coil denitrator-how to build?

[hankstanks]

Anyone have suggestions on how to build a coil denitrator....

I have heard good things but never seen one...Would like to build. I seem to have high nitrates on my 29gl. not on my other tanks but on that one it seems constant.

I would like to try my hand and building one...Winter project time !

[gregt]

A mile of icemaker tubing (not literally) and a 5 gallon bucket. Coil the tubing in the bucket and pump water through it as slowly as possible. Put the bucket in absolute darkness. The longer the tubing and the slower the flow the more denitrification will occur.

That said, they aren't really necessary if you have a big enough skimmer and enough flow in your tank.

[Geoff]

got to be one of the easiest DIY projects out there. i have thought about one, but like Greg said decided it was not necessary if the skimmer was efficient enough.

G~

[hankstanks]

Does a guy use a power head to pump the water in and out of the coil or is there a slower method?

I may build one for my 29 as the skimmer on the bigger tank will suffice I think.

Thanks for your help...

hanker

[Geoff]

usually you will need another pump to pump throught the coil. that much coil creates a huge amount of head pressure. to keep the flow way down a simple plastic valve on the end is all that is necessary. you will just want it to drip out of the other end. i will see if i can find a website for finding the proper flow throught the coil.

try here.

G~

[Electrobes]

Can the performance of one of these things be compared next to a skimmer?

[gregt]

A coil denitrator will not remove organics from your water. A skimmer will. Apples and oranges.

[icebear]

How come the instructions in that link say to use bioballz?
see, i get the idea of a slow drip thru miles of tubing, but i don't *get* how the bioballs fit in to the design.... there must be another chamber to put them in that the coils are wrapped around....

it just looks more complicated than i thought it needed to be...

can't i just get a12" length of 4 inch PVC and coil the tubing around it forever and then place it inside a larger diameter piece of pvc, cap off both ends (with little holes for the in and out ends of the tube) and hook one end to a slow powerhead and tie a knot in the other end of the tube to slow the drip?

or do i even need a powerhead? will the tubing run on a slow siphon of its own if the whole thing is set at the proper height?

i had thought i understood how they were made and how they worked, but the bioballs in the above instructions kinda threw me off.....


haelp.....

[Geoff]

your thinking to hard.

the PVC pipe is lined with the tubing. he just filled the inside of all the tubing with bio-balls. the bio-balls are just bacteria farms. this is where the anoxic area is. the tubing is used to grow aerobic bacteria. so when the water exits the tube and enters the PVC pipe it is divoid of oxygen.

what you say will work fine. there is a lot of head pressure in all of the tubing so you still might need a pump. Gravity could work, but i would think you would need a pretty drastic drop to get enough force to push through all of that tubing.

did i help or hurt.

G~

[icebear]

owie....


how'd he get the bioballz inside the 1/16th tubing ?

































*snicker*