Denitrator for 20,000 Gallons?

[reef_research]

I am in the process of budgeting and developing plans for an outdoor pond (freshwater) with a volume of approximatley 20,000 gallons. I would like to include a denitrator for the setup, as the pond will house large predatory natured fish, and in addition to regular maintenance, I would like to keep the water quality clean on all fronts, especially where Nitrate is concerned.

Can anyone help me as to wether or not this is feasible/possible, and how to plan and construct this piece of equipment?

Thank you,

[Kurt03]

how about 55gal drums? no idea how many would be needed though.

[scarter]

thats a lot of bio balls

[Catharsis70]

Lots of healthy live plants.

[8BALL_99]

We have tons of small ponds around here. Most people just have bass, brim catfish, ect. All of them have no kind of filtration besides maybe a fountain head or two..

[powdertang05]

just make a 55 gal drum drill on the top put pvc down the middle of it then fill it with sulpur beads and slow water movement that should be enough if not add another that deffinatly would cover 20,000

[reef_research]

Thank you for your replies!

Unfortunately, the pond is to be built in central Maine, so heavy planting isn't exactly a reliable option. The livestock may be more expensive than most avg. goldfish (no offense to you goldfish enthusiasts out there), so i can't afford to go with a simple fountain or two.

With the drums, would only one be suffiecient to filter a larger volume like this?

and, if more are needed, how do i determine the quantity?

Also, what are sulfur beads and how do they function?


I'll admit, when i was reading through some other DIY material, i pictured the solution as a ridiculously long piece of PVC standing upright...
Thanks.

[Siffy]

Sulfur helps support the anaerobic denitrification process. You could also setup a rdsb (remote deep sand bed) or a dsb in the pond itself. I'd cut the barrels in half lengthwise and connect several end to end. You could even incorporate it as decoration. Bury them, maybe plant something in them. Don't know what, if much, grows in shallow, fairly swift current there. I'm thinking the volume of sand/any fine substrate would be cheaper than the amount of sulfur needed to denitrify 20k gallons.

[reef_research]

What about those coil designs inside the pvc tubes? are they applicable in this case, or am I going to get stuck with using a large number of 55's?

Thanks,

[Siffy]

The coil method would likely be excessively expensive to scale to a system this size. The way they work is by keeping the water inside the coil for an extended period of time. The number I've read before is 86 minutes. What happens during that time is bacterial colonies living inside the coil/substrate use up all available O2 and then other bacteria further down the line process the NO3 (nitrate) to make O2 available to them. Basically to have a system to process 5000 gallons a day would have a coil volume of about 300 gallons. Building such a device would not only cost a lot to construct but also to run due to the large pump that would be required to push against that much head. Sulfur accelerates the process. It would likely be a cheaper method. But I still see a sand bed as the cheapest alternative. In any of the cases, you'd likely end up with several (maybe not a large number, depends on your definition) drums to achieve denitrification.

[JonTarutis]

Maybe this will give you some idea of filtration for a pond of this size....
Main view into filter room.... "basement" below is the sump...
http://webpages.charter.net/jtarutis/DSCN0854.jpg

Closer view of the "aeration tower"/ "wet/dry"....
http://webpages.charter.net/jtarutis/DSCN0843.jpg

Where the koi reside....
http://webpages.charter.net/jtarutis/P1000492a.jpg


Jon

[powdertang05]

I would do something like the h&s or schuran idea but on a larger scale http://www.schuran.com/index_seawater_e.htm im sure schuran could build you one if needed. and to reallygive to a idea of their power i have the small unit its like the size of a large LF media reactor and it can handle up to 800 gals from 20 to 0

[jjkief86]

I heared somewhere that sulfer acuatly helps remove NO3. I think it was in a magazine talking about shark public auariums.

[rsman]

a coil denitrator will scale to that size of water volume it might not be realistic to size it to its current nitrate load, you might have to reduce the starting nitrate levels as the unit cycles. more info would be nice how about what is the current nitrate rise over any period of time. budget (are we talking DIY or purchased). water temp?

[winigem]

There is a good thread on remote deep sand beds in the Advance topics forums. I am no expert but I am sure you can increase the size if you have 20,000 gals. Just an idea. The deep sand bed is suppposed to work more effectivly versus the denitrator. Just make sure the water is filtered before it hits the remote deep sand bed. The water needs to move just fast enough so that nothing settles in the sand. Good luck.

[rsman]

for high density 20,000 gal's your definately not in any relm of remote deep sand bed, you would need something huge

denitrators work much more effeciently at removing nitrate, they wont work all that well at maintaining < 3~5ppm nitrate but you would definately be better off with plants vs a dsb in this setup

I dont have much experience with sulfur based setups but the coil in this isnt soo bad of a setup.