# Has anyone tried building a nitrate reactor?



## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I'm wondering if anyone here has ever tried to build a nitrate reactor to reduce nitrate levels. What I mean by nitrate reactor is like a normal media reactor (either a DIY reactor or off the shelf reactor), small pump, and then fill the reactor with something like Seachem De-Nitrate media. Theoretically this kind of setup could work if the flow rate was LOW enough through the reactor to minimize the amount of oxygen exchange and allow anaerobic bacteria to take hold. I know this is more of a salt water or reef tank discussion but I am interested in trying something like this to get nitrate levels down in my tank. Although I do weekly water changes there is still 20-30 ppm nitrate in my tank at the end of the week just before a change. Just like everyone else who loves fish I would like that number to be 0 all the time. :fish:

Plus I like experimenting


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Yes, I've built two reactors and managed to keep my nitrates at zero or close to it for a time. I even had a plant in my sump to help with this... I found out that it was just another thing to spend money on and maintain. You would most definitely not want to run the pump inside the tank unless you had a mechanical prefilter in-line. I had the pump for my reactors in the return reservoir of my sump where the water was already clean and the De*nitrate would stop working every couple of months because it would be dirty. Then you had to wait a few weeks for the anaerobic bacteria to build up enough to do anything. On reef tanks this is necessary, but in our tanks it's really more trouble than it's worth.


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## CT_Eagle (Aug 24, 2013)

I have been thinking about doing this as well. My tap water contains nitrate so my water changes do not remove as much nitrate as I would like.

I do not have a sump so I would require a reactor that has mechanical filtration before the water reaches the media.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

I used the cartridge type water filter housings, a piece of PVC the length of a filter cartridge with holes drilled in one end, two rubber drain gaskets, two and a half liters of seachem de*nitrate, reverse the direction of flow and a 50 gph fountain pump. You should not have nitrates in your tap water, that's something you should take up with your utility provider. What kind of nitrate level are we talking about? Nothing below 40 ppm is going to harm your fish. Another thing that needs to be addressed, you have to start out with practically zero to very low nitrates for the system to work. If you try putting it on a problem tank that has consistently high nitrates, it's not going to work. It has a very limited capability and I think under most circumstances, users would be very disappointed since it doesn't control or amend high nitrates, unless you wish to purchase a 1 cubic foot filter bottle and $1000 worth of de*nitrate every couple of months. Basically, the anaerobic bacteria in a denitrifying reactor can really only handle the nitrates as they are produced, not even a level of 20-30 ppm...


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## CT_Eagle (Aug 24, 2013)

I used the cartridge type water filter housings, a piece of PVC the length of a filter cartridge with holes drilled in one end, two rubber drain gaskets, two and a half liters of seachem de*nitrate, reverse the direction of flow and a 50 gph fountain pump. You should not have nitrates in your tap water, that's something you should take up with your utility provider. What kind of nitrate level are we talking about? Nothing below 40 ppm is going to harm your fish. Another thing that needs to be addressed, you have to start out with practically zero to very low nitrates for the system to work. If you try putting it on a problem tank that has consistently high nitrates, it's not going to work. It has a very limited capability and I think under most circumstances, users would be very disappointed since it doesn't control or amend high nitrates, unless you wish to purchase a 1 cubic foot filter bottle and $1000 worth of de*nitrate every couple of months. Basically, the anaerobic bacteria in a denitrifying reactor can really only handle the nitrates as they are produced, not even a level of 20-30 ppm...

Thanks for the info Daniel.

My water is about 20ppm nitrate. I am on a well so there is no utility provider to take this up with.

I was not aware of the limited capability of these reactors. You may have saved me some time. Are algae scrubbers more effective? I understand that they can also help lower nitrates.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

CT_Eagle said:


> Thanks for the info Daniel.
> 
> My water is about 20ppm nitrate. I am on a well so there is no utility provider to take this up with.
> 
> I was not aware of the limited capability of these reactors. You may have saved me some time. Are algae scrubbers more effective? I understand that they can also help lower nitrates.


You have nitrate in your well water? How much?


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## CT_Eagle (Aug 24, 2013)

gillmanjr said:


> CT_Eagle said:
> 
> 
> > Thanks for the info Daniel.
> ...


About 20ppm. Nitrate in well water is fairly common in rural areas. Especially areas that are or have been heavy farming areas.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Oh because of the leaching from farming chemicals?

So what I was thinking about doing was building a DIY reactor with 4" PVC, probably just DWV PVC from home depot, putting a cap on the bottom and then a threaded cap or plug on the top. Install two 1/2" bulkheads and then use 1/4" tube to connect to it. On the inlet side I would probably run a long coil of 1/4" tube (maybe like 20 feet of it). There is a 40 GPH fountain pump on Amazon I was going to buy, its the smallest I could find and I think it has adjustable flow rate too. I could probably run it around 10 GPH. I think the key to this is having water totally devoid of oxygen (when it hits the media) and thats hard to do when you are purposefully generating oxygen in the tank for your fish. I'm not an expert on this but I don't think there is a feasible way of eliminating dissolved oxygen in water (not for a home aquarium).


