I think one of the downsides of plumbing all my broodstock tanks to my main display system may have been that my nitrates gradually crept up in the display. I was intentionally over feeding the breeders in my tanks to condition them to spawn and even with my MRC skimmer, I think my wastes slowly built up and now I have higher nitrates than I would like in my reef tank. I would like zero and they are in the 10-20ppm range. Nothing too scary but I am trying to reverse the trend with additional watre changes and increasing the mass in the refugium and removing the chaeto more frequently. My feeding was cut back when I took down the brood tanks and John took several of my pairs. I have almost 400 gallons still in the display system between the display tank (210), refugium (55), sump (55), frag tank (70) and the last remaining juvenile tank (25). I'm doing water changes at 40G a pop, and doing them twice on the weekends (the only time I am home now). Any advice on what else I should be thinking about to keep nitrates under control? I am thinking I may need to reduce the fish load in the 210 as well. My other system has almost no detectable nitrates so I am not sure at what level the corals will start to stress out. Any body using a Denitrator? The ones I found online were pretty pricey. thanks, bob
Elevated Nitrate levels in the reef tank
- Thread starter bobz
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Bob, there was some discussion about it here recently (the denitrator, that is). Basically, there are some DIY plans, and Jenn said they made one for her sell system. She said it "kicks butt", and that she keeps the stuff in stock to make them now.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Hope this helps a little bit.
Bob,
I just brought one of these on line (sulfur denitrator XL) a couple days ago:
http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm">http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm</a>
They will do a good job at lowering your nitrates. I had an in-sump model (H&S 150) but sold it a few weeks ago because I was running out of room in my sump. I just redid my pumps and now have externals for everything except the skimmer feed pump.
In construction and operation (meaning water flow), these are very similar to recirculating calcium reactors. If you had an appropriately sized calcium reactor or even an upflow media reactor, you could probably make one that would work well. The main thing is to have enough sulfur media to do the job. My reactor is rated up to 500 gallons and uses 5 lb of sulfur, and an equal volume of calcarous media. I think my reactor chamber is 4.30 inches wide and 21" tall.
Key to making one, IMO, is to have your container have a keyhole/screw type lid for ease of access to the media. You know, a skimmer waste collector would probably work as well.
You will have to clean the unit out after a few weeks because as the bacterial population in the reactor increases to consume the nitrates in the tank, it will crash and clog up the reactor with dead bacteria after the nitrates are lowered in the tank. That is where the rotten egg smell comes from in these reactors. This is where ease of access to the reactor media really helps Then after you clean it out, you will cycle it again (much faster this time) and the bacteria should populate to a steady state equal to the nitrates produced, and cleanings are a lot less often after that.
Some minor plumbing changes and I know I could make one. You can purchase the sulfur media from midwest aquatic. It would be easy as heck to knock off my Midwest Unit, which itself is a knockoff of the German Korallin unit.
Dave
I just brought one of these on line (sulfur denitrator XL) a couple days ago:
http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm">http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm</a>
They will do a good job at lowering your nitrates. I had an in-sump model (H&S 150) but sold it a few weeks ago because I was running out of room in my sump. I just redid my pumps and now have externals for everything except the skimmer feed pump.
In construction and operation (meaning water flow), these are very similar to recirculating calcium reactors. If you had an appropriately sized calcium reactor or even an upflow media reactor, you could probably make one that would work well. The main thing is to have enough sulfur media to do the job. My reactor is rated up to 500 gallons and uses 5 lb of sulfur, and an equal volume of calcarous media. I think my reactor chamber is 4.30 inches wide and 21" tall.
Key to making one, IMO, is to have your container have a keyhole/screw type lid for ease of access to the media. You know, a skimmer waste collector would probably work as well.
You will have to clean the unit out after a few weeks because as the bacterial population in the reactor increases to consume the nitrates in the tank, it will crash and clog up the reactor with dead bacteria after the nitrates are lowered in the tank. That is where the rotten egg smell comes from in these reactors. This is where ease of access to the reactor media really helps Then after you clean it out, you will cycle it again (much faster this time) and the bacteria should populate to a steady state equal to the nitrates produced, and cleanings are a lot less often after that.
Some minor plumbing changes and I know I could make one. You can purchase the sulfur media from midwest aquatic. It would be easy as heck to knock off my Midwest Unit, which itself is a knockoff of the German Korallin unit.
Dave
Here are links to almost every type of commercially made denitrator there are:
http://aquaripure.com/">http://aquaripure.com/</a>
[IMG]http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm">http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm</a>
[IMG]http://www.marinedepot.com/filters_korallin_biodenitrator-ap.html">http://www.marinedepot.com/filters_korallin_biodenitrator-ap.html</a>
[IMG]http://www.finsreef.com/home.php?cat=256">http://www.finsreef.com/home.php?cat=256</a>
and here is an interesting one that is a batch denitrifier, meaning it takes a volume of water from your tank, denitrifies it, then returns that water to your sump.
[IMG]http://www.natureef.com/">http://www.natureef.com/</a>
http://aquaripure.com/">http://aquaripure.com/</a>
[IMG]http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm">http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm</a>
[IMG]http://www.marinedepot.com/filters_korallin_biodenitrator-ap.html">http://www.marinedepot.com/filters_korallin_biodenitrator-ap.html</a>
[IMG]http://www.finsreef.com/home.php?cat=256">http://www.finsreef.com/home.php?cat=256</a>
and here is an interesting one that is a batch denitrifier, meaning it takes a volume of water from your tank, denitrifies it, then returns that water to your sump.
