# Reactor for reducing nitrates



## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

In my never ending battle to keep nitrate levels low, I am looking at the following setup
Just to be clear though, this in no way will replace my weekly or twice weekly water changes, but I am striving to keep my nitrate levels as low as possible

I will get a Phosban reactor and fill it up with seachem denitrate, and have a low flow pump to draw the water through the reactor. The aim is to have 50 gallon per hour flow or less to allow the anaerobic bacteria to colonise in the seachem denitrate to reduce the nitrates

Does anyone have a setup similar to this, or have any thoughts on this?

I will try one out first on my 125 gallon Malawi Tank, and if it works, I will get another and set one up on my 125 gallon Tang Tank


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## Biciclid (Jan 27, 2016)

I'm interested as I was thinking of doing a similar thing. What are your NO3 levels now ( in tap water, in the tank before and after the watet change?) keep me posted. Ciao


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

So the Nitrates in my tap water are pretty well 0
The nitrates in my tank before my water change are between 40 to 80
after about a 40 or 50% water change the level is between 20 to 40

However, the liquid API tests are really hard to distinguish the levels between 40 and 80, as the colours are so closely matched

I know the bio load is high in this tank as the fish are growing, and I am actually going to remove about 3 or small fish that I no longer want in there, but with some of my fish that will only get larger, like Venustus, Livingstoni, A. Chrysti, and other large Haps, I feel I need to do this or else I will be having nitrate issues that will be getting worse

I am also going to try something different that I read somewhere. Instead of doing a large water change once a week, I will do smaller ones 3 or so times a week. I have already reduced my feedings to every other day, but the levels still get high quickly


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

have you thought of an algae filter or perhaps a heavily planted sump? my thought is that the nitrogen has to go SOMEWHERE. I have a feeling you will be trading water changes for seachem denitrate changes. Plants would assimilate the nitrogen.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

unfortunately I do not have a sump on this tank so that option is out
I did put a plant in the tank once, but that was destroyed in minutes by the fish...

I think at this point the reactor may be my best option...I just need to find the time to go and get one plus a pump plus the media...approx cost will be about 140 dollars...

When I get it I will update on how it goes...hoping to get it during the holidays when I have some free time

Until then, I am still open to any new ideas for reducing nitrates


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## CeeJay (Aug 16, 2016)

I'm interested in this to.
I'm change out somewhere around 150% of my water a week to keep mine below 20ppm. I would be in line to add reactor if cost and upkeep aren't to bad but changing water is cheap for me and it's matter of flipping a vale. But I would like to see were this could go as to lower nitrates. I will tell you I have 200 gallon system full of plants and it has not kept my nitrates any lower, I do change a lot less water in those tanks. But plants may lower it some what but not at the stocking levels we keep. With 18 fish 7 of those over 6" and couple at about 9" the load is huge. I have floating plants in this tank and have to harvest them off the top every two weeks.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

OK

So I finally got my reactor, a Phosban Reactor 150, and filled it up 3/4 way with Seachem Denitrate
So I needed a pump to use with the reactor, and that was my next purchase.
I originally bought an Aqueon pump but the minimum flow the pump gave was 84 gallons per hour, and this was too much for my purposes, as for my plan to work, it needs to be maximum 50 GPH. Even though the reactor comes with a ball valve to lower the flow, I did not want such a powerful pump.
I returned this pump and purchased a smaller pump. Its a Repti Flo 200 with a flow rate of 45 gallons per hour, and at 12 inches, the flow drops to 30 gallons per hour, so this is much more in line to what I am looking for. For those looking at cost of running this pump, it is 2.19 watts

I have just finished setting it up on a spare 55 gallon tank I have to make sure that it works fine and has no issues or leaks. I will probably let it run there for a day or so before moving it to my 125 gallon Malawi Tank where I hope it will start to lower the nitrates with time as the anaerobic bacteria starts to grow

Total cost for this so far. Reactor 70 dollars Pump 18 dollars Denitrate 15 dollars Hoses (Eheim) 9 dollars plus applicable 13% tax so the government can squander it...

Here is what it looks like on the spare tank to make sure it all runs well with no leaks


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Here is another picture of the reactor from the top showing the outflow hose as well
It is definitely a low flow which is what I want here


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

Nice ... :thumb:

I thought of doing similar myself for my 55G, only using the media canister in an old Magnum filter (... although there is a guy on CL here who has a unused n.i.b. Phosban 150 posted) - in fact, I already have the Magnum media canister loaded with de-nitrate, sitting on top of the fridge, waiting to go ...

Use a ball valve and choke the intake/supply off with the Magnum to get the low flow.

