High Nitrates Solution

[Bruno3047]

Get yourself a cheap, appropriately-sized calcium reactor. These can be found online really cheap.

http://www.thatpetplace.com/calcium-reactor-500-gallon

I have the 250 gallon model running on my 60g. I paid $50 for mine when Premium Aquatics was running a closeout sale. Anyway, fill the reactor with De-Nitrate and set it up as directed, using De-Nitrate instead of Calcium. You totally disregard the CO2 line. Basically, what you want to do is set up the reactor with enough media to establish a culture of anaerobic bacteria. Set your drip at 30 drops per second to start and leave it there. It will take a while, possibly 8 weeks or more for you to start seeing any drop in your nitrate levels, but once the culture is established enough to start bringing down your nitrates, you can increase the drip to 60 DPM and go from there. I keep mine at around 90 DPM and increase it to 120 DPM if I start seeing any hint of nitrates in the tank, then drop it back to 90 when they go back to 0. It's a feeling out process, but once you have it figured out, it is truly "set it and forget it". My nitrates have been 0 for about 3 months now and I have doubled the amount of corals and fish in my tank in that period. It is self-regulating, based on the amount of nitrates in the tank. You don't have to mess with sulfur or carbon feedings, sulfur smells or anything else. Just leave it, be patient and let nature take it's course. You don't change out the De-Nitrate either, ever. As I said, I have the 250g model on my 60g and have ZERO nitrates. I also have a trickle filter with bio-balls and feed my fish 3x/ day and LPS corals weekly with blackworms. They love them. I also like to feed some gut-loaded live brine to my fish once a day. Now, if I could only figure out how to get rid of those damned bristleworms.

[captjab]

Very interesting. Did you come up with this or read about it somewhere else? If you found it somewhere else please post a link, if you thought of it, nice work.

[Bruno3047]

It's an extension of the sulfur-denitrator idea. All I did was replace the artificial feeding of the bacteria with sulfur, and replaced it with the time it takes to establish the bacteria naturally. That's it!

[Bruno3047]

The initial drip rate should be 30 drops per minute, not 30 drops per second. Sorry.

[dotcommer]

Very interesting. I am in need of a nitrate drop.

[Agathos]

I tried this with a new Bumble Magus calcium reactor I bought for the occasion. I have never had a calcium reactor before, so it took me some time to figure things out.

My problem is that the reactor doesn't suck in water. The pump works, but all it does it circulate the water inside the reactor. No water is entering and no water is exiting.

I tried blowing in the tube that is supposed to feed the carbon dioxide, and then it started working. Basically it seems like the pressure of the gas is required to drag in water. Anyone has a solution here besides connecting an air pump to drive the system?

[Bruno3047]

It's possible that the Bubble Magus CA requires a separate pump to supply water continuously to the unit. I know that some reactors are built that way. If that's the case, you could buy a cheap aqua-lifter dosing pump:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?pcatid=24981

If I were you, though, before I spent any more cash on a separate pump, I would find out for sure if your CA unit is built to require a separate pump. You might just have a defective unit. Call the people you bought it from and see what they say.

I know the folks over at Bulk Reef Supply carry the Bubble-Magus reactors. Maybe they can offer some help. Good luck!

[troutking]

if i bought the unit fromt thatpetplace, i wudnt need any other pump would i? it wudnt need to be in a sump?

[Jeff000]

Look into the Remote Deep Sand Bed threads too.

[Bruno3047]

No, you don't put the reactor into the sump. Just follow the directions for setup except you just disregard the CO2 part. If you bought the Coralife unit, you won't need a separate feeder pump to get your drip going. Good luck with your setup and if you have any more questions just ask.

[Bruno3047]

BTW. I now have 4 Sun Corals in my tank that eat enormous amounts of blackworms and my nitrates are still 0-5 ppm. Once my denitrator catches up with the increased bio-load, the NO3 will be back to solid 0. GL

[Bruno3047]

Just checked out the unit at thatpetplace. That holds twice the filter media as mine and would be a good choice for a large tank, up to 500 gal would be a safe estimate.