Seachem Denitrate and Purigen

[CorkPullerPHL]

I am wondering what your experiences with these two products are. I have seen many favorable reviews of Purigen, but nothing on the Denitrate.

Do you think that a properly setup Reactor with Denitrate could function as a remote sand bed for my nano?

Historically my nutrients all test at zero, but I still have some bryopsis. I've recently also started vodka dosing, which seems to be helping.

Thanks!

Here's a link for Seachem Denitrate
http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/denitrate.html

[CorkPullerPHL]

^

[Jeff]

It's hard to link pages from Marine Depot's website for some reason but there are 2 reviews of this product. Both reviews give it 5 out of 5 stars.
Here is a cut/paste from it:
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3 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
Great
Forebearance required by CHRISTINE ALLWEISS
Experience Level: Intermediate
Posted on 11/13/2008 from OAK PARK, MI UNITED STATES

Comments: In my experience with this product it takes about 2 weeks to reduce the Nitrates in my 55 gallon reef tank from 18ppm to the 4-5ppm Nitrate target level. If you're late changing the De-Nitrate, and they spike, you end up doing water changes to get under 20 ppm before reloading the product - and waiting 2 weeks for it to work. SO.. replace the De-Nitrate on time to maintain low levels! I plan to continue using De-Nitrate because in the end it's effective, safe for clams, and as a bonus makes running my carbon canister unnecessary. It costs me about $3 a month with no regeneration cycles required, so it's less hassle than any of the alternatives I looked at... IF you always replace the product on time and keep a good flow running through it.
Yes, I would recommend this product to my friends.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
Excellent!
Happy Corals by David
Experience Level: Intermediate
Posted on 10/12/2007 from CITRUS HEIGHTS, CA UNITED STAT

Comments: I keep a 40 gal reef and my nitrates have hovered around 20 for the longest time. I put .5L of de*nitrate in a phos-reactor and it has been running for a little over a week and nitrate tests at .5!
Yes, I would recommend this product to my friends.
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[redfishsc]

As a side note, I would suspect phosphate before I did the nitrate. I say this mostly out of experience and not scientific evidence.



Now regarding the two products, I have used Purigen before and it's OK. If you are not running carbon right now, start running it first and see if you like it.

If that doesn't help, toss in a bag of Chemi-pure. It's cheaper than Purigen (even though you can re-charge Purigen) and does a great job of reducing other DOC's from the water.


Lastly, if you have higher nitrates, plumb a big fuge onto your tank (as big as you can stand) and light it 24/7.

I have a fairly heavily fed 10g nano with 4 fish in it and my nitrates are dead-0--- phosphates are under the API .25ppm threshold, but based on the occasional patch of hair algae I see pop up, I suspect there is more than the .03ppm that we are shooting for.

[Percula9]

De-nitrate has very little effect in salt water. It will be a waste of your money. Purigen is fine to use instead of carbon.

[Jeff]

Chemi-Pure, Purigen and carbon dont work like that guys. He is asking about lowering nitrates using the Seachem product Denitrate, not removing toxins. Also, Seachem's Denitrate does work in saltwater, click on the link above.
I had a nitrate problem some time back. My nitrates rose to 50 ppm (long story). I looked into nitrate reducing products and decided on Az-NO3 over the others because of reviews I read. I ended up saving a lot of money and used sugar dosing to bring down my nitrates to undetectable in around 3 weeks instead.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=898931&highlight=nitrate+reduction+sugar

[Tony Romano]

My guess is yes denitrate in a reactor would work, I am planning on trying soon actually. PM if you wish to talk about it - or we can use this thread.

[Jeff]

Post your results here as you use it :).

[Percula9]

I think you would be better off with a Deep Sand Bed for denitrification.

[jdieck]

If your nitrates are undetectable and the amount of bryopsys is relatively small why to fix something that is not broken?
For Bryopsys, the increase of magnesium to levels of 1500 to 1600 ppm using Tech-M from Kent has shown good effects.

If what you want to remove is mostly things that usually we can not measure like organics and tanins, carbon and/or Purigen will help with that.

If you are still concerned with nitrates, products that boost your de-nitrifying bacteria population like AzNO3, sugar or vodka will help IMO more than Seachem De-Nitrate but whatever you use take note that although you may see some initial results these are long term tratments (months).

[bertoni]

The DeNitrate will work as live rock, effectively, after a short period, so it's functional. The Purigen might be useful in addition to carbon, but I don't bother. Carbon seems to do the trick for me.

I agree that phosphate might be easier to manage, via a GFO, and that could help more with the Bryopsis, in practical terms.