Be interesting to hear what kind of results you get.

I read one thread on another forum who built his own home brew canister and did the same thing ... dropped his nitrates to zero.


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## Pdxmonkeyboy (Oct 17, 2016)

nice, let me know how it works. im.putting pothos.in one of my non dripper tanks to see how it does removing nitrates. not hoping for much..but we shall see.

keep us posted!!!!


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

So I set up the reactor in my Malawi tank tank today
Day 1 is Jan 15, 2017
From what I have read, it could take 2 or 3 months to start seeing results

I did my third water change in 3 days today
My nitrate is anywhere from 10 to 40 really hard to distinguish the colours
I will update this thread as time goes by and see if this starts to work


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

So I am starting week 2 today
By my calculations my denitrator filters about 30 gallons per hour, which I believe is good, but time will tell

Today I tested the nitrates from the tank and I also took some water straight out of the outflow of the denitrator and tested that as well
From what I can see, the water coming out of the denitrator shows slightly less nitrates
I know its only been one week, but if this is an indication, I am hoping that as the bacteria grows in the denitrator the water will show less and less nitrates

See the pics before. I am sure the one on the left shows less nitrates, as that is the water coming directly out of the denitrator


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## bigmitch (Jan 31, 2017)

Plug I'm quite interested to see how your reactor is working out. I am seriously considering doing this to my tank. I'm just starting back into the hobby and going to start with a 55gal before I work my way up in size. Unfortunate thing is I just found out my well water is sitting around 10-15ppm on the Nitrates. So I'm thinking seeing as I'm starting with a clean slate (empty 55 gal tank) I might want to include something like this in the beginning to help battle the Nitrates. Any info you could provide would be greatly appreciated. Thanks


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

plug said:


> So I am starting week 2 today
> By my calculations my denitrator filters about 30 gallons per hour, which I believe is good, but time will tell
> 
> Today I tested the nitrates from the tank and I also took some water straight out of the outflow of the denitrator and tested that as well
> From what I can see, the water coming out of the denitrator shows slightly less nitrates


Yeah ... I wouldn't count on being able to notice any significant difference between the two (tank vs. output)

I think it is more likely that the overall level of nitrates will just reduce over time.

Better to compare images of samples of tank water from different time periods (week 1, week 2, etc.)



plug said:


> I know its only been one week, but if this is an indication, I am hoping that as the bacteria grows in the denitrator the water will show less and less nitrates
> 
> *See the pics before*.


Are they in this thread ?

If not, you might want to post them here ... you know: to make it easy for people to see them ... :wink:



plug said:


> I am sure the one on the left shows less nitrates, as that is the water coming directly out of the denitrator


Your best shot at getting an accurate rendition of the color is to photograph the test tubes from directly above (looking down into the opening) while holding them over a white piece of paper or white surface.

This is because of a thing known as _the index of refraction_.

Refractive index - Wikipedia

Basically any transparent material has an index of refraction - which measures the degree to which light is bent as a consequence of passing through said material (think of a prism)

There is a value (1.0 = light in a vacuum) where the light is not bent at all ... and anything outside of that value will cause the light to be bent ... which can make the liquid appear a different color than it actually is.

It's why when you look at one of those test tubes from the side, the color of the solution appears to vary at the edges as compared to center/middle of the tube.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Actually, it was typo. I meant to say see the pic below, referring to the 2 tubes in the picture where one was from the tank (right) and the other right from the outflow of the denitrator (left)

That is a lot of detailed info wryan
I will be taking samples again in the next couple of days and post the pics and I will do as you suggested, by taking the picture from above over a white piece of paper or something white

Hoping to start seeing some obvious results as I am into week 3 already


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## snorkel2 (Sep 30, 2005)

hmm, i wonder instead of a in tank pump, if you could wye the output from a canister to go through a reactor like that, so essentially you could do two wyes and have a bypass of sorts so the output would be split but ultimately coming out of a single spray jet or spray bar.


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## wryan (Dec 6, 2015)

I got the media canister with the denitrate loaded into the Magnum 200 yesterday after I cleaned it out and did a 15G pwc today (on a 55G tank) ... still need to test for nitrates to get a baseline reference.


