# Control of Nitrates



## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

I noticed on Marinedepot.com that they sell a Korallin Biodenitrator for 350 dollars that reduces the nitrates and I guess replaces them with sulfate. I read up on the technology and it seems they first started being used by public aquariums to control nitrates and are now a new technology available to the home aquarist. I plan to purchase one next year as well as a large fish tank so I have no personal experience but as of recent there are a couple reviews for the Korallin Biodenitrator on marinedepot's website. I think they are pricey but worth the cost for people with large and heavily stocked fish tanks. What's also good is that they contain crushed coral as well as high purity sulfur so the coral will keep the water buffered continuously so the tank should maintain a constant pH and a vero low nitrate level. I think the amount of water changes can be reduced by alot but I didn't work out the comparison between sulfates and nitrates. I suspect that 3 sulfates are being generated for every 4 nitrates reduced so the rate of production of sulfates would be 75% of what the nitrates would be. They are being used by public aquariums so clearly there must be an advantage and the stoichiometry between sulfates and nitrates would indicate at the very least the need for 3/4 as many water changes to keep the sulfates in check. For someone with a heavily stocked and large fish tank you can do 5 times less water changes and keep the nitrates near 0 and the maximum sulfates around 50 PPM. The discharge standards for sulfates are 100 PPM compared with 40 PPM for nitrates. The EPA's secondary drinking water standard for sulfates is 250 PPM and that is for aesthetic reasons and not toxicity.

Someone who was doing water changes every day to keep their nitrates low can now do water changes every two weeks with the Biodenitrator and keep their maximum sulfate level below 150 PPM.

I didn't figure out how to upload a zip file yet but I wrote a program in C# that gives the concentration of nitrates versus time for various configurations and I would like to share it.


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## Piranha Dan (Nov 11, 2007)

Sounds cool, but very pricy.
The only problem with it I can see is that even though you wouldn't need to do as many water changes, you'd still be hooking up your Python just as often, because you still have to vacuum your gravel. At least you wouldn't need to sit around while it drains/fills though.


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

Piranha Dan said:


> Sounds cool, but very pricy.
> The only problem with it I can see is that even though you wouldn't need to do as many water changes, you'd still be hooking up your Python just as often, because you still have to vacuum your gravel. At least you wouldn't need to sit around while it drains/fills though.


The gravel vacuuming is true but you could probably still wait once a week and get really dark and dirty water out of the gravel and not need to replace as much water. I'm gonna get a biodenitrator and I'll find the optimal maintenance.... probably once a week. Imagine how much that makes life easy for people with overstocked tanks doing it every day or every other day?

If you did the gravel vac every two weeks you would get really dark and dirty water out of the gravel but it would take the same amount of time and water to remove it. In the two week period you might have to use the python hose to top off the water from evaporation anyway.


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## TobiasRieper (Mar 14, 2008)

I find that the right amount of plants reduces nitrates quite a bit. I have 45 feeders in my 150g tank and my nitrates were through the roof. I bought 7 big plants and 4 moss balls and now my nitrate is 0ppm and has been for the past week.


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## tiran (Apr 27, 2007)

shanker said:


> Sounds cool, but very pricy.
> The only problem with it I can see is that even though you wouldn't need to do as many water changes, you'd still be hooking up your Python just as often, because you still have to vacuum your gravel. At least you wouldn't need to sit around while it drains/fills though.


The gravel vacuuming is true but you could probably still wait once a week and get really dark and dirty water out of the gravel and not need to replace as much water. I'm gonna get a biodenitrator and I'll find the optimal maintenance.... probably once a week. Imagine how much that makes life easy for people with overstocked tanks doing it every day or every other day?

If you did the gravel vac every two weeks you would get really dark and dirty water out of the gravel but it would take the same amount of time and water to remove it. In the two week period you might have to use the python hose to top off the water from evaporation anyway.
[/quote]

Very intrested can some one please answer the following

so how do you set it up just like a cannister filter?

how often do you have to change the stuff in the filter?

do they come in different sizes and if so whats the biggest one for up to 400gallons?

how many gph do they run?

do they have there own seperat hosing?


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## TobiasRieper (Mar 14, 2008)

A Fluval fx5 pumps 607 US gallons an hour, for tanks up to 400g. They come with instructions. You rarely need to change the filter media and it comes with hoses.


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## tiran (Apr 27, 2007)

TobiasRieper said:


> A Fluval fx5 pumps 607 US gallons an hour, for tanks up to 400g. They come with instructions. You rarely need to change the filter media and it comes with hoses.


how often is rarely because that media replacment is like 130 to 225 dollars to replace


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## NegativeSpin (Aug 1, 2007)

tiran said:


> A Fluval fx5 pumps 607 US gallons an hour, for tanks up to 400g. They come with instructions. You rarely need to change the filter media and it comes with hoses.


how often is rarely because that media replacment is like 130 to 225 dollars to replace
[/quote]

For the Biodenitrator I calculated that a 200 gallon tank with 10 6 inch redbellies would go through 1 kilogram of the sulfur media in just about 4 years.


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## VRM (Jan 9, 2007)

i have always had high nitrates,and would panic all the time. i have found out it has not hurt my fish in any way they eat like pigs,and they grow like monsters,and they have nice color. i personally think unless you have a tank full of invertebrates ,or a saltwater tank it does not really effect your fish. i could be wrong ,but i have not had a single problem with any thing that is in my tank. never a fungus, disease, of even bad fins. so until i start having problems i will never test for them again.


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