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

[Loku]

Thank you so much. It is a 92 gallon, with a 20L sump. It has definitely been a labor of love.

I forgot to mention in the video that I followed another of Dr. Novak's recommendations, and that is the use of a plenum. I used eggcrate and zip tied pieces of 3/4" pvc to the bottom to raise is significantly... so what appears to be a DSB is not all that deep in actuality Attachment 114923Attachment 114924

XD

I did my plenum with the same materials back in december 17 when I start my AFS!!!

[Luke in Phoenix]

Hi every one ;
I wanted to share with you my newest project...

Good idea! I bet there are lots of above tank BCB ideas that could work well.

[farebox]

I decided to bow out of the Anoxic Filtration system. Had some issues pop up, fish losing their slim coat, lots of dedris coming thru the return, looks like the kitty litter might’ve been dissolving. All hoses were filthy with dirt. It was all good until yesterday. Would love to try again if could find kitty litter like Dr. Novak used and laterite.

[Pices]

Oh! Sorry to hear this Roland, but thanks for letting us know. Mine has only been up 3 weeks. What kind of kitty litter did you use? How did you realize the litter was dissolving? I see dust on the bottom in my sump and I was vacuuming it out, but moving those baskets-I didn’t vacuum it today and this is what it looks like now. Is this what you noticed? FCAE5F7A-6325-4ED9-8595-112DA29625E5.jpg
I appreciate you sharing your experience. I hope everybody trying this will post the good and the bad.

[Pices]

See if I can post it right side up this timeimage.jpg

[farebox]

I just cleaned out the sump about an week ago and just the other day a lot of dust was back. Also film was building up on the tank glass sides. Tank was just a little cloudy also. So decided to just change back to my old filtration. I did use the special kitty from Walmart, but it just didn't look like the one Dr. Novak used. It was smaller in texture. I went to two different Walmarts and open the bags to check texture and all were the same. I would use the anoxic filtration if I could fine the exact stuff Dr, Novak used. Seems like the special kitty litter changed.

[sayid]

Hi Roland ,i am sorry that your experiment is not working ,the kitty liter that Dr Novak uses is ZEOLITE ,my kitty liter has it written on the packet ( naturally occurred volcanic zeolite ) and it is like crushed brick , unfortunately i am in Australia but i am sure others in u.s can chime in .

[lastflea]

I did use the special kitty from Walmart, but it just didn't look like the one Dr. Novak used. It was smaller in texture.

Maybe you bought the clumping one by mistake? The one I'll be using in UK is available as clumping and non clumping. The kitty litter Dr Novak used appears to be readily available on Amazon over your side.

Hope your fish are ok.

Rob

[Salty Sphynx]

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

Thank you so much!

The four discus ranged in sizes, from 2.5 to 4" on acquisition. They've each grown about .5 in almost a month (don't know if that is a good rate?), and they are indeed little piggies! The little red checkerboard has always been a bit of a runt & does seem to be growing a bit slower than the rest. We feed them a total of about 5x daily, and have been very thrilled with the growth and appetite they've exhibited so far.

We do a bit of spot cleaning every couple of days, removing the obvious chunks of debris and detritus, and replace about 5 gallons of water in the process (aged, R.O.). I think I mentioned in the video that we average about a 25-30% water change about once a week, but that is basically factoring in those spot cleanings... we've yet to do any sort of "major" water change at one time. The stability of the PH and water parameters have just remained near miraculous.

The PFS substrate has worked out very well, but did go through some growing pains with a brief algae bloom that rectified and balanced itself within a couple of days. Even the plants seem happy, with plenty of visible new growth on just about every one.

We had such a difficult time locating laterite, but were extremely fortunate to stumble upon the last four boxes available in our area. Would have tried the fluorite red had we not found it, though. I would be very curious to know why there doesn't seem to be ANY way to obtain the stuff. Anywhere. Globally.

I will be making 3 more BCBs in the next day or two, and will be sure to video the process, along with explaining our DIY prefilter and providing a general tank update.

[Salty Sphynx]

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

Hi Roland!

We use a bag of carbon pellets in our prefilter chamber and just love the resulting water clarity. I tried to design a three tiered prefilter like Dr Novak's modified canister, but found that it works just as well to just toss a bag in the chamber. I'll be making a new video soon explaining my prefilter and the construction of 3 more BCBs.

I sure hate to read that the Special Kitty didn't work out for you It does sound like maybe it's changed? Or perhaps you could only find the clumping style? We had to really, REALLY rinse that stuff extremely well - ran the water through it to get rid of all the smaller dust particles, until it ran clear. It does dust up and cloud the water if we accidentally bump or disturb the baskets, but it does settle back down quickly and clears back up to perfection with a little time.

[Salty Sphynx]

See if I can post it right side up this timeimage.jpg

Looks great! Looks very similar to ours and good indication of the bit of dust that comes out - thankfully, it does just settle and the tank clears beautifully.

[Pices]

Thanks Heather,
I feel better now. I stick with it.

[lastflea]

Look forward to the update Heather

Anything to report from our earliest pioneers? Luke, is the cannister working out well? It leads me to a question about the BCB's for the sump. Is there any reason, except making them more robust, why the mesh containers are then placed inside flower baskets? Is there a biological reason to do with maturing the filtration?

Just off to collect my litter and flourite. Ready to go for the fishless cycle. Woop, woop....!!

[lastflea]

Am finally under way cycling my tank with the BCB's. Just a prefilter chamber, two 30x30x15cm BCB's and a return pump. Water parameters are pH 8ppm, NH3/4 4ppm, NO2 0ppm and NO3 0ppm.

Suprised at the lack of cloud in the water, but did give the litter a good sieving before putting in the baskets. Mine is different to the Kitty Litter, but natural and non clumping, so should also do the trick. Going to test the water a bit later to see if the ammonia has reduced. I had it running with 4ppm for a couple days with a filter sponge, but as expected, no drop in such a short pace of time. Might be a different story though, with ammonia eating litter in the equation. Here's some photos.

Before starting the return pump
tank21.jpg

Water parameters
tank23.jpg

After turning on return pump
tank24.jpgtank25.jpg

[Luke in Phoenix]

Looking good Rob. Is there anything under your BCB baskets to make sure water can flow under them as well? Like egg crate or something?