Did you have a good link by any chance?

I heard that it get quite expensive for results on a system this size. Since the budget is so tight I need to spend it where I will get the best long term effects for the $$$ invested. For years the previous care takers have just been wasting their money dumping into fish after fish not updating anything.

Don't understand why anyone would even think of running a tank that size without a skimmer!! With nitrates that high, it will take some time and effort to get back to a decent level. Skimmer, water changes, carbon dosing and/or bio pellets, and filter socks will all be needed, I believe. I don't think there is a single magic bullet.

I had about 100 ppm nitrates in a tank that I inherited after a house purchase. I used bio pellets, rinsed the rocks, vacuumed the sand, increased my flow, etc. to get my nitrates down to zero. But it took many months.

With carbon dosing and bio pellets, it is very important to start heavy dosing with MB7 (or equivalent) beforehand, to avoid other problems like cyano, cloudy water, mulm and clumping of the pellets in your reactor. Also a good idea to start slow and ramp up over a couple months.

Good luck!!

nitrate
 

type in diy nitrate reactor.i built mine using 2' of 3" pvc and about 30'-35 ' of black air tubing.you need around 10 plastic scouring pads,a mini ball valve,reef safe silicone and a small pump.oh ya-lots of patience-it is a pain to coil the airline inside the pvc,but a heat gun helps.the build i copied it from used 4" pvc and 50' of hose

The knowledge at the local LFS's around here about salt water is okay at best, and horribly insufficient for most of the items they sell to the customers. For example: the best skimmer, heck the only skimmer I have seen for sale in town is the coral life super skimmer. I affectionately refer to them as super soakers, since when I worked at one LFS they has a 70% return rate. The tank was taken care of previously by people who did not have the time or knowledge to upgrade them properly. Thank you all again for the suggestions. I have MB7 on order as well, I plan on using up some of my vinegar first, then I may try bio pellets down the line, budget permitting.

Cool, thanks! I will check that out.

Ya I was going to suggest the pellets also. Never used them but is nitrates not what they are good at.

I think an ATS for that system would be to large and messy for them. My large one did the job on my 225 but thats about it. A remote plenum sandbed also works well for nitrates and is fairly cheap. Being remote is dose not collect as much crap and is easily accessed for cleaning.

I also have friends back in Manitoba who run nitrate reactors still and have success with them.

I have a few ideas about how to fit a nice sized ATS in without the mess normally associated with the open screen concept. I figure any lighting in the sump should help, even if it is just growing cheato.

Are plenums very effective at processing nitrate? This tank apparently had a plenum under the display at some point, but it was removed. I would assume because it did not impact the nitrates enough?

As for nitrate reactor, my search here resulted in nothing. Google gave a huge array, but nothing like what monocus is describing and most of them are for freshwater. Ill keep looking though, I think I have a pretty good idea of what it will look like.

I also had a question about denitrate from seachem. In my google search for nitrate reactors I came across this stuffed into cansiters or media reactors and suggested a low flow rate of 50-60gph. It reminded me that this tank has a layer across the sump floor. Is this stuff effective when it is used at the right flow rate? or should it be removed in favor of other equipment? Some how I doubt it is getting the right flow right now. The top gets too much flow and underneath gets little to no flow and traps detritus.

My friends run denitraters from SWC. I would have to look to see if still sold there.

This was the ATS I used. Screen was app. 240sq. in. Never had any phosphate or nitrate in that tank. :lol:


http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...s/scrubber.jpg

The "guru" of plenums. Bob Goemans, has a site here that may help for plenums. He eventually conceded that one in the tank was a nutrient sink, that would eventually crash. Mostly because it was not easily accessible for cleaning.

http://saltcorner.com/


I,m pretty sure he now runs a remote, so he can clean the top layers when needed. I liked Sprungs suggestion I once read of using all crushed coral substrate for it, closer to 5mm than 2mm. Allows for better diffusion, IMO. But then Goemans is suppose to the most knowledgeable on them and has written on them since they first became popular.

This is Sprungs article on the Goeman website. Not sure if in there where he suggested 5mm or it was in a Fama article.

http://www.saltcorner.com/Articles/S...p?articleID=15