Nitrates in Tap? Alternate solution to RODI!

[Bizarro252]

Hello Everyone!

TLDR: I tested a cheap, reusable resin that removes Nitrate directly from water, quickly!



I by no means have extreme Nitrate at the tap, but enough to annoy me (10-15ppm) and have been looking for an alternative to RODI, which I will move to if I need to or find it to be the most economical choice - but at this point I just don't think my water is bad enough to warrant it, even with juvenile Discus.

So, in came NitraZorb. I had no real interest in using this product in the tanks filter itself as despite what they claim about it not affecting your cycle I don't see how that can be 100% true if it indeed adsorbs Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate as the product claims.

I was also skeptical of its claims specifically about Nitrate, figuring, since their information is a little vague...that in didn't directly adsorb Nitrate, but indirectly affected it by adsorbing Ammonia and Nitrite before it was converted to Nitrate.

BUT! To my amazement this was untrue, it actually adsorbs Nitrate, directly from the water - and FAST!
**I also want to just mention I am in no way associated with or advertising for this product... I just had an idea and want to share it as well as get feedback from the community!

So - here we go, here is what I have to back this up thusfar:

My Water:
PH: 7.8tap 8.3 aged - KH 9 - GH 7 - Ammonia 0 - Nitrite 0 - Nitrate 10-15

My Goal:
To reduce or eliminate Nitrate in the source water used for water changes, make it easy, repeatable, and cost effective

My Concerns:
PH/KH/GH, would they be affected? This is surely true in the RODI situation, but would a product like NitraZorb also alter them?
-I found this to not be the case, PH was identical, KH and GH *maybe* went down half a point on the API test, it was hard to tell for sure, I will continue to monitor
Salt/Sodium Ions: NitraZorb is an ion exchange resin, rechargeable by soaking in a brine solution, would the sodium ions it must exchange for Nitrate have any effect on the water or the fish?
-This, I dont know, however even if ALL of the salt used to recharge the resin were to leech into the water all at once (aprox 4 tablespoons) I do not think this would be enough to impact the health of the fish - PLEASE feel free to correct me if I am wrong here...

The Experiment:
The first thing I did was set up a 5 gal bucket with an AC50 hanging off the side, I filled it up and took a control sample. I then put the rinsed bag of Nitrazorb in the filter and ran it for 1 hour (I also added a few drops of Prime, but as I note later, in the second experiment I did not and saw the same results). After 1 hour Nitrate had been reduced from 10ppm to 5ppm. I tested the control and sample at the same time in the same (as per the instructions, including a 1 min shake of the bottled, in my hand together after adding bottle #2, which I THOROUGHLY beat the crap out of as usual to mix).

I then took the same setup and moved it onto my 33gal trash bin that I use for aging water, after 3 hours I took a second sample, same results from 10 to 5ppm.

Next I built a pipe with an adapter on one size to screw into a half inch threaded fitting on the output of my refill pump, and a cap with holes drilled in the other side. I put a piece of filter floss, followed by the bag of NitraZorb, and one more pc of floss in the pipe and ran it in a fresh barrel of water for 1 hour. Results were the same! 10 to 5ppm!

I did not recharge the NitraZorb between these experiments, but am currently doing so today.

I will follow this up with:
How many gallons will it treat one one 'charge'?
How far will it reduce Nitrates if left to run for 24 hours?
Does the product truly stop being able to be recharged back to full effectiveness after a period of time? (Bag suggests tossing it after 2 months, could be real, could be a gimmick to make you buy more...)



I view this as a great success! As I said I do not want to run this in the tank, but for change water it seems to do exactly what I want! I am curious if it will go lower than 5ppm or if that is the lower limit of what it will adsorb...maybe it will get down to 5 quickly and just takes longer to go lower since the concentration is so low.

SO! If anyone else is interested let me know your experience!

Also if anyone has comments on ANY downsides please let me and others know, I am actively using this and in NO WAY want to risk harm to my fish, I do not see a way for this to happen but if you do please let me know! (mostly concerned about the sodium ions from the exchange resin...)


Tips:
If you move the bag, at all...re-rinse it, it clouds the water, not bad, but notably.
It doesn't seem to matter if the water is dechlorinated or not, I tried it both ways, same results
I am unsure if temperature affects it, I wouldn't let it get to hot or boil it, etc but I started it in cold and warm water with the same results.


Thanks!

Matt

[DJW]

NitraZorb is about half zeolite, which removes ammonia, and half ion-exchange resin, which removes nitrate. I don't know if the resin it uses is the standard anion resin or a nitrate-selective resin, they don't say.

Rather than using zeolite, which you don't need, it might be better to experiment with a special resin designed to remove nitrate, like this one:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/nitratr-regenerable-nitrate-adsorption-resin-brightwell-aquatics.html?sku=209314&gclid=COm8qtiS4tMCFdK3wAod8FgDjA

Notice it says, "... each 500ml of NitratR will remove 20ppm nitrate in 100 US-gallons of water (or 10ppm per 200 US-gallons). When nitrate concentration remains unchanged or begins to increase, regenerate as described below."

So it looks like you would need to regenerate the resin every few days. Its hard to say if it would be easier/cheaper for you than RO. Worth a try though. If its too much trouble you can always put some pothos plants on the tank.

