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

  1. #706
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    the litter is is still in my tank. it succeeded in making a bit of mess, as little pieces fell through the mesh. but i NEVER saw any assistance in removing nitrate. it is still in there. what i finally found to help my nitrate was removing my fine poret foam pad that was PACKED with mulm. now i use pinky floss in the final stage and toss it.

  2. #707
    Registered Member Blobfish's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    awesome vid!! can't wait to get some water and Discus into the tank....

  3. #708
    Registered Member Blobfish's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    glad you mentioned that Jack L....was looking into the poret

  4. #709
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Hello all,

    I wanted to post an update on my 75 gallon aquarium. I have in it about 40 tetras, and several dwarf cichlids, about 10. This is my experimental tank, it is heavily planted with a soil substrate. It has cat litter under that and a layer of laterite under that. I setup a plenum underneath with bio balls, but I have no active water flow under that. The last water change was on the 5th of May and I decided that today I would do another water change. I figured I should test for Nitrates out of curiosity, and I got a reading of 0. The tank is filtered with a sump that now holds 14 BCBs. Only 10 of these are mature as I added the last four about 12 days ago. Originally (when I last posted on this thread) I only had 5 BCBs. These five could not keep the Nitrate levels at 0 for longer than 1 week and I had algae problems in the tank. The algae disappeared a month after adding 6 a few months ago. Encouraged by these results I added the last four. It would be a tight squeeze to try and add anymore. So the good news is that I have achieved the goal of 0 nitrates even after months of no water changes. The fish are in good health with great colors and healthy appetites.

    César
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    Last edited by Tindomul; 08-09-2019 at 05:48 PM.

  5. #710
    Registered Member Blobfish's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Quote Originally Posted by Tindomul View Post
    Hello all,

    I wanted to post an update on my 75 gallon aquarium. I have in it about 40 tetras, and several dwarf cichlids, about 10. This is my experimental tank, it is heavily planted with a soil substrate. It has cat litter under that and a layer of laterite under that. I setup a plenum underneath with bio balls, but I have no active water flow under that. The last water change was on the 5th of May and I decided that today I would do another water change. I figured I should test for Nitrates out of curiosity, and I got a reading of 0. The tank is filtered with a sump that now holds 14 BCBs. Only 10 of these are mature as I added the last four about 12 days ago. Originally (when I last posted on this thread) I only had 5 BCBs. These five could not keep the Nitrate levels at 0 for longer than 1 week and I had algae problems in the tank. The algae disappeared a month after adding 6 a few months ago. Encouraged by these results I added the last four. It would be a tight squeeze to try and add anymore. So the good news is that I have achieved the goal of 0 nitrates even after months of no water changes. The fish are in good health with great colors and healthy appetites.

    César
    wow, awesome. Maybe this was in a previous post but were you able to collect data to try to see what the plants versus the BCBs was contributing to the nitrate levels?

  6. #711
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    The plants in the tank have been the same plants for over a year with lack luster growth. In my data before the addition of the extra BCB's I was getting a red color for the nitrate tests and was forced to do water changes 1-2 times monthly. I had a hard time distinguishing between 40ppm and 80ppm.

  7. #712
    Registered Member cooper666's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    This is an interesting subject. It's verging on old techniques for marine tanks, plenum etc.

    I am terrified of any anaerobic nitrate filters in aquariums, very hard stuff to control and when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong.

    The marine guys have played lots with carbon dosing (vodca, sugar, vinegar or other). Im not sure how this relates to FW. Also algae scrubbers were a thing for a while.

    I'm still of the opinion that nitrates are not the only thing than retards discus growth, there's something else there too IMO - Growth suppressing hormones etc. I don't think it's well understood.

    I would like to see someone grow out some discus with one of these filters and minimal water exchanges, If you could crack it, it could revolutionise the way people grow little discus. Again, my gut says more would be required than just 0 nitrates. Perhaps lots or activated carbon or Ozone to adsorb / denature the unknown elements that ruin small discus. Just thoughts.

    Great thread (not that I read it all) very interesting stuff.
    My tank - http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?135251-coopers-6x2x2&highlight=

  8. #713
    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Quote Originally Posted by cooper666 View Post
    This is an interesting subject. It's verging on old techniques for marine tanks, plenum etc.

