Just curious, do you think all that starting and stopping could bs harmful or reduce the service life of the motor?
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Nitrate reduction from a cannister filter
- Thread starter rodger
- Start date
I am sure it will. I sent an email to Eheim last night to get their opinion. If it reduces the service life too much, I will use a less expensive pump, and not necessarily have it mounted to the top.
Any thoughts on reducing the output flow instead, using a ball valve? My older Rena's came with a flow adjuster for just before the output nozzle, might be a better way to reduce flow without all of the stops/starts. Also, I would guess that since it was a stock part, it would not have any major impact on pump life...
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Thats what i'm trying with my Aquatop CF500UV. I have one of these on the output on all of my canisters output only(except FX5 and 6):
http://www.amazon.com/Two-Little-Fi...83889&sr=8-1&keywords=two+little+fishes+valve
I had been using it to just cut flow by a quarther or so, but now I will restrict it more and see if the 4 leters of matrix FINALLY start working for nitrates (I SERIOUSLY DOUBT IT THOUGH).
I have thought about that, since the commercially sold ones use a powerhead that restricts the flow to a drip. Not sure about cutting the flow on a 900 GPH pump to 10 GPH. My research indicates as time goes on I will be increasing the time between runs, but running it longer each time. I think it will be better to have longer periods shut off, how long it runs won't matter. Maybe eventually running 5-8 seconds every 5 minutes. That should give a 30% water change in the can every 5 minutes. That will be once it is a mature filter. Of course, this is based on what I am reading and results are going to vary.
I think it will work for nitrates if you cut the flow back enough. Do you have supplemental filtration?
Yea, I still have 2 -Aquaclear-70 hang ons, and an ATI HydroSponge #4 in there as supplemental.
I'm just not sure how much is safe to cut back on this valve safely. Supposedly it shouldn't hurt it as I've always used valves on my outflow for canisters, but I've never cut it back but so much, maybe a quarter or so. According to Aquatop, using valves is safe as it basically simulates additional "head" to the pump, but they didn't say exactly how much should be "safe" to cut it back.
Guess it's time to experiment.
I tried that with "Vodka" in my Reef tank a few years back, and you really gotta do the math to NOT overdo it. It "seemed to work" as my skimmer really became active skimming out "mega-funk" black skimate. I'll admit however that I stopped after just 2 months as I lost my prized open-brain coral, and just couldn't figure anything else but the vodka might be a culprit. Hell, maybe he just didn't like Smirnoff, who knows....
My reef tank nitrates did drop from 20 to about 10-12 or so, which is good considering I kept "softies" that seem to do better in tanks with a little bit of nitrate anyway. Also the Crocea and Duresa clams I had also apparently can consume nitrate in small amounts. Essentially, it's all just a balancing act, and we as humans SUCK at it compared to nature...LOL
If you had a sump you could always try teeing off the return line of the canister and recirculating most of the flow back into the sump... and regulating a small trickle with a gatevalve back to the display. depending on your findings I may try this with a smaller canister on my 90g with a 40b sump.
Edit:
Never mind that would defeat the purpose and still have full flow. Oh well..
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Edit:
Never mind that would defeat the purpose and still have full flow. Oh well..
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