Do it yourself Denitrator

Well 2 weeks in and the nitates are still high 60-80, didn't expect a quick fix but figure I'll keep the thread updated. Consensus seems to be that I should see drops in 6-8 weeks.

I had read that the water that exits the coils would be high in nitrites in the early stages so I also tested the water here tp compare to the main tank. Pretty excited to see that this water was actually testing lower in nitrates then then main tank! ;D The main tank reads closer to the darkest reading which would be 100, but the water leaving the coils is testing at 50. So I guess with the slowwwwwwww drip rate it operates at they shoud be gone by 2098

 

Very Nice DIY! You gave such good directions, that I think I'm gonna make one! Karma to ya! :thumb_up:

 

does the water flow from the tank through the coiled tube in the pipe and then back up the pipe through the bio balls then out the side through the fitting? i don't understand the flow through bio balls and coil of tubing??????

 

The water flows from the top of the pvc pipe through the coiled tube at a downward flow. When it reaches the bottom, it flows upward through the BB and exits out from the top of the pvc pipe. The downward flow through the coiled tubing is to extract the O2 from the water. Then it goes through the BB's where the bacteria is and filters out the No3. Did I make any sense? Luna

 

sound sensable to me. thanks luna.
on the one that you have, is it gravity fed or do you circulate the water with a SMALL pump? i thought about running a tee off of my skimmer return (with a control valve of course) and have it all contained at the sump

 

You just keep it running and watch out to keep it dripping you'll see. once its about 3 months cured and you see the NO3 levels of the tank coming down just open it the pit cock and let it roll . Its finished curing and the NO3 are done. Forget about all that 1 drop a second Bull . again some Bull by some one who just repeated what they where told or had read.

 

Im not an expert on these things, but I dont see how a coil denitrator can work on gravity feed. It needs to have a small pump or can be T'ed off an existing pump with a valve. Luna

 

Why do you feel that they can't work off of Gravity ? I have always ran mine like that until This one here I have now is fed from the manifold off of the main pump since I put the sump in the basement . But the very same coil ran on this tank for ? since 1999 and when I hauled the system up here it was the same deal sump under tank and a siphon from behind the overflows . Gravity and the waters affinity for seeking its own level is a powerful tool and trouble free one less thing to run or buy or worry about when you loose a pump. Heck Calcium reactors work great under siphon power when or if you have to mount them under the main tank makes it very easy to adjust and control the effluent flow rates .

 

I dont see how gravity can push the water through 60'-80' of 1/4" tubing at a downward flow and push it up through the BB and back into the system. Luna

 

Water uses its own weight and gravity Like ever see those water towers in small towns setting up 100 feet of more Most have the towns name on it ? Well that head pressure supplies the entire town At night they pump up water to keep it filled and then it pressurize the entire towns water mains all tall builds like in N.Y all use the same systems Now way could you build a ban of lift pumps to supply the entire Empire Building or any with pumps . What they do is have Huge very high H.P pumps to send the water up and many booster pumps along the way depending on the builds height.

I had a guy not long ago here wanting to add a coil to his tank with no sump and not use a pump. That is doable also via a siphon . He took the water from the tank and put it back into the same flood rim level via a siphon.

But as long as you have enough head to siphon then you have enough to push water trough several; miles of coil and I'd never use that much coil anyways far to much . I use about 40 to 50 ft myself. I tank That was all that was used in this one also . As long as the water on one end of any piping is just a fraction of a inch above the outlet of the piping the water will come out the end of the piping . Water will seek its level and once its level in the holding vessel with the outlet it stops