diy denitrator?

[rz1a]

does anyone have any plans for these? could you use either a calcium reactor or even an RO canister filter?

now that im not going to do SPS im going to do a FOWLR and was wondering if i could use my mrc dual chamber cal reactor as a denitrator

[wesheltonj]

There is a post its a split thread on Reef Central, there are several plans. Each an improvement on the prior. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1400576

Hope this helps.

[rz1a]

thanks for that link! this is the one i was looking at earlier, i think im going to try it out but might have to buy some tools i dont have like the tool to tap. i should have everything else except the pvc

is it better to use this than something like vodka or sugar? i know with the last two you have to have a skimmer, but was wondering if they both worked the same or if adding a carbon source was better than setting up the denitrator?

[CoryDude]

I just received my Korallin Biodenitrator. There's a few extra pump fittings, the CO2 inlet is converted to a bleed valve, and there's no bubble counter. Other than that, it's just a calc reactor w/the recirc pump reversed. I could have converted my current reactor if I'd known there's wasn't much difference.

Can't say much on performance, since I'm a newbie w/these NO3 filters.

[rz1a]

supposed to take about 3-4 weeks to get the bacteria established, once that happens theyre supposed to reduce ntirates quickly. some people went from 80ppm to 20ppm in 3 days and had 0ppm out of the efluent

i think its a great idea, but they say that the result is acidic water which needs to be passed through the aragonite media.. i think it dissolves it and you end up with alk/cal in dripped in your tank as well? not sure

[wesheltonj]

If you look at the the posts and there are a lot. It appears that the sulphur media to use is from Midwest (its (1) preseeded (2) hard) available from them and I think one other place. They are also using aragonite with the sulphur in the reactors.

There are some that were made w/ PCV, others with Phosban reactors, other from scratch. The best choice to me is an clear tube to so you can see when to change the media.

It appears that the water is passed throught the aragonite not to dissolve it, but to reduce the Acidic not an alk/calc drip. And you do not put the output water back into the tank until after its broken in. The output water will have very high NO2, both the NO2 and the NO3 need to be zero before the output goes into the tank.

[rz1a]

ohh alright, thanks for that. i was thinknig of using a phosban reactor but the guy said it was hard to get the air out, once it is its easy to set. i think it should be easy to make one out of that and chaper since the tube at usplastics is only sold by 6feet and costs around 6.78 a foot

id use my cal reactor but when i set it up i always get left with a small pocket of air left in one of the chambers and dont know how to remove it

[wesheltonj]

There are several plans on that thread, you will have to install a needle valve to vent off the gases daily.