nitrate reactor?

[ccole]

hello guys and girls, i hope this thread meets you well.

I am looking to futher reduce my nitrate levels and came across this

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nitrate-Alk-Reactor-150-150-gals-660-ltres-Full-Kit-/370103591662?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item562be4a2ee

Has anyone used this kind of thing?

I also heard of an 'inline' filter cartridge that fits directly into you tap plumbing... i can not find it anywhere though..has anyone used one of these?

I know RO will completly remove all the nitrates but i am a bit scared of the running costs that seem to be a lot! Is this true?:dk:

Anyone with advice or expereince would be great to hear from

thanks everyone
cole:thumbup:

 

[macvsog23]

Hi

R/O is only costly if you have a water meter, due to the amount of rejected water.
Even used under these conditions a booster pump can reduce rejected water to a manageable point.
If your on a meter I would first check the rate you pay per cubed meter the convert this to Liters, from this your work out your needs ie what is needed for weekly or daily water changes R/O works at about 2 to 5 on a un-boosted system.

R/o is not a costly system to set up cost of a boosted system with a water butt holding system and a auto shutoff system would cost around £300 to £350.
can be fitted by a competent person in a day and produces pure water on demand

 

[ccole]

cheers macv- thing is i have a tight budget of £80 and i am on a meter

 

[macvsog23]

Well i think its a case of doing a lot of water changes.
I am a firm believer in "you cant change water by adding"
what may work is an HMA unit low cost no waste and you get water with most of the clap removed just no change in the PH.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/HMA-CBR2-METAL-REMOVAL-FILTER-ideal-Discus-Fish-/160607777944?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Fish&hash=item2564f83498

 

[ccole]

cheers mac will look that up- i have tap water with 38 as the level of nitrates so water changes will not help- i had been using a tank with hell loads of plants that remove alarge amount of nitrates then i add this water to my tank with fish in....

i had a little bit of money and wondered if i could improve this method...but doesnt sound like i can!

o well but thanks

 

[ccole]

thanks for that link mac- looks like an interesting idea! i am going to research some more but like i said thank you!!!

 

[macvsog23]

A 2nd hand unit would cost less than £30:00

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
The best nitrate reducers are plants. If you have floating plants, like Amazon Frog-bit, they have access to atmospheric CO2 and are easy to harvest. When you take the plants away you take the nitrate with them.

A lot of tap water is very high in nitrates and personally I've always used rain-water, which is naturally distilled. There is always a risk off contamination with rain-water, and the the "Gold standard" of RO and HMA would be better, but rain-water is much cheaper and more environmentally friendly

cheers Darrel

 

[D-MAC]

This item may be what you are looking for.
http://www.pozzani.co.uk/water-filters-185/product_info.html

 

[Jacqueline]

I use a nitrate filter based on resin. It has to be regenerated every couple of weeks with salt, but if you maintain the resin well you can use it for 10 years or so.
My nitrate levels are down to <5 and the fish thrive

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I should have also said the nitrate reducer in the link is for a marine tank. These work by providing a sulphate rich reducing environment, the bacterial action (stripping the oxygen from the NO3 ) produces sulphuric acid which is neutralised by the calcium carbonate in the alkaline chamber. You can get nitrate coils, Jaubert plenums etc for fresh water, but they don't tend to work very well long term. (all of these systems work by out-gassing NO3 to N2 gas under anaerobic conditions).

DMac's link is an ion exchange resin where the nitrate (NO3-) is exchanged for another anion (if you recharge the resin with salt (NaCl), it is the Cl- ion), and these work, but need fairly frequent re-charge if you have a lot of nitrate in your water. Like Jacqueline mentions in her post.

cheers Darrel

 

[rpp1973]

This item may be what you are looking for.
http://www.pozzani.co.uk/water-filters-185/product_info.html

that looks good at £35 but then another £16 on top for the fitting kit makes it less atractive and is almost the cost of a HMA full system

 

[D-MAC]

I use a nitrate filter based on resin. It has to be regenerated every couple of weeks with salt, but if you maintain the resin well you can use it for 10 years or so.
My nitrate levels are down to <5 and the fish thrive

I used that type called a Nitragon filter years ago and they were great...Unfortunately I can't seem to find them now. :thumbup:

 

[ccole]

thanks guys- dereck that was what i looked at befor the reactor. I just checked my nitrates and they are at 5ppm!! i am perplexed by the results so double and tripple checked and the testing api set is new...... could it be due to the 100% water change and 50% subtrate changed that i had to do about two weeks ago....but i dont understand how it can be lower than the tap water it's self?

crazy!

respect and thanks

cole

 

[D-MAC]

If you have plants, they will use nitrate as a food source..If you don't have plants its a possibility that you have a good source of anarobic bacteria in the system...This is a bacteria starved of oxygen that uses nitrate as a food source coverting it to nitrogen gas that then vents out through the water surface

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

If you don't have plants its a possibility that you have a good source of anarobic bacteria in the system...This is a bacteria starved of oxygen that uses nitrate as a food source coverting it to nitrogen gas that then vents out through the water surface

This process can happen in the substrate as Derek says when you naturally have a sulphate rich reducing environment out-gassing NO3 to N2 gas, all the plenums, de reactors and coils aim to do this in a more controlled manner. If you have plants these usually stop your substrate becoming anaerobic, and this is usually thought to be much easier to manage.

cheers Darrel