DIY Coil Denitrator Plans

[rsman]

Ok, I'm lost now.
yea sorry was thinking bout airplanes as i did that response,

the last post is correct,

you have nitrites so speed it up, a little and SLOWLY!!!

just a little, durring cycling some nitrite is normal, dont try to get to 0 but do try to keep it less than 1ppm


I thought the output should be zero for both and only nitrogen should be the end product.

once cycled this is 100% true, durring cycling the better goal is to make very slow changes and wait. its like a cycling fish tank, you dont want ammonia and nitrite, but you accept it when you do.


Speed up? Slow down?
very little speed up.

[DerrickBrown]

rsman, you are definately the "man". I really appreciate all the help with this. I wish we weren't on different ends of the country. I'd love to go rc'ing with ya.

I will speed up the flow some of the output. Would 2 drips/sec be acceptable or is more flow needed? I guess I can speed it up and check it frequently to make sure that no nitrates are coming through.

[rsman]

drops per 10 seconds / 10 is better 60 seconds is even better, i wouldnt go to 2 drops per second, maybee 1.5

change and wait and check is the best aproach, you should wait long enough for all of the water in the coil and bio chamber to be replaced. and longer wont hurt

[FireEater]

My denitrator is 24" x 4" and has two 75' tubes coiled inside it. So it has two inputs and one output. It has bio balls and pond media filter in it. It is gravity fed.

It is on a 125g tank with a 29g refugium and a 25g sump.

I started it up on 9DEC04

19DEC04
Tank water nitrates at 15 to 20ppm
Denitrator output at 15 to 20ppm

4JAN05
Tank water nitrates at 5ppm
Denitrator output at 40ppm

Is the denitrator output high due to it still cycling?

I have it set at about 1.5 drops per second.

Mark

[rsman]

what are the nitrites and are both coils working?

it sounds like you have the flow rate too high,

BUT

nitrites mess up nitrate kits, so chances are your output nitrates are low but nitrites are elevated.

its probibly still cycling so do make slow changes.

[niko5]

RSMAN, do you think its best to make a denitrator and just start it up right away and let it drip or fill it with water and add a few grains of sugar and let it sit for a month to cycle then start running water?

[rsman]

you really dont wanna let it sit, it needs to be running, your asking for 2 biological processes, and if you do the feed and idle thing you will only get 1, your coils should have aerobic bacteria on them, you wont get that.

if your looking for shortcuts there are a few, you can run it full open for a few days, then close it up for a day, run at a drip / sec for a day ..... and keep up that pattern for a week or 2, but itll only cut 2 weeks and it takes more work. I DONT RECOMEND THAT!!!

also if you have more than 1 you can daisy chain them together for a while, the bacteria will move from one to the other and speed up the cycle, I do recomend that if its available to you.

[niko5]

So whats the best drip rate to set it at for cycle then? 4 / sec or so?

[rsman]

4 / second is way to fast
for .170 it should be less than 1 to start with
for .250 it should be just over 1 to start with
for .375 it should be just over 1.5 to start with.
for .5 it should be in the 2~3 to start with

these are ESTIMATES, you have to test the output regularly to adjust the flow rate.

[saltwaterfishlover]

this is a very interesting thread....
I got a few questions now.....
I currently have a 92 corner with a 50 gal sump. If I get my way I may up it to a 240 and same sump. it is medium to high stock and feed.
would a 4" x 24" unit with 2-3 coils maybe 50-75' long be right or go with 6" x 24" with maybe 4 coils 50-75' long be the way to go? also what diam tube for the coil?
when up and running properly you dont need to test correct? and it will help starve all forms of greenish algea bad like hair and good like the macros used in sumps?
and I fly rc heli's have a jr 10x radio with a jr ergo 30 and a dnhp sr3 with a ys 80
andy

[carl0209]

bump

[km133688]

tag

[rsman]

I got a few questions now.....
sorry for the delay

I currently have a 92 corner with a 50 gal sump.
cool

If I get my way I may up it to a 240 and same sump. it is medium to high stock and feed.how??? are you assuming its a medium to high stock or do you know it is??

would a 4" x 24" unit with 2-3 coils maybe 50-75' long be right or go with 6" x 24" with maybe 4 coils 50-75' long be the way to go? 4 coils would be better. if its truely a high bioload then you might consider 1 1/2" coil bout 400' long, with 1 - 2cuft of bio balls. but find out if you need it before going that way, larger units come at a cost.

