Has anyone tried building a sequence batch reactor (SBR) as a filter for their tank? Batch reactors on a very large scale are how waste-water treatment plants remove N from effluent, so why not build a scaled down version? Here is what it might look like:
In this image you start with sludge and fill with water. Stirring the sludge brings all the bacteria into contact with the water and drives the dissolved oxygen down to the point that anaerobic denitrification can occur. The container is then aerated and the process repeated. Finally the sludge is allowed to settle and clean water is decanted. The sludge idles for a short time, then you're off and running on the next fill. Those process might take in the neighborhood of 9-10 hours. Eventually you'll have to remove some sludge. But it seems to me that the primary downside is off-gassing following the anaerobic mixing period. Maybe build it using a 55 gallon drum?
Image from here: http://www.ijehe.org/article.asp?is...ume=1;issue=1;spage=49;epage=49;aulast=Arbabi
In this image you start with sludge and fill with water. Stirring the sludge brings all the bacteria into contact with the water and drives the dissolved oxygen down to the point that anaerobic denitrification can occur. The container is then aerated and the process repeated. Finally the sludge is allowed to settle and clean water is decanted. The sludge idles for a short time, then you're off and running on the next fill. Those process might take in the neighborhood of 9-10 hours. Eventually you'll have to remove some sludge. But it seems to me that the primary downside is off-gassing following the anaerobic mixing period. Maybe build it using a 55 gallon drum?
Image from here: http://www.ijehe.org/article.asp?is...ume=1;issue=1;spage=49;epage=49;aulast=Arbabi