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## bigmitch (Jan 31, 2017)

plug have you done any nitrate tests lately. Curious to see if your reactor and the De-Nitrate is working like planned.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I tested on Friday, and at this time 3 and half weeks after starting it, there is no noticeable difference yet
Even comparing the water from the tank and the water coming right out of the denitrator, there is really no difference as of yet
I have heard that it can take a couple of months possibly to start noticing and difference

I will keep monitoring and updating, and hopefully I will start seeing some positive results soon


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## bigmitch (Jan 31, 2017)

Plug any new updates to pass along.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Just tested again today
Still no noticeable changes in the nitrate levels
Its been over a month now

Overall the nitrate levels have not been reduced

I will keep updating, but remember it still could take a month or 2 still to start showing any changes


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

so its been almost 2 months
I dont see any drop in nitrates in the tank
I will give it another couple of months or so, and see how it goes

I am wondering now if I should have bought the bigger one to put in more denitrate

will keep it going and update with any new findings


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## bizarro252 (Mar 7, 2017)

I just starting playing with this myself. I have a hang on fry tank with 3 dividers. I loaded a divider in to force the water down (and then it will drain from the top of the other side of the box) and loaded it with a liter of DeNitrate. The pump is very slow and I turned it all the way down and put a prefilter foam thing on it.

Just installed it a few days ago but I will report back! Also thinking of planting a bamboo plant (or something that can tolerate its roots underwater) in it since the media is kinda like the gravel those plants come in at the store, should work good lol

edit:
I am also seeding the box daily with Seachem Stability...


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Good luck and keep us posted
I think that I should have gone with the bigger unit to hold more denitrate media, but I will continue with this and see where it takes me...


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## bizarro252 (Mar 7, 2017)

Will do! You as well


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

So its been about 2 1/2 months since I set up the reactor, and its really difficult to measure if and how successful the reactor is working
I don't really have a tangible way of measuring how well its working
The only observations I have noticed is that when I do my weekly water change, the nitrates are not as high as they were before. However, is that due to the reactor, or consciously trying to reduce the amount of food I feed the fish, or a combination of both
Either way, I will continue using it and monitoring the nitrates during each water change
I will continue to update for those who may be interested


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## bigmitch (Jan 31, 2017)

plug thanks for the update. Yes please keep us informed as how things progress as I'm interested. I'm trying to figure out which way to go as one of my problems is I fight Nitrates being at 5ppm right out of the tap as I'm on well water. As you mentioned in one of your earlier posts I wonder if I went with a larger reactor with more de-nitrate would help more. Again thanks for keeping us updated.


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## CeeJay (Aug 16, 2016)

I change water three times a week with somewhere around 150% of the water to 200% of the tanks volume to keep nitrates in check. How big of reactor would I need? It seems to me that the cost of the electric would offset the cost of the water if you ran another pump. Also just me but it's another thing to take care of. I seems that they don't work as well as I was told.

Thanks for the information and the money I could of spent.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Odd, I have two cartridge filter canisters that I converted into denitrate reactors with a little fountain pump hooked up to them with a pothos in my sump and I have unreadable levels of nitrates in my 180 gallon with 43 large haps and peacocks. Sounds like you have some serious detritus hiding somewhere.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Well its been almost a year since I setup my denitrator and unfortunately the nitrates have not really dropped much
I think its because I am not using enough media
So I just finished attaching a second denitrator so the water goes through one and then the other, so I have well over 2 litres of denitrating media now so hopefully I will see better results

Caldwell, I would be interested in knowing what media and how much you are using in your tank to get almost zero levels of nitrate


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I was using a liter of matrix in one reactor and a liter of de*nitrate in the other. I also did a lot of water changes to get the nitrates down to a very low amount before I started. The reactors will only work when the nitrates are already low but I've already got rid of that mess because it's more trouble than it's worth


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

oh so you dont use that anymore?
may I ask why?


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

No I quit using it several months ago. It worked great but it was just something else to maintain... Once the media started to get a little bit dirty, it quit working and had to be replaced. It's easier just to do 50% water changes once or twice a week and not have something else to spend money on and maintain. I just don't think the end justifies the means when it comes to denitrifying reactors on freshwater tanks.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I noticed the media gets dirty so I just rinse it out and put it back in
I wonder if I am just wasting my time

I was really hoping to see how good this works since I spent over 200 bucks on these reactors and media


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

You could still use them for biomedia or purigen and run a lot more flow through it... All is not lost my friend, you can still make good use out of your reactors. Rinsing the media would also be detrimental because you want to keep it exposed to as little oxygen as possible and the flow kept down to less than 50 gph if you want to keep it as a denitrifying reactor


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Thanks for the info
I will see how it goes with the second reactor setup and continue to update this thread as any results come in
Hopefully you will monitor and add any useful information

Appreciate the feedback :thumb:


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

plug said:


> Thanks for the info
> I will see how it goes with the second reactor setup and continue to update this thread as any results come in
> Hopefully you will monitor and add any useful information
> 
> Appreciate the feedback :thumb:


Sure, I'm here to answer any questions.


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