[IMG]http://www.natureef.com/">http://www.natureef.com/</a>
My boss read online and hastily got one for our tank at work to help cut back nitrates so that we may add fish quicker. I thought it was dumb. Thing basically slowly slips vodka in a small amount of water that slowly flows through it. Basically a machine that doses for you.
Jenn's DIY is worth a look though. It's also been a hot topic this month.
Jenn's DIY is worth a look though. It's also been a hot topic this month.
Yep, we put one on our large fish FO system which has always given me fits. Went from crazy high nitrates (kit only reads to 50... it was way more) to below 10 within a few weeks.
We use 2 Phosban reactors, one with Carib Sea LSM (Live Sulfur Media) and the other with ARM (Aragonite Reactor Media). Connect 'em together, put a valve to control the amount of flow through (we also have flow meters if you want one), and a powerhead to push water slowly through - and it works like a charm.
We also made one a few years ago for a larger system (~1500g) using a 3-canister RO unit. No membrane (of course) but we used the chambers normally occupied by sediment filter, carbon block and DI (reconfigured the plumbing on it a bit), and replaced with 2 chambers of LSM and one of Aragonite. Small pump to push water through.
That system went from insane nitrates to close to zero over the course of a few weeks too.
Jenn
We use 2 Phosban reactors, one with Carib Sea LSM (Live Sulfur Media) and the other with ARM (Aragonite Reactor Media). Connect 'em together, put a valve to control the amount of flow through (we also have flow meters if you want one), and a powerhead to push water slowly through - and it works like a charm.
We also made one a few years ago for a larger system (~1500g) using a 3-canister RO unit. No membrane (of course) but we used the chambers normally occupied by sediment filter, carbon block and DI (reconfigured the plumbing on it a bit), and replaced with 2 chambers of LSM and one of Aragonite. Small pump to push water through.
That system went from insane nitrates to close to zero over the course of a few weeks too.
Jenn
You're welcome 
Just a word to the wise, when using one of these reactors. One DOES need to keep a close eye on pH. The sulfur can and will cause the pH to drop. The aragonite helps to counteract that. Water passes through the sulfur before the aragonite.
In our FO system, the pH was usually a pretty steady 8.3. We watched it carefully (still do, but extra carefully til we figured out how hit would react)... it took a couple of weeks but the pH did drop to 8.1. We corrected and manage this by using pH buffer.
It wasn't a big deal, but it is something that one needs to keep an eye on, particularly if the system already has a depressed pH.
And something else we've observed... which likely won't be an issue in a home system, but also worthy of mention - we found if we use PraziPro in that system, it clouds up. We surmise that it has something to do with the reactor because prior to using the reactor, we'd used PraziPro with no noticeable side-effects. The water quality tested fine, but it looked like crap for a few days, and we ran our service cart for a couple of days with a micron filter to clear it up. Not sure what that was about - but clearly there was some sort of reaction.
Jenn
Just a word to the wise, when using one of these reactors. One DOES need to keep a close eye on pH. The sulfur can and will cause the pH to drop. The aragonite helps to counteract that. Water passes through the sulfur before the aragonite.
In our FO system, the pH was usually a pretty steady 8.3. We watched it carefully (still do, but extra carefully til we figured out how hit would react)... it took a couple of weeks but the pH did drop to 8.1. We corrected and manage this by using pH buffer.
It wasn't a big deal, but it is something that one needs to keep an eye on, particularly if the system already has a depressed pH.
And something else we've observed... which likely won't be an issue in a home system, but also worthy of mention - we found if we use PraziPro in that system, it clouds up. We surmise that it has something to do with the reactor because prior to using the reactor, we'd used PraziPro with no noticeable side-effects. The water quality tested fine, but it looked like crap for a few days, and we ran our service cart for a couple of days with a micron filter to clear it up. Not sure what that was about - but clearly there was some sort of reaction.
Jenn
Bob, this is an excellent post on reef central http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1288082">http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1288082</a>
I just completed building one. It's been active for about a week and I am starting to see some improvement. It takes a while for the bacteria to colonize. My one reccomendation is to buy the forstner bit . I used a different type bit and had the slightest wiggle room in the holes creating a small leak. Also be sure to buy the CPVC, it has a different diameter and with fit the pump housing better.
I just completed building one. It's been active for about a week and I am starting to see some improvement. It takes a while for the bacteria to colonize. My one reccomendation is to buy the forstner bit . I used a different type bit and had the slightest wiggle room in the holes creating a small leak. Also be sure to buy the CPVC, it has a different diameter and with fit the pump housing better.
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Bob my nitrates were around 20 3 weeks ago, Ive been vodka dosing and it worked great (.5 now). I stopped dosing a couple days ago and am using my calcium reactor as a denitrator so we'll see how that does. (thanks again Jenn!)
It looks like some of the changes I made (reduced feeding, refugium changes, multiple water changes) has had a positive effect on the nitrates in the 210 system. I measured today and they were about 10 ppm on my API test kit. So long as I'm not seeing orange I am pretty happy! I'm going to keep up the maintenance where it should be and hopefully the trend will continue.