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

CT_Eagle said:


> gillmanjr said:
> 
> 
> > CT_Eagle said:
> ...


Yeah, I really don't think a denitrifying reactor would be worthwhile in your case. The best thing to do is weekly 50% changes and you should be okay.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Yes, I've built two reactors and managed to keep my nitrates at zero or close to it for a time. I even had a plant in my sump to help with this... I found out that it was just another thing to spend money on and maintain. You would most definitely not want to run the pump inside the tank unless you had a mechanical prefilter in-line. I had the pump for my reactors in the return reservoir of my sump where the water was already clean and the De*nitrate would stop working every couple of months because it would be dirty. Then you had to wait a few weeks for the anaerobic bacteria to build up enough to do anything. On reef tanks this is necessary, but in our tanks it's really more trouble than it's worth.


When you ran your reactor did you feed it? I mean with sugar or vodka or whatever?


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

gillmanjr said:


> Oh because of the leaching from farming chemicals?
> 
> So what I was thinking about doing was building a DIY reactor with 4" PVC, probably just DWV PVC from home depot, putting a cap on the bottom and then a threaded cap or plug on the top. Install two 1/2" bulkheads and then use 1/4" tube to connect to it. On the inlet side I would probably run a long coil of 1/4" tube (maybe like 20 feet of it). There is a 40 GPH fountain pump on Amazon I was going to buy, its the smallest I could find and I think it has adjustable flow rate too. I could probably run it around 10 GPH. I think the key to this is having water totally devoid of oxygen (when it hits the media) and thats hard to do when you are purposefully generating oxygen in the tank for your fish. I'm not an expert on this but I don't think there is a feasible way of eliminating dissolved oxygen in water (not for a home aquarium).


Yeah, oxygen is the main problem with getting a denitrifying reactor to work properly. I had mine at the very end of the filtration chain where the water has already passed down through about 35 pounds of biological media and up through another 10 before it hit the reactor pump. I have a slotted spillway with a piece of drilled plexiglass to evenly disperse water above my biological media so I can oxygenate it enough for the bacteria to be very efficient. Going through all that media strips quite a bit of oxygen as it is but I think the key is having several stages instead of just one. At least two vessels would be necessary, without a sump, to adequately remove enough oxygen for the final stage to be effective at removing nitrates. Maybe the first canister filled with polyfil to remove any solids and just enough aerobic bacteria to use up oxygen and the second with de*nitrate to remove nitrates. Either way the first chamber would probably have to be somewhere around 3-4' long and the second able to hold a couple of liters of denitrifying media. It would actually start to work better when the first chamber began to clog, but eventually you'd have to start all over from square one when it all got too clogged to flow lol. I didn't feed it with anything, just hooked it up and let it run.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> gillmanjr said:
> 
> 
> > Oh because of the leaching from farming chemicals?
> ...


I'm thinking maybe running a reactor off the discharge of my FX6 would be the way to go? It would actually be easier too. I could add a barb T into my FX6 discharge and run the 1/4" tubing directly off of that with a barb valve to control the flow rate. I've heard of people doing that and using a "dummy" canister filter to hold the De-Nitrate.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

That's a possibility I suppose. I'm not sure if the water would be too oxygenated to be very efficient at removing nitrates though. If you want to try it out and let us know... Worst case scenario, you run the other canister in line with it.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> That's a possibility I suppose. I'm not sure if the water would be too oxygenated to be very efficient at removing nitrates though. If you want to try it out and let us know... Worst case scenario, you run the other canister in line with it.


I think I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to look for a used canister filter on craigslist, preferably one with a broken pump that I can get for dirt cheap. I'm still going to do the big coil of 1/4" tubing on the inlet side, I don't know how much that will help with reducing the oxygen level in the water, it might not do anything, but I'll do it anyway. I think I might also try feeding it once a week with vodka as per the instructions for the Aquaripure filters, see if that does anything.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Okay man, let us know how it goes.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Okay man, let us know how it goes.


+1... :thumb:


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

Given that a weekly water change lowers nitrates effectively, why bother. Time, money, added equipment to maintain.Less is often more.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I know but my nitrates sometimes creep up around 40 ppm before I do water changes. I want to see if it'll work and I'm going to do it for as cheap as possible. If it doesn't work I'll tear it out, no biggie. But if it does, and it eliminates nitrates from my tank, my fish will be healthier. Plus I have the space in my stand. Really not much to lose by trying. I'm probably going to wait until after Christmas to do this though, I have too much going on right now.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

please just keep us updated...


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

Got to youtube and look for Kevin Novak, listen to what he says about cat litter and laterite. You may or may not find it interesting.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

BlueSunshine said:


> Got to youtube and look for Kevin Novak, listen to what he says about cat litter and laterite. You may or may not find it interesting.


