Do it yourself Denitrator

to easy, It took me about 2 min to prime the one that tangster sent me. but I made sure that it was getting heavier before I let gravity take its hand.

 

Siphon breaks, floods etc.

Sorry to bring this whole thing up again, but I'm looking to build one of these this weekend, and have found a few things that I don't think were addressed.

First, If this is a simple siphon from display to sump, what safeguards are in place to prevent the main tank just dumping too much water into the sump when you get a power outage? Is it just the fact that it is set as a slow drip that prevents flooding?
Secondly,
If, for whatever reason, you break the siphon, (air runs through the pipe) are you then back at day one and require three more months to get back up to speed? The anaerobic bacteria will not survive in "normal" air, correct?

 

Ok I am interested.... Where do I get one?

 

I really like the idea of a Denitrator and the DIY in this post is very clear,
My question is:
Does a Denitrator really work ?

 

yes, they work.

 

I had one up and running on my 150 mixed reef and loved it. I used 3 feet of 4" and 150ish feet of tubing. That system is in storage and the denitrator is down.

I am thinking of building one for my current system, though. Smaller(probably 2ft by 4") because of the substantially smaller bio load and system size. Anybody played around with other medias for bacteria colonization? I have a good 60lbs of crushed coral laying around. I know that the smaller flow-through area would cause trapping of detritus, but what if the inflow water was filtered out first? Would provide a ton more surface area vs bio balls and maybe even some nifty buffering.

 

The crushed coral inside the denitrator could end up being counter productive. If it takes a certain amount of surface area, giving it more isn't going to make any difference. It just won't get colonized. I think the biggest reason bio balls got used was they were convenient, available, and perfect for the task. The buffering won't really happen other than extra surface area.

 

Think there would be any major downside other then the mentioned issue if you didnt pre-filter it?

Part of the reason I ask is that I already have *checks* around 80lbs of CC sitting taking up space from a previous project. Figured I may have a way to put it to good use.

 

As long as its not used CC, there shouldn't be any real pitfalls to it. If its "used" CC then it could be full of phosphates but other than that, its a good media. I would keep an eye on the pH though. If the CC starts degrading, it could become small enough to pack in and block the inlet tube and thus shut the unit down. That would be my only concern with it.

 

I've had mine since May 11 and it's now bringing down nitrates. 20 in the tank and 10 coming out of the coil. Got it from Tangster.