays out this fall I have started dreaming up my 300G FW tank that I want to match up to a 125g sump. I am in the process of dreaming up a new sump design and thought what if I had the drain pipe empty into a sock for mech that just opens into 1 large chamber that is filled with a 6-8" DSB of aragonite and pile soft ball size chunks of dry calcium carbonate (dried up LR) on top of that. In addition to being the bio media/denitration media I would light up the surface to grow algae on the rocks that I knocked off and cleaned up on a reg basis. The water flow would be on the slow side at about 1500gph actual flow to allow for good contact time and surround the pump with blocks of sponges for good measure. Anyone have good ideas on why or why not this would be a valid idea?
DSB/ Dry LR filtration in FW sump?
- Thread starter LD50
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Yes, really.
DSB nitrate munchers have been kicked around every so often.
Seems like a cyclical event.
A few people read a post like yours, do a bit of looking around.
Think to themselves..WooHoo, a hands off way to handle nitrate without WC, or plants.
A bit more discussion leads the vast majority to shelve the idea.
DSB, coil denitrators, and to a much lesser extent, resin based nitrate control are just not practical for most of us.
For the bulk of large tank owners a constant loss, fresh feed water system is the mode of choice.
Simple, easy to build and quite effective.
The whole world of anaerobic bacteria is pretty technical and very easy to get wrong.
You are dealing with 2 entirely different environments in a single eco system.
The oxygen rich world of your fish is a death sentence for your anaerobic colony.
Don`t get me wrong, I wish you luck in your plan.
I`m sure there will be others who will be watching your system take shape and will eagerly look forward to how it works out.
I just wouldn`t get upset if your post dosen`t generate a ton of replies.
I'd personally toss using the lr idea to create algae. It would get really annoying to have to clean off the rocks every week or so to get a noticeable nitrate drop from the removal of algae. I think it would probably be easier to just throw in some plants in the sump if you're already planning on lighting it up, and let the plants lower the nitrate in your tank.
I think the main problem with a freshwater dsb is that you need to substitute all the microorganisms that are found in a saltwater dsb that continually stir the sand. It's been a long time since I looked at dsb's, but if I remember right they played a pretty critical role in maintaining them. I know some members on here are attempting to use them, but I honestly don't see the point when there are safer, and probably more effective ways of removing nitrate. Not to mention the fact that plants prefer ammonia to nitrate, which makes for a super handy buffer in case something does happen to go wrong in your tank and your cycle crashes.
I think the main problem with a freshwater dsb is that you need to substitute all the microorganisms that are found in a saltwater dsb that continually stir the sand. It's been a long time since I looked at dsb's, but if I remember right they played a pretty critical role in maintaining them. I know some members on here are attempting to use them, but I honestly don't see the point when there are safer, and probably more effective ways of removing nitrate. Not to mention the fact that plants prefer ammonia to nitrate, which makes for a super handy buffer in case something does happen to go wrong in your tank and your cycle crashes.
Thats the reply I was looking for, thank you. I won't be useing this to replace weekly WC's as much as a way to maintain better water quality between them. As far as the auto WC system goes It might be somthing I do in the future but I am trying to avoid it untill I get my well put in.
Good points, back to the drawing board.