What’s the general opinion on denitrifiers? Worth having in the filtration system? If so, any particularly good ones? If not, any harm in having one anyway?
Thanks in advance!
Greg
In my personal opinion this is the last form of filtration you should use. If your Ca, Alk, and Mg are dead on and your phosphates are undetectable and your Nitrates are below 10 and you want them even a little bit lower… then if you’re looking for a DIYS project go for it.
If your Nitrates are above 20ppm with an accurate test kit then you need to look elsewhere. If you have only been in the hobby for 6 months then I would recommend looking elsewhere.
It is also the last then I would ever spend money on. If absolutely necessary and most other options have been covered then try a DIYS project. You could spend hundreds on a properly sized denitrator and the money would be much better spent elsewhere.(Ca reactor, kalk doser w/ATO, computer monitoring system, nice skimmer with ozone, sweet new animals…)
What exactly are you trying to accomplish? Low Nitrates?
They do work but take a while to get to the point where they do work. There are better cheaper way to lower nitrates. Just not over feeding and regular water changes work well to control nitrates.
Carbon dosing works wellBillrob71, what are you using for carbon dosing? and what you guys think about biopellets? thinking of doing one or the other
Thanks everyone.
To be honest, I’m not really trying to accomplish anything, in particular, but learn!
I’m still relatively new to the hobby and my setup is fairly basic (for a 300+ gallon tank). Always looking to keep it moving forward.
I don’t have any of the pieces Gordonious mentions (except for the sweet animals). So I guess my next step will be to go out and learn about those!
I’ve been fighting a bit of a red slime outbreak, but slightly reduced lighting time and more frequent water changes seem to be winning that battle.
Do you use phosphate removing media in a media reactor? If you have any cyano it would be a good thing to look into as the next piece of equipment. I really like the TLF Phosban Reactor (they make to models get the larger one, 550, for your system no question and consider more than one) You can run carbon in them too if you decide you don’t need the phosphate media, but I’d personally recommend running it all the time.
Tells about your flow. Would take a lot to really get a tank of that size moving.
How about skimmers, what type of skimmer(s) are you using?
If you want to read you can waste a lot of time on the forums and with random little websites made by people who think they know what they are talking about or pick up a good book. A very well rounded series of books I’d recommend if you want to really dive into things are Julian Sprung’s The Reef Aquarium(volume three is the newest. There are many other books out there on specific topics as well. Another good fundamental read for reef geeks is Marine Chemistry by Chris Brightwell.
Actually, I read another post you made a while back recommending the Sprung books. I ordered them yesterday!
My setup is super simple. Here it is…
I have a 340 gallon tank. In the sump (a Living Color LCE400) I have polyfilter, bio-balls, and a big coarse foam block. I have an ASM G3 Protein skimmer than runs full time. That’s it! Oh, except for a chiller and an RKE2 setup that right now just monitors temp, ph, and schedules the lights.
I’ll definitely look into the media reactor and phosphate remover.
I’ve wondered if flow is low in the tank. Right now all that moves water around the tank are two pumps (Coralife Turbo Sea 1740’s) that return water from the sump back to the tank.
You mean the polybio marine polyfilter or a polyfiber pad ?
A poly filter will absorb phosphates & heavy metals…
You clean the foam block once or twice a week? They can be a maintenance nightmare and have build Nitrates in your system if not regularly maintained.
If you want corals in your tank or if you keep a bright light on the tank then that is a probably a bit slow for flow. There are very few possible ways to set up a tank that only use return pumps for flow and get away with it and corals. Examples would be very very shallow tanks or those set up for propagation with raceways, I’ve never seen LC create either.
You live by The Frazer Zoo right? I have to make a trip up there in the next couple of weeks.(pick up a 4foot skimmer and stop in to see Mike as I haven’t been there in months) Perhaps we could meet up and talk more.
Glad to hear you ordered the books. Too many hobbyists spend too much time trying to figure things out online without ever picking up a book.
Oh regardless of what type of pad you use with that size system your likely going to need several other meathods to remove phosphates, the biggest of which is water changes, but typically that is not enough alone.
In reference to the flow, you may be ok with a couple of little softies at this point with that kind of flow. That being said cyano often shows up first in low flow areas. Also if you don’t want just a couple of little soft corals in that big old tank then you are going to need more flow. The more corals you have the more they will block movement and slow flow. Additional corals will also create small dead zones where waste will settle and they will also cover up the rock not allowing it to “breath”. You’ll run into problems quickly that they refer to when talking about “old tank syndrome”.