    I am terrified of any anaerobic nitrate filters in aquariums, very hard stuff to control and when it goes wrong, it goes really wrong.

    The marine guys have played lots with carbon dosing (vodca, sugar, vinegar or other). Im not sure how this relates to FW. Also algae scrubbers were a thing for a while.

    I'm still of the opinion that nitrates are not the only thing than retards discus growth, there's something else there too IMO - Growth suppressing hormones etc. I don't think it's well understood.

    I would like to see someone grow out some discus with one of these filters and minimal water exchanges, If you could crack it, it could revolutionise the way people grow little discus. Again, my gut says more would be required than just 0 nitrates. Perhaps lots or activated carbon or Ozone to adsorb / denature the unknown elements that ruin small discus. Just thoughts.

    Great thread (not that I read it all) very interesting stuff.
    There are other things that retart growth. Nitrates are the indicator for a WC.. If that is kept low so are the other things that retart growth such as bad bacteria, urine, DOC/TDS just a few.

  9. #714
    Registered Member Luke in Phoenix's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Glad to see positive results for so many people and the many creative ways to implement the BCB ideas. When I created this thread, I wasn't expecting so much reading! haha
    It would be very interesting to gather a detailed list of specs from the aquariums that have positive results and those that don't.

    We could then compare things like ph, prefilters, BCB onlys, other media, time duration, etc... and make a list of things that probably contribute towards success and things to avoid.


    This method worked well for 12 months until I moved and had to break it down. https://youtu.be/4uefD7acEiI

  10. #715
    Registered Member farebox's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Current status on my 125G discus tank nine months after changing from anoxic filtration(BCB) system back to an simple sump filtration using poret foam and matrix bio media. I call it my K.I.S.S. sump, also used an aquaclear 110 for an diy hob refugium...https://youtu.be/pofGxuR0VOg
    Last edited by farebox; 09-10-2019 at 11:51 AM.

  11. #716
    Registered Member Shaun's Discus's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    My BCB's are still going strong. Not getting zero nitrates but I think if I went with more BCB's I may. My weekly readings are still 5 to 10ppm. Anyways, I have installed a drip system on all my tanks now, the discus tank was the last to have it installed so they will be back to zero within a week. My 220g tank has had the drip going for over a month now and it has zero nitrates without any manual w/c.

  12. #717
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Wow, that was quite an amazing read, thanks Luke. I am sold on the BCBs although I am puzzled about the relative lack of success some folks are having. Given that the NH3 stays low but minimal effects on Nitrates, I wonder if the turn over volume relative to the cross sectional area between the individual BCB units is such that too much water (and O2) is being forced into individual units, possibly pore size of the containers has an effect as well. Alternatively, when there is additional aerobic filtration elsewhere the system, seems to me that it would reduce the utilization of O2 in the outer zone which would then reduce the size of the anoxic interior. This would also explain why some folks notice an improvement in the BCB performance when other aerobic filtration is eliminated. Of course loss of redundancy implies increased risk which I dislike.

    Now the fun decision is whether to add UV (probably will as I like reducing the content in the water column) and/or Ozone to oxidize some of the organics not touched by the BCBs, main tank plenum vs BB vs reverse under-gravel (yes, I am old school, primarily because I am old) . Would be fun to compare various options both as impacts display and as well grow out tanks.

  13. #718
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    i have left mine in my sump, i think its over a year now, never saw any benefit. its just surface area for BB for me.

  14. #719
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jack L View Post
    i have left mine in my sump, i think its over a year now, never saw any benefit. its just surface area for BB for me.
    took the biggest basket out to make room for sump sock. will see if anything happens with nitrates as a result.

  15. #720
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    Default Re: DIY "Anoxic Filtration System" eliminates nitrates? Anyone tried this?

    Yeah, I never saw any benefit either, but then I think my low ph was the main issue. So I took my bcb's out and used the flourite red under my sand substrate. Planted wisteria, water sprite, and banana plants and now my nitrates hover between 5-10 ppm with weekly 2/3 WC's for over a year. I have to say at least this experiment got me to try a planted tank.

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