There was another one that just involved a lot of airline tubing. The phosphates in the plastisizers fed the bacteria and it seemed to work for some people.
Habib knows more about that one than I do.
I heard through the grapevine that there have been too many disasters with sulfur denitrators. I can check if there is some truth to it and why the disasters happend.
One thing for sure is that right after the sulfur the water has to flow through calcium carbonate media. There is some acid produced which needs to be neutralized by the calcium carbonate.
Another IMO interesting information is that one of Europes largest public aquarium runs such a denitrator on their fish-only bassin. The curator had send out samples to determine the DNA of the bacteria. NO sulfur bacteria were found.
Despite the fact that the effluent contained far less nitrate than the influent.
Another IMO interesting information is that one of Europes largest public aquarium runs such a denitrator on their fish-only bassin. The curator had send out samples to determine the DNA of the bacteria. NO sulfur bacteria were found.
Despite the fact that the effluent contained far less nitrate than the influent.
Spanky - the one with plastic tubings are coil denitrators and are notoriously inefficient, troublesome and downright useless in most cases (more than useful). Thanks.
Habib - thanks. I dunno about sulphur bacteria but seems same kind of bacteria inhabit black spots (which are sulphides right?).
A lot (in the net) glorify these devices as godsend for being able to lower nitrates. And also lower pH (of course! it's acid). The process of neutralizing the acidic efflent is said to dissolve the buffering aragonite hence systems using these have been known to increase calcium by up to 20% (not bad?).
I think it's similar to the plenum layer which also becomes acidic and dissolves the lower layer of aragonite.
IMO the basic problem with this is the long term use. But then thats also the same with dsb!
Mote Aquarium uses sulphur denitrators for public FO aquariums. Based on the tanks I've seen it works for them. Having seen one behind the scenes setup I'd have to say they're very simple diy projects.
Compared to a dsb these are a dream, turn off a valve and you're disconnected.
agu
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