Keep using the polyfilter ,grogers…you’d be surprised how much heavy metals are present in some salt mixes,instant ocean is pretty high…the polyfilter will keep them from building up over time…
they do a great job of absorbing organics also…
and as mentioned ,more than one method of phosphate removal wouldnt be a bad idea…
[Gordonious]
Phew… lots to reply to…
No. I don’t clean the foam block that frequently! I clean and/or replace the poly filter roughly once a week. But the foam block I’ve let go much longer. I’ll start doing it weekly as well.
I already have a handful of corals in the tank, and definitely want more! My experience so far has been very mixed. The softies have generally done “ok”. I thought I had lost a zoa, but after withering away and maybe 6 months of nothing, it started regrowing. It has maybe 10% of the original # of polyps, but is growing. Same thing with a bubble coral.
I have 3 hard coral frags, and they haven’t died, but aren’t really growing either. They’re maybe 5% larger than when I got them.
I won’t add anything else to the tank until I’ve got a much better handle on things.
Are power heads the way to better flow?
What’s LC?
I do live near Frazer Zoo. Let me know when you are coming. I’m away more than I’m here, but meeting up would be great. I gladly buy you (and Mike) a beer (or soda) across the street at McKenzies for the chance to pick your brains!
What do you typically put in the Phosban reactor (for phosphate absorption)?
[hottuna]
I’ll definitely keep using the poly filter. Water quality is noticeably better when a clean/new poly filter is in place. The only downside is that they aren’t cheap!
http://delreefclub.org/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=28&topic=3567.msg38389#new
[quote=“grogers, post:15, topic:3262”]
Are power heads the way to better flow?[/quote]
Yes, but not the only way. Closed loop, wave makers, and surge/dump tanks are other ways, but can be more elaborate set ups. Implementing any of them would vastly depend on what your set up is like.
[quote=“grogers, post:15, topic:3262”]
What’s LC?[/quote]
Opps. Living Color. Sorry at my old job we used to abbreviate it constantly in our notes and what not. Old habit. Typically their displays are set up more for beautiful healthy systems and they don’t usually build propagation set ups. The way they are designed more flow is required for corals.
Most of Living Color’s set ups are more focused on keeping fish vs corals. Acrylic tanks are a little harder to keep coralline off of. I find part of their online advertising to be funny because they talk about how important the health of the animals is yet they have sick fish in the tank they feature which is the thank in their own office!
[quote=“grogers, post:15, topic:3262”]
What do you typically put in the Phosban reactor (for phosphate absorption)?[/quote]
From my experience and knowledge there isn’t a phosphate absorbing media which will negatively impact your system. If life is busy or your away traveling there is also no negative side of leaving it in your tank.(which carbon can leach back its contents after 4 weeks of use and foam pads will begin to increase your Nitrates after even a couple weeks) That being said there are some that will work better than others and some that cost more.
In general phosphate absorbing medias fall into two categories, aluminum oxide(red rust) and ferric oxide(white spherical) based medias. Pretty much all of the media fall into these two categories and there doesn’t seem to be a huge difference between any of them. While cheap carbon can have a negative impact on your system(release what it’s absorbed sooner, be a pain to clean, or actually add phosphates in your system), cheap phosphate media is typically just better on the wallet.
I’ve used and like Magnavor’s Pura PhosLock, TLF’s PhosBan, SeaChem’s PhosGuard, and Brightwell’s Extrax Phos.
You can also, and I typically do, run carbon in those reactors. Stick with a reputable brand and don’t go cheap. Pelletized Activated Carbon in my opinion is better for reactors and easier to work with. I like Brightwell’s personally.
Send me a private message with your contact information and let me know when your free in the next week. I’m pretty flexible at this point.
[quote=“reefman66, post:5, topic:3262”]
Billrob71, what are you using for carbon dosing? and what you guys think about biopellets? thinking of doing one or the other[/quote]
I was using vodka/sugar combo and had a sulfur reactor, but stopped using both cause I really have no nitrates and very very low phosphates. I am running a remote deep sand bed and a VERY large DIY carbon reactor nothing else. Nitrates always read 0 and phosphates are usually somewhere around .025 and no hair algaeand my favorite passive denitrator, a plenum deep sand bed.