Budding Keeper

[JulianZxc]

Dimensions: 90cm X 45cm X 40cm 

Max Volume: 42.8gallons / 162L

Estimated Volume @ black brace marking: 150L

Inhabitants: 1 Banggai Cardinalfish (1week old in tank)

1 Purple firefish, 1 Red firefish (1 day old)

Gsp colony, Pulsing Xenia frag, some Zoa frags, Leather Mushroom Coral, Purple Mushroom, Chaetomorpha,  2 Hawaiian Featherdusters

Equipment: Second hand Hob skimmer, 4 XT5 Aquazonic fixture, cooling fan (4blades) 

[Admiraltian]

Cute banggai Cardinal fish.

[SubzeroLT]

 

 

Keep the updates coming.

What are those bottles at the back of the tank?

 

[JulianZxc]

Keep the updates coming.

What are those bottles at the back of the tank?

 

oh those bottles were/are an experiment to attempt to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas by creating a low flow and possibly anaerobic region for anaerobic bacteria to perform the denitrification process.

2 of the 1.5L bottles contained seachem Denitrate (1L each) and some ARM media. My observations were that they visibly produced significant number of bubbles in less than a week within the bottle. But, at that time, my nitrates at 50ppm didnt budge much. This went on for a few weeks, but still high nitrates.

1 of the 1.5L bottles contained 800mL of sulfur granules and quite a bit of ARM media. Similar observations as to the seachem Denitrate with smaller bubbles. But nitrates didnt budge much either and remained high and Kh drops a bit. And all these experiments were conducted during cycling but no lifestock. So nitrogen export didnt seem signicant enough to be a success.

What was a success, however, was when I started using an internal filter later on, filled with almost 700mL of putra NitrateLock I got from madpetz. In less than 2 weeks my nitrates halved from 50ppm to 25ppm. 

Of course, the drop in nitrates could be attributed to a sudden maturity of my 3 other denitrate experimental bottles which were concurrently inside the tank. Nevertheless, I more inclined to attribute the drop to the NitrateLock. I will attempt to continue observing the nitrates with now the 3 fishes and moderate feeding. 

When nitrates have stabilised or risen, I would take my NitrateLock out and try regenerate them with brine solution. Then put them back, if nitrates drop then I can appreciate that nitratelock is indeed effective for quick and safe reduction in nitrate levels.

 

[JulianZxc]

On further hindsight, I suspect the denitrification bottle experiments were limited as they did not have a flow to push/flush the produced nitrogen gas bubbles . These bubbles may further inhibit flow or diffusion of nitrates into the media. Denitrification may have indeed occurred but the turn over rate may have been severely dampened to have significant effect on nitrates. 

There are many factors involved including clogging of media (dont think so since the bottles were passive, dont think much detritus entered the bottle) or perhaps that the system wouldn't work quick enough with an initial high nitrate concentration or anaerobic regions werent exactly established.

Will consider modifying the bottle experiments to create a denitrification tower or smt when I have the time.

Ps. The idea of such bottles is not a novel one. The concept of remote deep sandbeds could further extend into remote deep sandbed bottles.  Then again the theory is a bit different and factors affecting denitrification using these remote dsb methods may include surface area exposed to high flow etc which I have yet to confirm.

[JulianZxc]

Had considered other methods of denitrification including Marine pure 8x8x8 blocks and  redsea nopox dosing.  Didnt proceed with Marine pure cos of budget cuts Haha and I cant do redsea as I wouldn't be home everyday to dose and dont have a dosing pump. 

Very interested in Marine pure huge blocks and even their recent Marine pure artifical liverocks. Maybe when got funding then can start that haha

[JMW]

Interesting experiment! Will less flow thru the bottled media limit their effectiveness tho?

how about using Algone to reduce nitrates? That's something which can be implemented without a dosing pump 

[JulianZxc]

Interesting experiment! Will less flow thru the bottled media limit their effectiveness tho?

how about using Algone to reduce nitrates? That's something which can be implemented without a dosing pump 

i really dont know about the less flow, just felt the bubbles aint coming out and that might inhibit further denitrification. However, in deep sand beds, do bubbles produced by denitrification get to escape being packed so heavily by sand and does that affect denitrification? I'm not sure. Might have to mod the experiment to increase flow such that bubbles can escape. If no3 drops with a slightly higher flow (not too much higher since that would make forming anaerobic regions more difficult) then I know my hypothesis is correct.

Yeah I heard of Algone, probably somewhat effective in reducing high nitrates. Only problem is that it cannot be regenerated and hence could possibly be cost inhibitive to use it as a sole method of removing nitrates. It is sgd 25 for a box of 6 filter pouches. Not sure how much to use and how much nitrates will it remove before exhausted. Wouldnt mind if it can used for.quite long (like phosphate removers except usually nitrates are in much higer concentrations) hence being economical. 

Also heard of AZNO3 and poly filters which are used to reduce nitrates. Same thing, are they economical to be used in the long run? If you re in the hobby (kinda expensive) and keeping very sensitive and prized specimens like sps etc, youll probably fork out the cash to get a convenient solution to remove nitrates. I chose nitratelock cos perhaps it will last longer since it can be regenerated with brine solution made by cheap table salt.

[JMW]

Good points there, I agree that long term adsorption media should be economical, else that's a lot of costs right there.

btw do you know if nitratelock can reduce nitrates without the presence of phosphates?

[SubzeroLT]

Typically, the region around the sulfur media needs to be anoxic (lack of free oxygen) for denitrification to take place. If you are able to stick an ORP meter in there, you'll then be able to know if that condition is reached (and denitrification taking place). 

In a sulfur denitrifying reactor with about half to 1 liter of sulfur, the effluent rate is typically around 1 drip per second. Hence, i'm not sure if 'increasing flow' be counter productive instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JulianZxc]

Good points there, I agree that long term adsorption media should be economical, else that's a lot of costs right there.

btw do you know if nitratelock can reduce nitrates without the presence of phosphates?

i think it would still function without or with phosphates . It is some sort of chemical resin mainly specific to nitrate absorption. Phosphates isnt absorbed and thus shouldnt affect nitrate absorption.

[JulianZxc]

Typically, the region around the sulfur media needs to be anoxic (lack of free oxygen) for denitrification to take place. If you are able to stick an ORP meter in there, you'll then be able to know if that condition is reached (and denitrification taking place). 

In a sulfur denitrifying reactor with about half to 1 liter of sulfur, the effluent rate is typically around 1 drip per second. Hence, i'm not sure if 'increasing flow' be counter productive instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

true, perhaps I should be more extreme with the sulfur bottle. Currently I have a bottle cap screwed on top of that with a few holes. Maybe I could poke less tiny holes to create this anoxic region. I dont have a Orp meter to monitor this however. I would be able to monitor the bubble formation and nitrate levels should it work. Perhaps, one day we could do away with those sulfur reactors and make this hobby a bit more affordable