Coil Denitrifier

slakker · 01-16-2008, 01:03 PM

I'm a noob here and am a pretty avid DIYer for everything. I just love to build things and this is a great part of the forum...

Anyways, I've been researching Coil Denitrifiers in general and have seen everything from they work great to they don't work at all... it's almost 50/50...

But I couldn't find any info on this site specific to them so was wondering if anyone here has DIY experience with these devices and whether they are worth building?

Witfull · 01-16-2008, 01:07 PM

the DIY ones are 50/50,,,,if you gotta pay,,,you are SOL! best bet is to control input to control output. snale oil is snake oil......proper husbandry=rpositive results.....need a bandaid,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,charletans abound~

tbittner · 01-16-2008, 01:49 PM

Instead of spending the money you would spend on the pieces/parts to make that device, you'd be better served to buy a good salt mix and perform more frequent water changes. Costs the same. One provides absolute, positive results. Care to guess which one?

BigAl07 · 01-16-2008, 01:54 PM

A fellow reefer here locally built one (he's a freaking Genius in MANY ways) and it worked GREAT for many months. WHEN it was working life was good. Then he had some type of "malfunction" of some sort and CRASHED his system totally. He lost ALL the corals and anything living in his 120 gallon tank. I don't remember the details but some valve was NOT on when it SHOULD have been or something like that.. anyway he had a massive DIE-Off of the bacteria his system was DEPENDING on which in turn caused a MASSIVE cycle to take effect. This happened in 24 hours. Needless to say it's NOT in use any more.

Hope this gives you some insight!

slakker · 01-16-2008, 02:13 PM

That's too bad... My initial thought was to have this as a "extra" device vs. replacing water changes, deep sand bed, live rock, etc.. But thought it could be there in case of a spike?

But if it's not going to work, then having it sit there will just eat up realestate that I'm already short of...

BigAl07 · 01-16-2008, 02:15 PM

You'd have to ALWAYS have it "Ready to go" which means cycled and "Fed" so the bacteria inside are ready. It's really not a "Stand by" device and honestly could be a lot of work to keep going.

You're probably smart to do as you stated.

By the way... tell us about your tank(s) and yourself. We LOVE pics

WELCOME to the Reef

Dentoid · 01-16-2008, 02:18 PM

Slakker, do not be discouraged by the "status quo" in your quest to change or otherwise contribute to the hobby. If Einstein, Newton and Galileo listened to all the negative opinions about there theories we wouldn't live in the world we do today. Nitrates are one of the biggest problems in the hobby and the person that comes up with a way to control nitrates better than "the status quo" will be a multi-millionaire!

It's good to get opinions, but make up your own mind if you want to try this or not, free from negativity. Who knows, you could be the next inventor of a revolutionary way to rid closed biological systems of nitrates!

slakker · 01-16-2008, 02:23 PM

Thanks Dentoid for the encouragement... I'm been brushing up on my university chemistry to try to figure out the reactions that's taking place in the tank... I'm a noob at this aquarium thing, so value the input from everyone... I'll be playing around with this and other things, and will post if there's any success (or major failures)

BigAl07 · 01-16-2008, 02:31 PM

Aww man now I feel bad! I didn't mean to be a "Downer" or to "Rain on the parade". I just meant that if someone who has MANY years of experience at this has tried and tried and had a total failure it's not really a "Newb" DIY. I'll all for experimenting and testing and stuff. I think many of us are like that or we wouldn't be doing THIS crazy hobby to begin with.

I do apologize if I came off as a "Nay sayer" as it wasn't intended that way. I like to help and foster learniing, experimentation and new ideas. Heck it's well known in these parts that I'm "The guy who'll try ANYTHING new and Different" (Not like that Bob....).

I hope you have great success and if there is anything we can do to help please don't hesitate to ask. Also keep us posted regardless of the actual status. Group minds tend to think GREAT!!

slakker · 01-16-2008, 03:18 PM

No worries, I didn't take it that way all... like the saying goes, a smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from others...

At least I know what I'm up against if I try to build one of these things...

slakker · 01-19-2008, 11:32 PM

Hmmmm.... I did some more calculating... assuming that 1 "drop" is about a microliter then at full rate, with the denitrifier pushing 100 drops a minute, it'll take about 1900 days to cycle 72 gallons thru this device. Even at a full order of mag (10x) more volume/drop, that's 190 days...

Maybe this thing won't do any "real" good as a denitrator... or is my math real bad...

01-16-2008, 01:03 PM	#1 (permalink)
slakker Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 292 View Gallery Karma Komment	Coil Denitrifier I'm a noob here and am a pretty avid DIYer for everything. I just love to build things and this is a great part of the forum... Anyways, I've been researching Coil Denitrifiers in general and have seen everything from they work great to they don't work at all... it's almost 50/50... But I couldn't find any info on this site specific to them so was wondering if anyone here has DIY experience with these devices and whether they are worth building?

01-16-2008, 01:49 PM	#3 (permalink)
tbittner Watch this Ma! Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Northern VA Posts: 5,562 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Coil Denitrifier Instead of spending the money you would spend on the pieces/parts to make that device, you'd be better served to buy a good salt mix and perform more frequent water changes. Costs the same. One provides absolute, positive results. Care to guess which one? __________________ Terry 150g predator tank full of killers. Soon to be upgraded to a 360g. 450g reef 300g sump.

