batch denitrifier?

[stephenlchristopher]

ok people, I'm new to this and may be thinking I've invented a fabulous square wheel here, but it seems the big gripe with coil denitrifiers is getting the water to flow yet drip slowly enough that it isn't spitting nitrites back into the tank

so say a fool (me) was to build an ample set of tanks (4 connected 55gal drums) lidded, filled with bioballs or some such, and fed from the aquarium by a powerhead on a timer that ran x-minutes a day, so that the effect would be an x-percent water change every day.....so essentially, the tank would be getting water that had been sitting in the dark for a week or so....plenty of time for the fabled anaerobes to do their magic

and the water could pass through some dolomite and some carbon on the way in....oh and maybe some trickly deal to aerate as well...

am I missing something in my pop science here??

I'd build it and tell you now what happens, but I haven't even bought the house yet....maybe someone can set me straight ahead of time...

[Geoff]

Welcome to TRT!!!



denitrators walk a fine line. you want to flow slow enough to not get nitrates out the other end but not so slow that you get sulpher water out it either. sorry, i will need to go back through my denitrator threads to give you the proper terminology.

the problem is that the water can turn toxic if moved to slowly through a denitrator.

your idea would be dead on if this were not the case. there may be a length of time that you could put the tanks on a timer like you say and it will work, but i think that it will prolly be on the order of a couple of hours than a week.

G~

[stephenlchristopher]

hmmm...so, timing is really the issue...I'm not using any sulphur...and hopefully the carbon would bond to any errant 'toxins' lurking in the output until I get the thing testing clean

well, I have to move in the early spring, so I'll repost to let everyone know if I'm working water cycles rather than water changes...the tank I'm planning to build is 16' x 3' x 2', so water changes might wipe me out

of course, I'll do my beta version on my fw tank first....stay tuned...