DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

[Mogens Bang Olesen]

Is there any reason why a person couldn't use kitty litter in a media bag placed in a canister filter?
Would that be effective?

There is a person named Luke on Youtube that had luck with making it in a canister filter. I seem to go well.

[discusnow]

Hi All,

1.after going through all the pages i also decided to join the anoxic filter club, but i'm having troubles finding API laterite. so could anyone please confirm if seachem flourite red would achieve similar outcome? because I've done some research and found that seachem flourite is inert and even though it has iron in it that doesn't mean it's readily available to use so my fear is, seachem might work but not as effective as API laterite. so could someone that use seachem flourite please share your experience and your nitrate reading? is your anoxic filter able to reduce nitrate to as low as say 5ppm or below?

2. I've just recently made a purigen reactor and would like to keep using it so do we know if this will interfere with anoxic filter? because purigen is s'pose to reduce DOCs so i would like to keep it running in parallel with anoxic filter.

regards
George

[Luke in Phoenix]

Hi George, welcome to the "club"! lol

I looked very hard for laterite and couldn't find any. I finally gave up and used flourite. My nitrates are less than 5ppm.

I think this video from Dr. Novak will help you: https://youtu.be/yINbj43LwL8
It has substitute info for laterite.

Cheers, Luke

[Luke in Phoenix]

There is a person named Luke on Youtube that had luck with making it in a canister filter. I seem to go well.

Here's a link: https://youtu.be/4uefD7acEiI



Seems like it would work to me as long as water can flow around it.

[farebox]

After years of an bare bottom tank, spent yesterday tearing down my tank and installed an plenum. I cut up small pieces of poret foam for the bottom layer, fitted egg crate, layer of weed block. Fitted an filter tube with air stone. Topped off with pool filter sand and plant substrate. Up and running, plant and fish added back. Will update later on.....

[discusnow]

hey luke, thanks alot for your confirmation, so game is on. have just placed the order for a bag of flourite red. =)

so anyone know if purigen reactor would cause any problem with anoxic filter? I think it might be ok since my purigen reactor is placed after the return pump from my sump. so I will leave it on and will find out after 2 months. =)

[farebox]

Anyone using any carbon in their pre filter? I seen that Dr. Novak using some. Thanks for any response.

[lastflea]

well, my BCB isn't at 60 days yet, but due to a heater malfunction, i lost about 60 fish, some that sort of messes up my before and after testing

Hey Jack, sorry for your loss. Did you have two heaters in there? If not, it's a good idea to have two in case of malfunction. If they're both set to the same temp it makes no difference, as they both switch off if the water is warm enough

[lastflea]

Hi all!

Been a while since I've posted, but wanted to update everyone on the tank and the AFS.

Big thanks to Shaun, Luke, Dr. Novak and everyone else taking the plunge with the BCBs, best decision I've ever made!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lr70nV1bxQs&t=16s

That's a lovely tank Heather, and great to see a tank with substrate doing so well with BCB's. What size were your discus when you started anoxic? The reason I ask is I'm considering growing out some discus from around 3" using BCB's. I'm very apprehensive about the idea of using a substrate though. Good to see you've nailed it with such beautiful fish and only weekly water changes. Good on ya

[lastflea]

Well guys. Here you have another Anoxic filter convert. I say convert, but actually been out of fish keeping nearly 4 years. Currently setting up a 630l, 130, sumped tank. 5'x2.5'x2'.

My sump has 4 chambers, but not sure I need that many. After reading this entire thread I think two will work. First one with a sock, then just fill the rest with BCB's? Maybe a small return chamber for the pump and heaters?

Really struggling to find Kitty Litter here in the UK. Can you believe it's £50 for 25lb on Amazon UK???!!! I was wondering if this would be a viable alternative?

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Zetlight-Aq.../dp/B01BNPWVY8

Other than that, I'm good to get cracking. Thanks to all of you for sharing your successes. Thanks Luke for pointing me to this thread. I had actually looked very briefly at Anoxic filtration, but thought the scrubber would be a better option.

Haven't started cycling my tank yet, so early days. I'll keep you all posted though on this thread. Thanks again all. Rob

[sayid]

I have had a few queries from you guys asking where i got my api laterite so i thought i ans ware in here for every body to see .
I found one bag of api laterite in a Melbourne fish shop by accident and when i asked for more to by ,i was told that it is not available any more ,
20180423_155816_resized.jpg
I have found Aqualat buy Oliver Knott in My LFS in Melbourne and bought it , It does say that it is from outback in north Australia but does not say % iron content.
You can buy it from e-bay as well.
HTH

[lastflea]

After years of an bare bottom tank, spent yesterday tearing down my tank and installed an plenum. I cut up small pieces of poret foam for the bottom layer, fitted egg crate, layer of weed block. Fitted an filter tube with air stone. Topped off with pool filter sand and plant substrate. Up and running, plant and fish added back. Will update later on.....

Yeah Roland...... I am loving the energy in this thread.....

I think I found a natural, clay cat litter in UK. Pretty much everything available is clumping, or perfumed. Why would anyone want to buy perfumed cat litter? The combined odours must be ghastly....

On a serious note. I'm thinking about the size of BCB's. Wouldn't wider be better, to slow down the movement as much as possible? So rather than have say 9 baskets at 10x10x10 (w, l, h) in a formation of 3 rows, would it be better to have 1 basket at 30x30x10. That way there'd be far less flow (and oxygen) over a larger area, right to the centre. I'm thinking this would take longer to fully mature, as the bacteria would be forming much slower, the further to the centre you got. But in the long run would this allow more bacteria to form? I'm no scientist, but this seems to make sense to me.

[sayid]

Hi every one ;
I wanted to share with you my newest project.
I have a 500 l tank with 2 canister filter and 2 small sun sun filter helpers which have each one cylindrical BSB , but since i have 12 adult discus and 4 catfish and my nitrate is hovering around 20 ppm and have no sump i thought to build an above tank sump containing 12 small cubic BSB s .
20180228_102019_resized.jpg
20180418_093120_resized.jpg20180418_093020_resized.jpg
20180418_081407_resized.jpg
It basically consist of a 4 inch diameter pvc tube that has been put a series of holes using circular saw cutters ,also put a lid on one end and a screw lid on the other then introduced water coming from on end and leave from the other end back in to the tank. I have used aqualat laterite for the first time and now i have to wait for 8 weeks to see if all this works .

[Nitrification]

Hi every one ;
I wanted to share with you my newest project.
I have a 500 l tank with 2 canister filter and 2 small sun sun filter helpers which have each one cylindrical BSB , but since i have 12 adult discus and 4 catfish and my nitrate is hovering around 20 ppm and have no sump i thought to build an above tank sump containing 12 small cubic BSB s .
20180228_102019_resized.jpg
20180418_093120_resized.jpg20180418_093020_resized.jpg
20180418_081407_resized.jpg
It basically consist of a 4 inch diameter pvc tube that has been put a series of holes using circular saw cutters ,also put a lid on one end and a screw lid on the other then introduced water coming from on end and leave from the other end back in to the tank. I have used aqualat laterite for the first time and now i have to wait for 8 weeks to see if all this works .

Like this idea. Looking forward to learning about your results.

[Pices]

Thanks for sharing picture of the your plenum creation. I have not done this, but if you think this has a lot to do with your success, then I think I will follow suit. Your tank and discus are phenomenal. Thanks for posting!
Patty