nitrate reactor size

Tj203

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Sep 11, 2019
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so i am going to make a nitrate reactor and would like to know if it would be better to have a long skinny tube or a shorter fat one or it dose not matter and bigger is better and it is all about the amount of media it can fit? also what is a good media to use that does not need to be replaced?
 

kno4te

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I’d say taller is better. Just want a longer time for water travel to get the oxygen used up. I’d use lava rock or matrix. My old reactor had matrix.
 
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islandguy11

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I’d say taller is better. Just want a longer time for water travel to get the oxygen used up. I’d use lava rock or matrix. My old reactor had matrix.
Yep, the longer the better -- and not sure it's true or not but I think I read somewhere that the water coming out that long end should ideally be re-oxygenated right before or as it's going back into the tank.

Also you could use just about any media you want, but if you want it to be efficient longer (and not get clogged up by detritus etc.) I would make sure that whatever water going into the nitrate reactor had some type of decent pre-filter.
 
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