Nitrogen detoxification discussion and cultivation ideas

[Aquariumfish123]

I was wondering if anyone has tried to grow the anaerobic bacteria needed to detoxify the products of the nitrogen cycle into nitrogen gas? From what I've read, you need a deep sand bed that is deprived of oxygen. Has anyone tried this with any luck, or is it almost impossible for the everyday aquarist to cultivate this bacteria?

My idea for how to cultivate the bacteria is through a deep sump and fill it with sand and to see if it really does grow under those conditions.

I'm not planning on doing such an experiment, but let's all share ideas about this topic and come up with a hypothesis as to if this could be done

[Rare]

Way ahead of you...Started like 3weeks ago or so. Started with about 40lb of sand & will be checking to see the progress way later. Not sure if I should add blackworms or not & not sure how long it will take before i see result. But to be honest I really havent been noting anything down on the project or a report. Only tested one time but was too early. I will take pics when i get home of the set up. It's 2 folds on my end....

[Aquariumfish123]

Hey I'd love to see pics! I wonder how long it takes for the bacteria to grow/establish and how long until you start to see results?

[Rare]

It's a bit messy till the weekend when I have time to clean up all the wires and whatnot.. Anyways, the the black rubber made is an 8gal trash bin that I bought at home depot. It was black so that doesnt let any light come in (no algae) & I didnt have to paint it or cover it up.

The top is a plexiglass with a bulk fitting & the hose drops in there. The water is coming from sump with a pump. The pump is pushing 250gph i believe. Now, the hose runs through the top and inside is a T attached with two PVC on each side & capped at the end. The water come in nice and doesn't come in a jetting as I drilled small holes The the PVC is upward & not downwards.

The water runs out- There is another bulk fitting with PVC to the 2nd bucket with some rocks growing algae in there. Then runs back to the sump. Will it work? I don't know- It was a raining day & pretty much had everything needed at home and just went for it.

Nitrate sits at 10ppm before PWC every week. If I am going to do this right I need to check for nitrate every week on the same day of my PWC. Will it suck up all the nitrate? I don't know but if it even drops it in numbers is a plus for me since I want to add more A,Cichlids to the aquarium.

[Aquariumfish123]

Originally Posted by Rare

It's a bit messy till the weekend when I have time to clean up all the wires and whatnot.. Anyways, the the black rubber made is an 8gal trash bin that I bought at home depot. It was black so that doesnt let any light come in (no algae) & I didnt have to paint it or cover it up.



The top is a plexiglass with a bulk fitting & the hose drops in there. The water is coming from sump with a pump. The pump is pushing 250gph i believe. Now, the hose runs through the top and inside is a T attached with two PVC on each side & capped at the end. The water come in nice and doesn't come in a jetting as I drilled small holes The the PVC is upward & not downwards.



The water runs out- There is another bulk fitting with PVC to the 2nd bucket with some rocks growing algae in there. Then runs back to the sump. Will it work? I don't know- It was a raining day & pretty much had everything needed at home and just went for it.



Nitrate sits at 10ppm before PWC every week. If I am going to do this right I need to check for nitrate every week on the same day of my PWC. Will it suck up all the nitrate? I don't know but if it even drops it in numbers is a plus for me since I want to add more A,Cichlids to the aquarium.

That is quite a set up! That is amazing that you only have 10 ppm at the end of the week! At the end of the week, I usually have about 30-40 nitrates. I think that this shows some evidence that this type of bacteria can be grown in household aquaria. I like that you have the rocks with algae growing because algae will also help with the nitrates. What size is your tank?

[Brookster123]

That is really really cool! I can't until I have space for fun projects!!

[Aquariumfish123]

Originally Posted by Brookster123

That is really really cool! I can't until I have space for fun projects!!

I feel ya on that one bro! I wanted to put a sump, but my 50 gal is on a dresser! Lol!

[Rare]

Before I even started on the project that's the lvl's of Nitrate I have. I just dont do a 50% PWC I do 75% plus. This might be the real reason the nitrate are low. At the same time, I do make sure I keep their aquarium clean and get all their poop out the auqarium when im doing their PWC everyweek. I have 130g minus water vol cause of all the rocks-sand maybe 120gals in water vol. But adding the sump i get another 15g or so, plus the bucket another 4-5gal & maybe abother 5gal more for the deep sand bed. I will say total water vol i have is about 140g.

This is me messing around so we will see where it will goes. If it drops nitrate to 5ppm or lower. I will still test & keep testing to see if in fact it is working. The more folks that jump in on this as a project, the better we will know the result. Even if it's on a small scale.

[Rare]

Looks like this thread got me looking...Okay! Did you guys know that seachem matrix does the denitrification. I've been reading and from what I gather it's pumice rock. For the denitrification you will need a very slow rate of 50 GPH. ( I also turned down the rate of pump in my setup) This matrix can be use both ways......

Think about adding a HOB with a slow rate per hr i might work for ya. Makes me want to empty out the sand & get pumice rock & add it in the first bin. If you look at it this way, it's saltwater version of live rock. I don't know if size will come to play or not for denitrification. I found a few places that might have the same size as the seachem matrix which is about 10 mm in diameter....

Your thought?

Just an FYI to other reading this... This is not a way for me at least to cheat in doing PWC. I love doing PWC & cleaning up their tank. I believe fully that these PWC does trigger a spawning reaction of my cichlids. This is the 2nd time a female is holding. Think of this another way....If you go out on vacation for 2+plus weeks or you are busy you cant do a PWC, at least you know your Nitrates will be low when time comes....

[Rare]

Hard to tell but the test tube to the left is at 0 that was done today & the one to right was last week test in the 5to10ppm zone. I will check next week and do a heavy feed week as well. The last bucket with light and rock was replaced with pumice rocks that i bought online. (it took a long time to clean them) And added a media bag with pumice rocks inside the deep sand bed free floating. I didnt add all the pumice rock from the package.