Coiled Denitrator DIY

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by Birdlady, Aug 18, 2004.

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  1. Birdlady

    Birdlady Finback Whale

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    Elementary , my dear Watson!
    Exactly Crutkas (right?)
    Works like a DSB, anaerobic backteria grow in the bioballs, the tubing is open at the bottom and water flows up through the balls and out the short tube up top, back into the tank. I will have mine dumping into the skimmer sump area so it will be exposed to lots of bubbles before returning to the tank, hopefully re-oxygenating the water. ;D

    I will have a couple more pics once I put the ball valve on and stuff....

    The other thread indicates a flow rate of 80 drops per minute untill there are zero nitrates and then adjust to 160 drops per minute.
     
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  3. fletch

    fletch Kole Tang

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    Birdlady
    Is this gravity feed from the main tank?............ John
     
  4. Birdlady

    Birdlady Finback Whale

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    Have not decided yet..... :p

    Probably not gravity feed tho.....I might try either

    Making small hole in tubing entering skimmer and tapping off that

    or

    getting a small pump just for the denitrator...
     
  5. fletch

    fletch Kole Tang

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    I am interested in making one my self but that is the part I am getting stuck at :-/ If you use a pump how will you slow down the flow enough without putting to much back pressure on it? :-/ Do you think Gravity feed would work?....... John
     
  6. somethingfishy

    somethingfishy Purple Spiny Lobster

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    Aquarium Systems makes a pump called Mini Jet Pump the 404 model can be dialed down to 13 gph. I think this is still a little high but with a ball valve I think it will work perfectly.

    BL, Are you trying to reduce/eliminate your water changes or are you just trying to reduce waste while maintaining your current maintenance schedule?
     
  7. somethingfishy

    somethingfishy Purple Spiny Lobster

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    Another option for the reefers is possably a doser. I'm not sure if it would work, I don't see why not though. I have seen some dosers relativly cheap on ebay but no where near the cost of a small water pump.
     
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  9. crutkas

    crutkas Flamingo Tongue

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    I'm in the process of getting all my prices for my bro's 125 (just bought it with dual corner overflows) and whatever tank I get.

    I was going to have a tap off the return and have an upside down curved split
    ( going ascii here but it will look like this )

    |
    |\
    | \

    but I like the idea of using a crappy small pump to feed the DC coil.
     
  10. somethingfishy

    somethingfishy Purple Spiny Lobster

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    I would be worried that the tubing would slip out of your return. Would you be using PVC and then use ridged tubing to splice into to the PVC return? Can you use PVC glue on ridged tubing, if you can I think this would be the best way. Wouldn't that be a pretty big restriction in your return and cause a noticeable drop in GPH? Just my thoughts I hope you will ponder with me.
     
  11. crutkas

    crutkas Flamingo Tongue

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    I think getting a seperate pump would just be easier and safer. Plus I think I'm going to put the the intakes right after the skimmer and the returns going back into the inlet so hopefully nothing gets shoved into the coil
     
  12. Birdlady

    Birdlady Finback Whale

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    Well, being that I have no maintenance schedule at this time...(tank is not finished being set up yet ;D) my hopes are to minimize water changes...yes. But I shall make that final determination after actually getting some real stuff in my tank.. ;)

    I have not looked at pumps yet...I'll check that one out. I am putting a ball valve on the return line to regulate flow...remember....it will be pushing through almost 40 feet of tubing (in my case anyway). I was planning on just pushing the soft 1/4 inch tubing into the vinyl tube piece going from the pump into the skimmer. Maybe supergluing and using sealant...we'll see..