also what diam tube for the coil?
its not important. use what you can fit the coil into. [added] do attempt to use wider shorter tubes as winding the coil wider reduces resistance

when up and running properly you dont need to test correct? correct
and it will help starve all forms of greenish algea bad like hair and good like the macros used in sumps?
well yes and no. it does nothing for po4 with po4 and some algae the algae will be able to get to the nitrate that is in the water it doesnt take much. so yea itll help, and it makes the good algae work even better but dont expect overnight dead algae.

and I fly rc heli's have a jr 10x radio with a jr ergo 30 and a dnhp sr3 with a ys 80

CooL

tag
your it

[saltwaterfishlover]

ok stocking wise 1- 5" rabbit fish, 2- 4" pearly jawfish, 1 rainsford goby, 1- 4" purple firefish, 1 banicle blennie, 1-damsel (wish was evicted or dead), 1 neon cleaner gobie, pistol and cleaner shrimp, 25 mini carpet anemone's assorted corals and a sun coral, feed 1 cube frozen daily and one cube for the sun a few times a week. so what you think the 6"x24ish with 4 coils 50' or 75'. and 1 cube' balls? and how is best to feed it 1 input split to the four tubes or 4 inputs?
thanks

[rsman]

thats not exactly high bio load, really its not even close

as for the height get the coils wrap them around a 3-4" piece of pvc, overlap one coil onto another, build it that tall, put the 4" in the outer tube, and fill that with bio balls.

you dont need 1cu ft of bioballs just fill it "full" and itll be fine

how you split that is really up to you, i prefere to keep the spliting parts external, there a little prone to cloging.

[sevise]

My Nitrates are about 10ppm I'm looking for a way to drop that down a little more. My display tank is 120Gal and with sump and fuge the system totals around 200Gal.

Can anyone guess if the following would work. 2 or 3, 3" diam 3' long tubes w/ 75ft of 1/4 OD tubing each. My sump is in the basement so I should be able to gravity feed them. Lastly do they have to be mounted vertically or can I lay them on there sides?

[Fishguru]

sevise, get a few clams

[woowoodengy]

do clams reduce nitrates????

[sammydee]

I want to make one of these things for a twenty gallon nano. I don't have a sump, and I don't want the thing lower than the tank due to the chance of leaks and my whole tank draining. So..... can i make an internal one?

If I tee it off from a powerhead and use model aircraft tubing (got lots of it - I fly too) how much length would I need? It's pretty tiny diameter so maybe 30 feet would do it? And then I could have the top of the pvc tube sticking out of the top of the water and it would slowly dribble out over the sides. I thought about using an airlift but I reckon it wouldn't have enough pull to even get a couple of drips going through the thing. I would only need maybe 3gph to reduce nitrates right down.

Is it possible to do something like this?

Sam

[sammydee]

BTW I forgot to mention - I don't fly balsa planes I fly scratchbuilt planes made out of correx and PVC pipe. They're called SPADs I don't know if you recognise the name? Stands for Simple Plastic Airplane Design, they're a doddle to build, fly pretty well and are absolutely indestructible (to a point, obviously ). Check out the wesite: Spad To The Bone .

[niko5]

Bump and Im starting mine this week haha it only took me 5 months... nothing else is working so im going this way

[rsman]

ive always liked em, especially in FO systems but there not all bad for reefs either.

let me know if u need help here or in pm.....

[mattydub]

Originally posted by rsman


ive always liked em, especially in FO systems but there not all bad for reefs either.

let me know if u need help here or in pm.....

rsman...do you feel these are good to use in breeding systems as well? I'm thinking not only for adults, but fry as well...or is their bioload too much (rather too erratic= high real fast, then tapers off as they grow etc) for the coils to handle?

thnx for all your help...

[rsman]

hehehe search the breeders forum for info, but yep i like to use mine for my breeding setup

i do have a rather large one compared to my FO, but at the same time the max bioload is well MUCH higher on my breeding setup than my FO, I use one coil denitrator for both broadstock and growout.

[niko5]

You must have those things everywhere

Here is something I was thinking about last night...

1.) If you have 2 coils how do you adjust them both becuase you would have one output you couldnt really adjust one from the other.

2.) If you have 2 coils do they BOTH get set at like 1 drop per sec so the putput is 2 drops per sec?