[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Successfull Nitrate Reduction
Gang,
I posted a few weeks ago how my nitrates were significantly high (+>40 PPM)
and BGA was taking over. The high nitrates are due to a very heavy fish
load and most suggested off-loading some of the fish. As a last resort (get
rid of the fish, are you kidding???), I went to the krib and found the coil
de-nitrification instructions and decided to build one (actually two).
I bought 2, 100' 1/4" coils of drip irrigation tubing and hooked it up to
the return on my sump. I added some drip flow controls on the end and
adjusted each tube for ~5 drips per second. The whole thing cost less than
$20 USD and sits under my 55g taking about a 6"x6" space. I installed it
last Sunday.
Today I measured the tank, and the output of the de-nitrator. Tank measures
at ~5 PPM (down from > 40) and the output of the dripper reads zero. I
still have BGA, but don't know if exactly when the de-nitrator took the
levels down (I was in Koln, Germany for the week) so it could have been
from nitrates earlier in the week as the coils were getting started. One
more "cleaning of the sheets" tomorrow (remove it all) and we'll see what
we get by next week-end as far as BGA goes.
Now, onto the next topic:
LaMotte Phosphate test kit. Does anyone else ever use this kit? My has
never given me a reading of anything but zero. The el Cheapo Aquarium
Pharmaceuticals kit reads off the chart. Has anyone else had this problem
with it???
- Jeff