Denitrator theory (and practice)

Purple

Purple

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#21
Oct 31, 2003
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#21
Oh well - the whole thing just fell on its backside.........

After doing one tank, the input and output are level.

So - I took another look at the N10 site - it now states that "LIFE 450litres @ 100 ppm "

Did I miss that before (could I have missed that) - or have they "tidied" up the typos on the page......

Anyway - at £30 per tank per time this is useless............back to the drawing board
 

MrsPurple

MrsPurple

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#22
Jan 1, 2004
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#22
hiya Taffy

it was without the chilli sause hun :)

And I dont have them often now... weight loss due to op is now 3st 9lbs and going down fast.. all that in 9 weeks eh :)

As for this thing Purples been trying out well fingers crossed he finds a way of doing this cos we stand at 10 tanks now and he will have to give up work to look after them all at this rate.

Red
 

Purple

Purple

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#23
Oct 31, 2003
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#23
(we did a fish count last night - "hers" and "mine' - yup - she has more fish than me - lol..........the fact that some of mine are a foot long and hers are about an inch is still being "debated")

Anyway - back to business.......

Anyone tried a product called "Nitragon" ?. It's a cannister, but can be re-charged with dishwasher salt.
 

T

TaffyFish

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#25
Jan 30, 2003
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#25
Whoah, that's a blow! I know it's not a strategy 1 of your 10 tanks but if you're still interested you can have my D&D Sulphur denitrator for £30

How are the multies doing now and how did you move from 6 to 10 tanks so quickly? Pretty sure I only saw 5 tanks when I visited.....bowfront, Texas, corner, multi and albino peacocks. What's in the other five?
 

lightning

lightning

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#26
Dec 30, 2002
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#26
i went through almost the same situation a year ago, i have high nitrates from my tap sometimes high as 30 , and was doing 50% water changes every week, i looked into denitrators etc,, i tried some Marineland Diamond Blend which is activated carbon and ammonia-neutralizing crystals , it started working imediatly, my tank water nitrates have been 0 since the first month i started using it, i change it every month when i do a major filter cleaning, i have 2 emperor 400 and i use the extra cartridges, i put filter media and the diamond blend in them i have been doing this almost a year now and have had no more nitrate problems
 

Purple

Purple

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#28
Oct 31, 2003
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#28
Thanks for the support guys - really appreciate it.....I don't think the N10 was a deliberate rip-off, but it looks like the site typo tripped me up good and proper - grrrr

Taffy - i'll swallow my pride and take the DD (thanks) - I can keep that running on the corner 55 which is the biggest NO3 problem in the house atm. The tanks you missed were two in the bedroom (one of which is an empty hex - the other a guppy tank), plus one in a box in the garage (new - 15 gal - cheap - what can I say) and one coming from ebay next week. Rather a snazzy 20 actually, which will be a replacement for the present yucky guppy jobby.

Lightning - haven't seen those - I'll dig them up - thanks for the tip.

Tried those zorb packs Lotus - 4 of them in a Fluval 404 - about as much use as an old tea-bag (but thanks for the thought)

I'm determined to crack this problem, I'm not giving up my tanks, and I'm not going to have my fish swimming around in 40ppm of something that 'aint doing them any good.

Where there's a will there's a way, even if I have to sue the water company to pay for it (which at this rate is looking like an attractive option)

Meanwhile - just got back from the LFS (Portons again) - and a tenners worth of plants have now gone into the 4ft bow. The BP is shoving them around, and the Angels are treating it all like a food tasting event, but without the Oscars in there they may yet stand some chance of lasting - we'll see.....
 

Lotus

Lotus

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#29
Aug 26, 2003
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#29
I thought you might have tried those ones, but it seems each company's one works a little differently. I suppose they're one of those "last resort" things that you hope will work a miracle. :(

You should definitely check out the national guidelines for water quality, and see if you have any way to pressure your water company (I think those were privatised). Looking at the water quality report on this side of the pond, the max allowed nitrate level is 45mg/L. You might be able to call your water company and ask a chemist some questions.
 

T

TaffyFish

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#30
Jan 30, 2003
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#30
The water guidelines issues by South West Water say up to 40ppm nitrates is permissable, no doubt that'll be a national guideline so sadly sueing the water board for 30ppm is not an option.

