DYI Denitrator

[zman1]

There is an on-line store out of Indianapolis that has what you are looking for. This is where I got mine. Your call on if you want to add the ssystem directly to your DT or first cycle it with old tank water. I did it with old tank water because I was unsure of it. I may in a few weeks shut it down and see if I can keep near zero NO3 for how long. If not, I will restart it. I would like to start water changes every two weeks instead of weekly or maybe every ten days. Good luck!

 

[baloo6969]

what's your email?

 

[zman1]

Yellowbook the area you will find them.

 

[zman1]

I removed about 75% of the sulfur. I will see how this works...

 

[gmax111]

Updates please!!!!

 

[zman1]

Even with 75% of the sulfur removed the current system water NO3-N reading is .0 ppm, converted to NO3 (NO3-N X 4.4) is 0 ppm. CA is 400 and Alk is 116ppm very low. I haven't done a water change for two weeks now. I just started to drip washing soda again. I will have to watch it as my pH has actually been 8.2 - 8.3 at the end of the photo period while I stopped dripping a few weeks back.

 

[zman1]

Update -
Since the last update - I have done only two 32 gal water changes in the last two months and to my amasement, I am still running 0 NO3 with the Lamotte test kit. I know my pH level has been a little lower.

 

[zman1]

Update -
I removed the 100' of airline tubing wrapped around the chamber as this started restricting the flow way too much. Now I need to slow it with a pinch clamp - Vast improvement.

 

[mmm33732]

bringing this guy back from the dead...
did you find a way to stabilize your ph? i've been running a diy coil reactor into a diy sulfur reactor for a few months now. dropped my nitrates from 60-100 to 5-10 area since adding the sulfur reactor. ph also dropped from 8.3 to 7.8. i started dripping kalk to help bring it up and that has brought it up to about 7.95. i then turned the denitrators off for a few days and ph went up to 8.1. i'll be turning them back on soon, but wondering if you found a way to keep the ph up? there is crushed coral in the denitrator, but i'm not too sure how much that helps with the ph as it still drips a low value.

 

[zman1]

pH has always been low for me since I added a CA reactor. I vent my Air Hose on the skimmer, helps a little. I do drip Baked Baking Soda to help my Alk level and that results in the 7.9 to 8.0 pH range. Anytime my pH monitor shows a very low level it's always been the result of a very low ALk level for me. Can't say for sure if the De-NO3 has a significant effect on pH in my tank but it does keep NO3 at zero....

 

[zman1]

Well - I converted my hosting package from a Windows based server to a linux. I know better on the capitalization of letters between both. I never thought about my prior links. I used SWF and swf in the some of the URLs - dang it. So all the SWF pictures were broke. So now I have to keep a "swf" and "Copy SWF" on my windows pc and copy the "Copy SWF" to linux and rename it to "SWF" which includes a few "JPG" and "jpg"s differences as well -- Absence of fore thought

 

[zman1]

An Update.
A had an issue with one of my aqua lifters getting plugged up with slime and reducing flow to near no existence. Not sure when that happened but I replaced it with a spare.
I also had a issue with my RO/DI unit and it turned out to be a membrane issue. I have done two 32 gallon water changes since the last post. The last one two weeks ago is when I found the RO/DI issue. Which resulted in me using tap and Amquel for this change, I just should have waited for the membrane. I have had to also add 15 gal of tap water to the ATO reservoir to keep up with evap (Now about 5 gal/day). Why this is a concen is that we have nitrate in our tap water
With all that, my current NO3 levels are:
Between 1 and 2 NO3-N PPM
using worst case - 2 NO3-N PPM X 4.4 = 8.8 NO3