New Biodenitrator

[Pan]

Originally Posted by andresont

I think you will notice the rotten smell long before it may become dangerous, unless of corse you are away from home,
I also wonder how bad is the clogging issue (drip rate reduction) that some people reporting (in the above provided links)
At any rate this is exitining to be able to feed corals and fish better diet and still have low No3.
Does anyone knows where to buy media in Vancouver?

as long as you can smell the h2s your ok

[Delphinus]

Lyle, are you recirculating through the media, and feeding with a separate pump, or are the flowrates you're describing (8-10 gph) refer to the only flow through the media? I sort of get the sense you're not recirculating .. I was thinking I'd still recirculate, much like how a calcium reactor works .. or is that not the recommended approach?

[Psyire]

From what I understand you must recirculate. All the reactors are built this way, and then they have a slip stream through them from the Aquarium and back. (some people use a siphon, some people use a pump)

[Delphinus]

Thanks, that's what I thought too. If you read the "DIY" instructions that Caribsea puts out though, they just have it as a single-pass basis and it sort of sounded like that's how Pansy-Paws does it too (I could be reading it wrong?). I guess that way works too, but to me anything that requires contact time is always better to have it on a recirculating basis.

Well sounds like I'm set then .. I just need some media. I'm gonna have this online within a couple of days (just as soon as I can get my hands on some media!).

[Psyire]

I believe it is this recirculating that helps remove the oxygen from the water to create the anerobic zone. (more effective)

[Delphinus]

Yes I agree that makes more sense. Like I said though the DIY instructions Carib-Sea talks about looks like single-pass to me, .. you can easily replicate the anoxic zone with a slow enough flow without the recirculation, but I agree it seems easier to do so with recirculation. If the channel was long enough I guess you could get away with it. But anything I would want to build I would want to make it as recirculation because anything that increases contact time cannot help but help.. whether it's a skimmer, reactor, heck even my Phosban reactor I'd like to modify and make recirc.. it just makes sense to me.

[Pansy-Paws]

Given the height of my design (36"), I only have a single water flow thru path, no recirculation.

As indicated, with a slow enough water flow, the anerobic zone can be established.