I watched the video, it was very interesting. I have a feeling that Seachem De*Nitrate is very similar to the kitty litter he was using for that filter (probably just an overpriced version of it). It looks the same. Also, towards the end of the video he shows the basket in his sump and the section of the sump he put it in actually does not have flow going through it, but rather only across the top. So just like with any nitrate filter it requires low flow. But I think this method would work in a low flow reactor (like the one I am planning to build). Sound like laterite can be hard to find though.

Also, I've been doing some browsing on the internet and I've decided to just build a reactor using a 120 oz. plastic canister that I found online, see the link below. They are the perfect size and are only 2 bucks. The whole thing will end up costing me less than 20 bucks, not including the media.

http://www.thecarycompany.com/plastic-canisters-67w120


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Nevermind my last post about that canister. I think I just found the PERFECT container for making a DIY aquarium reactor. If you are interested check out the link below. I can't believe how perfect it is, first of all the one I linked to is exactly 2L which is what I was looking for, they make all different sizes including a larger one. They are also supposedly sealed containers, it says in the description that they are both air and water tight (I'll found out how they hold up). To top it off they have a locking mechanism so the top doesn't have to be screwed off, which allows it to easily be taken apart or emptied without having to disconnect tubing (at least on top).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000 ... _qh_dp_hza


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## Cyphound (Oct 20, 2014)

I'll say it again. Why bother. The weekly water change will happen no matter what. 40ppm at the end of a week is fine. Maybe do more then 50%. If nitrate filters worked and where economically feasible you can bet manufacturers would be trying to sell them to you. They have vast knowledge, r&d budgets and clearly given this post willing buyers.
Begs the question why don't they sell them to freshies. Simple answer. Not worth the effort


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

My last post wasn't just about a nitrate reactor, but rather just a DIY reactor in general, for any purpose. I've been searching for weeks for some kind of decent container or canister that I could use to make a reactor with and haven't really found anything until I came across those lock ones on Amazon. So anyone into making a reactor, I think these might be perfect. I'll find out.

Also, I'll say it again. Not that much to lose. If it doesn't work as a nitrate reactor I'm going to use it for Purigen or carbon. So in fact, nothing to lose.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

A quick update on this: I've moved forward with this build and should have the rest of what I need arriving in the mail today. I am going to build it tomorrow. By the way, that container that I linked to (the one I bought on Amazon) is not going to work out. It is not water tight. I found a 2.5L glass mason jar at Target and bought that, I only paid 4 bucks for it. Its one of those jars that has the screw down metal top with the separate sealed component in the middle, it is totally water tight and doesn't leak. I had to get a set of glass drill bits because I didn't have the right size for a 1/2" bulkhead, but they're cheap anyway. I'm going to take some pics while I build it and I may even do a youtube video for this build. I'll post it if I do.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Cool, I'm interested to see how this turns out.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

caldwelldaniel26 said:


> Cool, I'm interested to see how this turns out.


+1...
   ...


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Here's some pics. Flow goes in at the top (where the 90 elbow is). But I am actually running it upside down because it was trapping air in the top, so I'm using the ball valve as an air vent. But I can easily flip it over right inside the stand so I can drain it and unscrew the cap for maintenance. The reason I piped it for top-down flow is so all I have to do is take the top off and clean the filter pad that is sitting right on top. I won't have to disturb the media. I am running very fine polishing pads in it (100 and 50 micron). It is working but there isn't much flow through it. There just isn't enough pressure from the FX6 to force a lot of water through this, I kind of expected that. I'll have to put valves in my FX6 outlets (to the tank) so I can force some more water through it. I would say it is probably enough flow right now for nitrate removal but once the filter pads get clogged its going to stop flowing.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

does it still have sufficient pressure at the bottom to get to the tank?...


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Yes there's flow. Its just not very much. Like I said its probably good enough for nitrate removal but once the filtration pad gets clogged at all the flow is going to stop, I know it. And its not like I have anything valved off, everything is just wide open. So I need to do something to get more flow through it.


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

Still up and running. NO change in nitrate yet. I'm assuming its going to take at least 2 months for this to establish. Also, I made a change the other day to try and get more water through this reactor: I changed out the loc line nozzles from my FX6 from 3/4" to 1/2". I'm running dual outlet nozzles from my FX6, they were 3/4" nozzles. But I bought 3/4" to 1/2" loc line reducers and 1/2" nozzles. This change only took me about 10 minutes to make. It has definitely increased the back pressure and is helping force a little bit more flow through the reactor. Flow through it is about 20-25 GPH, I measured. Here's a youtube vid I shot on the construction of it and right after installation:


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## gillmanjr (Jan 27, 2017)

I think its starting to work already! Just did a Nitrate test and its at about 5 ppm. Its been 4 days since I did a water change. Thats the lowest its ever been after 4 days.


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## joselepiu (Jul 22, 2017)

:fish: :thumb: =D> :thumb: :fish:


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