Do Nitrate Reactors Work?

[dmweise]

I was flipping through the Doctors Foster & Smith catalog the other day and came across a nitrate reducer. Apparently it is supposed to remove nitrate from the water.

I was wondering if anyone has had experience with nitrate reducer and if they work well. If they do work well, how much nitrate can they remove?

[CoryDude]

I have a sulphur denitrator that I am very happy with. But, it will only work if the tank's bioload isn't too high. Don't waste your $$$ if you want to use it on a heavily populated fish only tank.

Also, if your NO3 levels are above 20 meq/L, then you'll need to do old fashioned water changes to get them down, so the no3 filter can handle it.

That said, yes they will work in most reef applications. Just don't expect miracles.

[Squiers007]

Like Cory said, the smaller units will work alright if you dont have a huge bioload, but the cost to benefit ratio in my opinion is not worth it. You can get much larger commercial sized units that seem to work pretty well, but once again unless you have a very large system with a large bioload it doesnt make sense cost wise to run one.