Project: ZERO Nitrate

[Dr Joe]

welp, yes, the suppliment will go out the refugium, this is true, but the water will come back into the system and go through the refugium where the plant can utilize it, so its actually not a bad at all. the plant suppliment should not include nitrogen and phosporus, these are already coming from the fish waste.

That's the problem, fertz go out to tank. Then algae BOOM, then thru the filter, more algae boom, not much left for refugium second time around.

I agree with the no nitrogen & phosphorus, unfortunately those are the best for the plants .

Dr Joe

.

 

[johnptc]

I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR FROM SOMEONE TRYING BIOHOME AND WHAT IF ANY DIFFERENCE IT MAKES IN NITRATE LEVELS.......SIMPLE SOLUTION IF IT WORKS.....SEEMS HARD TO BELIEVE SUCH A SMALL VOLUME OF BIOHOME CAN DO SO MUCH

 

[Boydo]

DSB should work just like bio home as they both use anaerobic area to nitrafy nitrate. Bio homes porosity promotes areas with very slow curents were anaerobic bacteria can live doing some reducing of nitrates, I think a heavy bio loaded tank would require alot of this product to make a difference, I'm not saying it wont work, but how much is the question.
A DSB would have a larger anaerobic area being the bottom layer of sand, and would probably remove more nitrates. I might be going out on a limb here, since I'm not an expert on this, but my concern with a DSB is the unknown bacterias that would be grown in areas where there almost no water flow - maybe harmfull to fish. What I would like to build is a DIY Coil/sulfur reactor, Using a coil that about 50-75' of larger hose (not air line since it plugs off after time) 1/4" or 3/8" then going into the camber (like most coil units) with sulfur beads rather than bio material since this will feed the anaerobic bacteria. Here the catch, I would install a small pump to circulate the cansiter removing dead spots. Ok, too break it down now, 50-75' of 1/4" coil this removes or reduces oxygen, canister with say 20-30 lbs of sulfur beads in the bottom and you could add 2-5 lbs of CC on top to maintain pH, and an outlet valve to control the flow. This way is more pricey but requires no dosing or maintance and is safe, I'm going to build a bigger one since I have a very high bio load, I think I'm going to use 50 lbs of sulfur, I would like to be able to denitrate 60-70 gallons a day, which means only one water change a week rather than two and most importantly Happy Fishes .

 

[JardiniBoy]

DSB should work just like bio home as they both use anaerobic area to nitrafy nitrate. Bio homes porosity promotes areas with very slow curents were anaerobic bacteria can live doing some reducing of nitrates, I think a heavy bio loaded tank would require alot of this product to make a difference, I'm not saying it wont work, but how much is the question.
A DSB would have a larger anaerobic area being the bottom layer of sand, and would probably remove more nitrates. I might be going out on a limb here, since I'm not an expert on this, but my concern with a DSB is the unknown bacterias that would be grown in areas where there almost no water flow - maybe harmfull to fish. What I would like to build is a DIY Coil/sulfur reactor, Using a coil that about 50-75' of larger hose (not air line since it plugs off after time) 1/4" or 3/8" then going into the camber (like most coil units) with sulfur beads rather than bio material since this will feed the anaerobic bacteria. Here the catch, I would install a small pump to circulate the cansiter removing dead spots. Ok, too break it down now, 50-75' of 1/4" coil this removes or reduces oxygen, canister with say 20-30 lbs of sulfur beads in the bottom and you could add 2-5 lbs of CC on top to maintain pH, and an outlet valve to control the flow. This way is more pricey but requires no dosing or maintance and is safe, I'm going to build a bigger one since I have a very high bio load, I think I'm going to use 50 lbs of sulfur, I would like to be able to denitrate 60-70 gallons a day, which means only one water change a week rather than two and most importantly Happy Fishes .

That sulphur denitrator sounds interesting ... maybe I can convert one of my regular coil denitrators to that. Does the de-nitrifying bacteria use the sulphur as a food source? Also ... isn't this the reaction that produces some pretty nasty gasses?

 

[Boydo]

The sulfur is the food source so there is no need to dose it with alcohol or sugar. Like all denitrators it will emit some methane and nitrogen as a byproduct, as for H2S same thing can be emited only if the flow is to slow. Once there are running after 7-8 weeks, the output flow should contain just traces of nitrate - this is optimum.

 

[johno27]

Nice work seems like quite a project keep us updated

Del unless you have something positive to add to jar's project maybe you should go start a refugium thread and quit hijacking his

 

[JardiniBoy]

Nice work seems like quite a project keep us updated

Del unless you have something positive to add to jar's project maybe you should go start a refugium thread and quit hijacking his

Thanks bro ... and thanks, well said.

 

[JardiniBoy]

The sulfur is the food source so there is no need to dose it with alcohol or sugar. Like all denitrators it will emit some methane and nitrogen as a byproduct, as for H2S same thing can be emited only if the flow is to slow. Once there are running after 7-8 weeks, the output flow should contain just traces of nitrate - this is optimum.

This definately sounds interesting and I would like to try it when I get back from vacation. I still think it would be a good idea to include some biomedia in the chamber for the anaerobic bacteria to colonize.

Could you please post some pics of how it was made and the finished product if and when you do it?

Thanks!

 

[fsc46]

I found this thread on a koi forum. It looks like a mod to a wet/dry filter. I haven't tried it so I can't answer any questions. Here's the link: wet/dry mod

If you try it let us know how it worked out for you.

BTW don't derail it with, "I don't think it will work because..." without trying it first. Thanks for reading.

 

[Boydo]

I am trying something simular, I have stackable trays in my overflow compartment filled with 4 kgs of bio max, a gallon of ehfi substrat, and 4 kg's of seachem matrix, I diverted a small amount of the water through it. It may have some effect on nitrates
( only be using it for 3 weeks now), like the Bakki Shower systemhttp://www.makc.com/bakki.pdf which reduces nitrates, by oxygen rich ammonia removal. There are many ways to reduce nitrates, the hard part is finding a way that makes a difference and is economical. Ponds that use the bakki shower overflow 10% water daily, and using the shower nitrates are undetecable, very immpressive for a koi pond. I agree using tech like this and the other post fsc46 put up, you can use some of this info to build something small and effiecent, That Works.

Anyone else got ideas or info.