01-16-2008, 01:54 PM	#4 (permalink)
BigAl07 Reef Addict (hopeless) Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Waynesville, North Carolina Posts: 11,496 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Coil Denitrifier A fellow reefer here locally built one (he's a freaking Genius in MANY ways) and it worked GREAT for many months. WHEN it was working life was good. Then he had some type of "malfunction" of some sort and CRASHED his system totally. He lost ALL the corals and anything living in his 120 gallon tank. I don't remember the details but some valve was NOT on when it SHOULD have been or something like that.. anyway he had a massive DIE-Off of the bacteria his system was DEPENDING on which in turn caused a MASSIVE cycle to take effect. This happened in 24 hours. Needless to say it's NOT in use any more. Hope this gives you some insight! __________________ ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. >((((º> Allen Allen's testimonial . . ."Let Me help you help YOURSELF" (Click Here) with a SW set up there is one basic fundamental rule that we ALL should follow *When in doubt... wait it out. This means take it slow and let the tank "develop" and don't rush it. Time is your friend Ask me about how to increase your REEF budget without going without FOOD!!* Big Al's 10g Julie's (BigAl's Gal) 6g NanoCube BigAl's Slow 90g Tank Chronicle Allens OFFICE 12g Nano-Reef Reef Balls & Cakes Debt Free & Change your Family Tree!!

01-16-2008, 02:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
slakker Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 292 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Coil Denitrifier That's too bad... My initial thought was to have this as a "extra" device vs. replacing water changes, deep sand bed, live rock, etc.. But thought it could be there in case of a spike? But if it's not going to work, then having it sit there will just eat up realestate that I'm already short of...

01-16-2008, 02:15 PM	#6 (permalink)
BigAl07 Reef Addict (hopeless) Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Waynesville, North Carolina Posts: 11,496 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Coil Denitrifier You'd have to ALWAYS have it "Ready to go" which means cycled and "Fed" so the bacteria inside are ready. It's really not a "Stand by" device and honestly could be a lot of work to keep going. You're probably smart to do as you stated. By the way... tell us about your tank(s) and yourself. We LOVE pics WELCOME to the Reef __________________ ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. >((((º> Allen Allen's testimonial . . ."Let Me help you help YOURSELF" (Click Here) with a SW set up there is one basic fundamental rule that we ALL should follow *When in doubt... wait it out. This means take it slow and let the tank "develop" and don't rush it. Time is your friend Ask me about how to increase your REEF budget without going without FOOD!!* Big Al's 10g Julie's (BigAl's Gal) 6g NanoCube BigAl's Slow 90g Tank Chronicle Allens OFFICE 12g Nano-Reef Reef Balls & Cakes Debt Free & Change your Family Tree!!

01-16-2008, 02:18 PM	#7 (permalink)
Dentoid Over Achiever Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Virginia Posts: 10,240 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Coil Denitrifier Slakker, do not be discouraged by the "status quo" in your quest to change or otherwise contribute to the hobby. If Einstein, Newton and Galileo listened to all the negative opinions about there theories we wouldn't live in the world we do today. Nitrates are one of the biggest problems in the hobby and the person that comes up with a way to control nitrates better than "the status quo" will be a multi-millionaire! It's good to get opinions, but make up your own mind if you want to try this or not, free from negativity. Who knows, you could be the next inventor of a revolutionary way to rid closed biological systems of nitrates! __________________ Scott Dentoid's Reeforama

01-16-2008, 02:23 PM	#8 (permalink)
slakker Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 292 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Coil Denitrifier Thanks Dentoid for the encouragement... I'm been brushing up on my university chemistry to try to figure out the reactions that's taking place in the tank... I'm a noob at this aquarium thing, so value the input from everyone... I'll be playing around with this and other things, and will post if there's any success (or major failures)

01-16-2008, 02:31 PM	#9 (permalink)
BigAl07 Reef Addict (hopeless) Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Waynesville, North Carolina Posts: 11,496 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: Coil Denitrifier Aww man now I feel bad! I didn't mean to be a "Downer" or to "Rain on the parade". I just meant that if someone who has MANY years of experience at this has tried and tried and had a total failure it's not really a "Newb" DIY. I'll all for experimenting and testing and stuff. I think many of us are like that or we wouldn't be doing THIS crazy hobby to begin with. I do apologize if I came off as a "Nay sayer" as it wasn't intended that way. I like to help and foster learniing, experimentation and new ideas. Heck it's well known in these parts that I'm "The guy who'll try ANYTHING new and Different" (Not like that Bob....). I hope you have great success and if there is anything we can do to help please don't hesitate to ask. Also keep us posted regardless of the actual status. Group minds tend to think GREAT!! __________________ ><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><((((º> ·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. >((((º> Allen Allen's testimonial . . ."Let Me help you help YOURSELF" (Click Here) with a SW set up there is one basic fundamental rule that we ALL should follow *When in doubt... wait it out. This means take it slow and let the tank "develop" and don't rush it. Time is your friend Ask me about how to increase your REEF budget without going without FOOD!!* Big Al's 10g Julie's (BigAl's Gal) 6g NanoCube BigAl's Slow 90g Tank Chronicle Allens OFFICE 12g Nano-Reef Reef Balls & Cakes Debt Free & Change your Family Tree!!

01-16-2008, 03:18 PM	#10 (permalink)
slakker Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 292 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Coil Denitrifier No worries, I didn't take it that way all... like the saying goes, a smart man learns from his own mistakes, a wise man learns from others... At least I know what I'm up against if I try to build one of these things...

01-19-2008, 11:32 PM	#11 (permalink)
slakker Tuxedo Urchin Join Date: Jan 2008 Posts: 292 View Gallery Karma Komment	Re: Coil Denitrifier Hmmmm.... I did some more calculating... assuming that 1 "drop" is about a microliter then at full rate, with the denitrifier pushing 100 drops a minute, it'll take about 1900 days to cycle 72 gallons thru this device. Even at a full order of mag (10x) more volume/drop, that's 190 days... Maybe this thing won't do any "real" good as a denitrator... or is my math real bad...

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