0 nitrates.

[Kushgodrex]

I want to add a denitrator to my tank, I don't know if it would work fast enough to get all the nitrates, but lets say it brings my nitrates to 0.

What are the pros and cons of having 0 nitrates?

 

[Khuligirl93]

It's great for fish but bad for live plants. Nitrates are one of the things plants absorb for food. Simple as that.

 

[absolutangel04]

I suggest against using a de-nitrifier. If you don't want nitrates, you should either put in plants that will absorb them, or do a water change to remove them. All de-nitrifying products that I know of are temporary effects which are not good for your tank because they cause spikes in your levels. Low level nitrates will not harm your fish at all, higher level nitrates will.
What product are you looking at? Are you having some troubles with nitrates that are causing you to consider chemical removal? I don't know every product on the market of course, so there could be some things I don't know about that work better than the ones I do know of, but a pwc will still remove them anyways.

 

[Kushgodrex]

No I don't want to use chemicals, I want to use a diy coil denitrator. I have plants. But they don't do enough and I think my tank would have to be nearly full of plants to take away all my nitrates. Can I add a supplement for the plants to substitute for the nitrate as food?

 

[Kushgodrex]

I'm trying to do only have to do a pwc onces every two weeks because I have so many tanks. The supplement for plant food would be only if I use the coil denitrator.

 

[absolutangel04]

I'm trying to do only have to do a pwc onces every two weeks because I have so many tanks. The supplement for plant food would be only if I use the coil denitrator.

Apologies, I has assumed your meant a chemical de-nitrifier since that is what I most commonly see people asking about.
After 1-2 weeks, what numbers are your nitrates at? I have never seen one of the coils in fw before, so I couldn't tell you how fast it works. If your tanks are planted anyways, you might be ok to wait it out while I gets started, but you would have to keep a close eye on your levels and that might be too much of a pain in the rear.
You can easily use some ferts that will keep your plants happy. For root feeding plants, get some root tabs. I see some homemade ones around, or else API makes good ones as well. For leaf feeding plants, there are a host of basic liquid ferts that are good.

 

[Kushgodrex]

I mainly have amazon swords in play sand, which I'm assuming are root feeding plants. What happens to bacteria when it doesn't get food for a long time?

 

[absolutangel04]

Bacteria will die if it doesn't have a supply of sustenance. But, that generally takes some time (several weeks).
Yes, Amazon swords are root feeders. Throw some root tabs in there and they should be happy. They are a pretty easy to please plant.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Bacteria don't feed on nitrAtes. That's why they build up and we have to do water changes.
Nitrosomonas species consume ammonia and produce nitrItes, and Nitrobacter species consume nitrItes and produce nitrAtes. No bacteria in the aquarium consumes nitrates.
Plants only consume nitrates and ammonia.

 

[Kushgodrex]

Anaerobic bacteria consumes nitrates.

 

[Khuligirl93]

Well, because of the abundance of oxygen in the aquarium water that is necessary for aquatic life, you shouldn't find any anaerobic bacteria in the aquarium.

 

[Kushgodrex]

Except in my deep sand bed and inside my coil denitrator, so therefore that bacteria is in my aquarium and will take out nitrates. Now can someone please answer me instead of criticizing my question?

 

[Kushgodrex]

Bacteria will die if it doesn't have a supply of sustenance. But, that generally takes some time (several weeks).
Yes, Amazon swords are root feeders. Throw some root tabs in there and they should be happy. They are a pretty easy to please plant.

How do you keep a quarantine tank bacteria Alive if you don't get fish for months sometimes?

 

[Fresh2o]

Except in my deep sand bed and inside my coil denitrator, so therefore that bacteria is in my aquarium and will take out nitrates. Now can someone please answer me instead of criticizing my question?

If the question is about supplementing nitrates in the absence of such due to the denitrator, yes, you could add nitrates through plant fertilizers. Green Leaf Aquariums sells Potassium Nitrate (KNO3) by itself and with the PPS-Pro kit. They also carry magnesium nitrate and calcium nitrate. There maybe other fertilizers that supply nitrates as well.
Any idea how effective the denitrator will be at removing nitrates?

 

[Fresh2o]

How do you keep a quarantine tank bacteria Alive if you don't get fish for months sometimes?

I think you don't. You just set it up when you need it and borrow some media from an established tank.

 

[Kushgodrex]

I don't know how affective it will be but I've heard of people that use it on sw tanks having 0 nitrates.
My tap had 0 nitrates so it doesn't add to it. I was thinking of putting it on a quar tank when not in use. This means I would always have to have Atleast one white cloud minnow in there to keep feeding nitrates.
Testing is the only way to know if it's alive, I would probably have to feed pretty often to know if it's working still.
Can different tenperature water affect bacteria?

 

[Mebbid]

Except in my deep sand bed and inside my coil denitrator, so therefore that bacteria is in my aquarium and will take out nitrates. Now can someone please answer me instead of criticizing my question?

If people aren't answering its generally because they don't know.

I see the design principles but have no experience with them (my first time ever hearing about it) it could work but it completely depends on the bio load of your tank. The higher the bio load, the more anaerobic area the filter will have, and more nitrate it will remove however the more will be produced. You will also have to have supplemental flow in your tank with powerheads because of the need for low flow on that type of filter.

Why do you feel that you need to run something like this to control your nitrates?

 

[Kushgodrex]

have a canister on my tank, it's to help me from having to do large water changes every week to once every two or three weeks. I enjoy feeding my fish often and I dislike the eye sore the algae scrubber is. The denitrator coil is the best next thing.


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[Mebbid]

have a canister on my tank, it's to help me from having to do large water changes every week to once every two or three weeks. I enjoy feeding my fish often and I dislike the eye sore the algae scrubber is. The denitrator coil is the best next thing.


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There's really no guarantee that it will work well enough to minimize your water changes. Think of it this way, saltwater systems are ultra low nutrient systems filled with live rock which is basically the same thing as the denitrator coil and still have big issues with nitrate levels. Even something that removes as small as 1ppm nitrate per day is going to be a huge benefit to a saltwater tank. So what I'm saying is, it'll probably help but don't expect miracles. Plants really are the most reliable way to remove nitrates.

That being said, I might be completely wrong since I've never personally used one. The only way you are going to know for sure is to just try it out.

 

[Kushgodrex]

There's really no guarantee that it will work well enough to minimize your water changes. Think of it this way, saltwater systems are ultra low nutrient systems filled with live rock which is basically the same thing as the denitrator coil and still have big issues with nitrate levels. Even something that removes as small as 1ppm nitrate per day is going to be a huge benefit to a saltwater tank. So what I'm saying is, it'll probably help but don't expect miracles. Plants really are the most reliable way to remove nitrates.

That being said, I might be completely wrong since I've never personally used one. The only way you are going to know for sure is to just try it out.

Thanks, I'm going to make one this week, I'll check back in after it's cycled


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