Getting rid of nitrates

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MFK_23

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Aug 20, 2005
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Australia
Hey all,
Does anyone now a way to remove nitrates from your aquaarium, i have heard you can do this by haveing a large amount of aquatic plants in your tank or in your sump....., dunno how true that is though.

Are there any type of chemicals or filters that allow the cultivation of bacteria that remove nitrites. The main resaon for this is because in Queensland Australia, we are haveing a shortage of water, and the council is increasing the cost of tap water and placing waetr restrictions :screwy: , and this kinda causes a problem for doing 50% water changes on a 1500l tank. :swear:
 
I know there are denitrators out there, asked about them before. Not many replies. Just do a google search and some will pop up. Don't know how effective they are and have heard that you can crash your system with the return water.
 
Maybe you want to try out bakki showers with bacteria house as the media if you have the money. It supposedly reduces nitrate, raises water quality and a whole host of other stuff. Momotaro Koi farm is the inventer of these bakki showers and bacteria house and they claim that their water has 0 nitrate without the use of any other media.
 
sohfatfish said:
Maybe you want to try out bakki showers with bacteria house as the media if you have the money. It supposedly reduces nitrate, raises water quality and a whole host of other stuff. Momotaro Koi farm is the inventer of these bakki showers and bacteria house and they claim that their water has 0 nitrate without the use of any other media.
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Never heard of it....sounds cool....Sounds like a good plan!! :clap Do you have any info on how these work?? I want one:)
 
i use de*nitrate by seachem and it works great. it does not get exhausted as long as your nitrates are below 20mg/l when used.
 
Sea Chem has two products out there with the same bacteria that will supposidly break down nitrates. Hair algea works great as does hornwort and frill thats the route I would go.
 
From what I understand, removing Nitrates is near impossible..

Heres what I have picked up over the years..

The large display tanks found in Las Vegas casinos, do not do ANY water changes.. They have huge sand filters, which somehow have a source of bacteria that actually breaks down nitrates. I have no physical evidence of why or how this happens, but I understand they never change the water, and the nitrates sits at around 200ppm at all times..

Nitrates are used VERY little by plants, but infact it is Ammonia/Nitrite that is consumed by plants in the prior stages of the nitrogen cycle. Some plants and algaes do use more Nitrates than others, but the 'less nitrate' effect that most people see in a planted aquarium, is the ammonia/nitrite being consumed in an earlier stage.

Chemicals can be used to chemically 'bind' Nitrates, Nitrite and Ammonia. These are sulfur based chemicals, such as AmQuel and Prime. Keep in mind, They are just 'locking' the Nitrates into a less harmful substance, and not actually removing them. So when you chemically bind your Nitrates, that leaves less 'clean' water open to saturate the new incoming nitrates, thus leading to a higher concentrate of both regular nitrates and chemically binded nitrates.

Sulfur Reactors, often used by large public aquariums. Even though they are not very reasonable for a domestic usage, I have seen some people who have learned and installed these into their large home tanks. They are huge reactors (look like calcium reactors for SW), that are full of sulfur.. The water slowly flows through the sulfur, and it chemically binds the Nitrates within the sulfur, not allowing them to be released into the tank (Like AmQuel).. Eventually the Sulfur will become exhausted, as it's effect is very similiar to zeolite with ammonia. The problem with these is when doing maintenance, if you happen to do anything incorrectly or leach any contents of the sulfur reactors into the main system, you could poison the entire tank.

I have seen a few other 'miracle' filtration systems like the Aqualizer and other misc gadgets, but I think it's all speculation. This bakki shower sounds very interesting, as I would like to hear more about it. I am starting to believe there is a bacteria that does eat/breakdown nitrates, but it's very hard to harbor this bacteria and keep it alive. Perhaps the massive sand filters that are operated on such a huge scale, have enough oxygenation and surface area to generate this 'de-nitrate' bacteria, but I have no clue. I would love to hear more scientific reports on the matter..

I would go with a planted refugium, if I were you.. It's inexpensive and cost-effective, and if done properly it could also be functional as a grow out tank or display tank. I have pictures of how to create one, and would be willing to help you with any ideas..

Hope that helps,

Miles
 
Howdy,

MFK_23 said:
to remove nitrates from your aquaarium [...] bacteria that remove nitrites.
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Okay, first of all: You need to specify what your problem is: Nitrate or Nitrite. Two different things.

Nitrite is easily removed with a functional biofilter. Just make sure not to wash it out every week. The longer it sits, the better it gets. Mine sits up to a year or longer. That requires the use of filter media that provide surface area for bacteria. I hear of people cleaning their filter biweekly, which just ruins the biofilter. It is only mechanical then.

Now if your problem is nitrates, Miles is wrong (sorry, don't mean to flame). Plants is the way to go, the do remove nitrates. Note: agricultural fertilizers are nitrate based. For a good reason. Anyhow, get fast growing ones, or even better: floating plants. If Miles refers to anubia or so, then he's right: They grow so slowly that they cannot help you in removing nitrates. Water lettuce, hydrocotyle leucocephala, or anything that comes in bundles rather than pots is generally the fast growing bunch. Try that and you'll be amazed. It also contributes to establishing an ecosystem rather than just having a bucket of water with fish.

If you still have problems with nitrates, and water change is not an option or your tap water is full of nitrates already (common in agricultural areas), then you need a denitrator. That thing will take a while to be established. It basically runs on anaerobic bacteria. In essence, it's a closed canister with veeeeeery slow flow rate and high surface substrate in it (ideally Sera Siporax). Search the net to find out, or check out the Sera website for contact info.

Good luck,

HarleyK
 
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