Let me know if you want me to bring the D&D to the office in Basingstoke or if you and Red fancy another trip over to mine - you're always welcome and you'll get to see the Trigon with fish in it!! ;-)
 

catfishmike

catfishmike

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#32
Oct 22, 2002
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#32
it's dissapointing when things don't work the way you planed.
i have been meaning to pipe in with my 2 cents,but it gets overlooked and then...anyhoo
,with all this trouble your having,i'm leaning towards wayne's suggestion of a vegitive filter for your nitrate problem.i don't know what your legal restrictions are concerning aquatic plants,but floating plants such as:duckweed,salvina,water lettuce,hornwort,and a few others would make for a good nitrate remover,and it would make the water cleaner overall for the most part.
you could aim for something more rewarding if you like,but floating plants are cheapest to keep.anything else could require
high lighting,and we all know what comes with that....
as much as you may have a brown thumb,i know first hand anyone can grow duckweed.
oh well thats my thoughts,thanks for a great thread too.
 

Purple

Purple

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#33
Oct 31, 2003
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#33
I actually have a green thumb - but the fish don't share my enthusiasm. Tried that floating stuff with tiny leaves, after one month there is not a trace of it left - they bury the moss balls in the sand (I'm considering pinning the things to the wood). I'd agree that in a couple of the tanks I could get away with plants, but the light levels required for them to grow seem to spook the fish, who then spend their time hiding in the shadows. Another thing that worries me about plants is the number of them needed to have an effect - although any plant will have some effect I guess, no matter how small.

I suspect i'll end up using all the solutions simultaneously - biological denitrators on the tanks with plant killers in them, plants in the tanks that'll take them, and cannister removal systems for water changes.

My tap water is still @30ppm today, so I'm still up the same creek (although paddling furiously)

Depending on how effective this bio can of Taffy's turns out to be, I might be able to run it alternately on the two worst tanks - we'll see.

Either that - or it has occoured to me that a change of stock to plant tolerant fish may be the only long term solution. I'll have to get rid of the BP's and the Oscar though - and that's gonna hurt - it's hard for me to give up on what I regard as friends like that. but keeping them in these conditions isn't good for them either

"It's a mad world my masters"...............
 

Lotus

Lotus

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#35
Aug 26, 2003
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#35
One thing you could consider if your plants tend to get eaten is to have some terrestrial/bog plants with just their roots in the water. I have grown pothos out the back of a tank as a kind of background/interest thing. You could probably also grow things like peace lily and goosefoot plant. It's just an idea, and I never did test how effective it was in nitrate uptake. At least it can look nice to have plants growing out of the tank. I'm sure you could rig up something to keep them in place.
 

Purple

Purple

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#36
Oct 31, 2003
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#36
yeah - always wanted a mangrove tank - figured i'd use philodendrons - thirsty things....maybe one day (but a valid suggestion - thanks)

lightning -

I've taken a look at the Marineland product you mentioned.......it seems to work primarily on removing Ammonia. By doing so I can see how this would ultimately reduce the Nitrate output considerably, but it brings up a couple of questions.

Firstly, by removing the Ammonia, the bacterial colony in the filter would be reduced. So when the removal proccess slows down as the product reaches the end of its capacity, do you experience any kind of mini-cycle while the filter media catch up with the increase ? or do you have it so well anticipated that you change the granules before their performance degrades ?

Secondly, if your tap water is coming out at 20pmm (for instance) how do you get to a zero figure in the end ? - do you have a planted set-up ? Those Nitrates must go somewhere.

I suspect I'm mising something here - but I can't find any suggestion in the blurb that the Marineland product actively targets Nitrate - how do you get your set-up to work so well ?

(Thanks for the input by the way - greatly appreciated)
 

T

TaffyFish

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#37
Jan 30, 2003
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#37
Purple - I'll switch PM back on for a few days, otherwise email me on dai_b@hotmail.com

I tried those floating plants catfishmike suggested, salvinia, water lettuce, hornwort and they all failed in my hard, alkaline water and 1 watt per gallon lighting. They brought algae in too so I was left with much worse problems...grrrrr! Small leafed salvinia just shrivelled up and died - water's too hard. Water lettuce seemed to be too close to the lights at the top of my tank despite me reducing the water levels and just melted after coating itself in BGA! Hornwort has only succeeded in my coldwater set up despite the goldies nibbling the growing tips, did not thrive in pH 8.2 KH 12

I'm sticking to anubias and java moss or unplanted set ups for the foreseeable. Seems to me that if you want to use plants to control nitrates then you have to plant pretty heavily.
 

Purple

Purple

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#38
Oct 31, 2003
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#38
Cheers Taffy - gotcha

My Ph is lower thanks to the wood, rarely goes over 8 - low sevens is more typical - but agreed - trial and error is the only way- yeah i'm worried about the ammounts of plants needed too - but we'll see - gotta keep trying

it's either that or plastic fish - lol
 

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