(btw - the resin trades the chloride in the salt for nitrate, not the sodium)

[Kyla]

we are so lucky here to have 0 nitrates from tap, i can imagine that would be very frustrating for fishkeepers, so hopefully this helps someone. i once ran a lightly stocked tank with so much pothos vine that it always had 0 nitrate (and my kit was workig fine!) so if i were in that situation thats another thing i might try... a crazy ton of plant roots hanging in the water to suck the nitrates up.

[Ryan925]

NitraZorb is about half zeolite, which removes ammonia, and half ion-exchange resin, which removes nitrate. I don't know if the resin it uses is the standard anion resin or a nitrate-selective resin, they don't say.

Rather than using zeolite, which you don't need, it might be better to experiment with a special resin designed to remove nitrate, like this one:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/nitratr-regenerable-nitrate-adsorption-resin-brightwell-aquatics.html?sku=209314&gclid=COm8qtiS4tMCFdK3wAod8FgDjA

Notice it says, "... each 500ml of NitratR will remove 20ppm nitrate in 100 US-gallons of water (or 10ppm per 200 US-gallons). When nitrate concentration remains unchanged or begins to increase, regenerate as described below."

So it looks like you would need to regenerate the resin every few days. Its hard to say if it would be easier/cheaper for you than RO. Worth a try though. If its too much trouble you can always put some pothos plants on the tank.

(btw - the resin trades the chloride in the salt for nitrate, not the sodium)

Not sure about that product specifically but it would seem similar to bio pellets. Bio pellets are a well documented way of removing large amounts of nitrate when used properly. The keys are using it in a reactor and in conjunction with a skimmer. This is one we are not able to use bio pellets on freshwater.

I think if it was as simple as just running a small bag of a product it would be more widely used. With that said I hope you do find a way that works for you although ro may be your finally solution. As kyla says those of us with no nitrate in our tap are very fortunate. Best of luck. Will definitely check in on the progress results here.

[Bizarro252]

NitraZorb is about half zeolite, which removes ammonia, and half ion-exchange resin, which removes nitrate. I don't know if the resin it uses is the standard anion resin or a nitrate-selective resin, they don't say.

Rather than using zeolite, which you don't need, it might be better to experiment with a special resin designed to remove nitrate, like this one:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/nitratr-regenerable-nitrate-adsorption-resin-brightwell-aquatics.html?sku=209314&gclid=COm8qtiS4tMCFdK3wAod8FgDjA

Notice it says, "... each 500ml of NitratR will remove 20ppm nitrate in 100 US-gallons of water (or 10ppm per 200 US-gallons). When nitrate concentration remains unchanged or begins to increase, regenerate as described below."

So it looks like you would need to regenerate the resin every few days. Its hard to say if it would be easier/cheaper for you than RO. Worth a try though. If its too much trouble you can always put some pothos plants on the tank.

(btw - the resin trades the chloride in the salt for nitrate, not the sodium)

THANK YOU! for the info - good to know its a mixture, I can see there are two products in the bag (small rock looking things and beads, similar to purigen) I assume the beads were the resin. Thanks for that link as well, I bet that would be a better long term solution!

As for what type of resin is used, this answer from DFS might help?? I see the customer talks about the two types, apparently one is not OK to mix with iron and the Nitrazorb is NOT that one... any idea which is which compared to the two types you mentioned?

Customer Question:
Can Nitra-Zorb be used in a planted aquarium that receives extra Iron?
There are two types of Nitrate removal polymers. One can be used with elevated levels of Iron and function properly. The other type will remove the Iron and be destroyed by it.

DFS Employee Answer:
Thank you for your question. We checked with the manufacturer and they said the following: there are no issues when supplementing with iron and using Nitra-Zorb.

[Bizarro252]

Not sure about that product specifically but it would seem similar to bio pellets. Bio pellets are a well documented way of removing large amounts of nitrate when used properly. The keys are using it in a reactor and in conjunction with a skimmer. This is one we are not able to use bio pellets on freshwater.

I think if it was as simple as just running a small bag of a product it would be more widely used. With that said I hope you do find a way that works for you although ro may be your finally solution. As kyla says those of us with no nitrate in our tap are very fortunate. Best of luck. Will definitely check in on the progress results here.

Hi Ryan, thanks for the reply - I had heard of bio pellets and knew I needed a reactor to run them but was not aware of needing a skimmer - DOH!

[Ryan925]

Hi Ryan, thanks for the reply - I had heard of bio pellets and knew I needed a reactor to run them but was not aware of needing a skimmer - DOH!

Yep I did lots of research on them. Was thinking about He using a bio pellet reactor for my sump. From what I have read is that as the bacteria feeds on the pellets and they dissolve the byproduct is a lot of excess nutrients into your tank. To combat that the outlet of the reactor is plumbed into the intake of the skimmer to remove the waste. Also from what I have learned a skimmer is not effective with freshwater so that idea was shot down

I hope you find a good resolution to your issue. Will be interested in the results of your science experiment

Why type of filtration do you use?

There are some nitrate removing products that I have read pretty good things about but they need to be in a very low flow area like in a sump.

[DJW]

As for what type of resin is used, this answer from DFS might help?? I see the customer talks about the two types, apparently one is not OK to mix with iron and the Nitrazorb is NOT that one... any idea which is which compared to the two types you mentioned?



Its not clear from the Q&A which type of resin they are using. Either way it would be better to use a nitrate selective resin that won't dump the nitrate back when it reaches its capacity.

Here is a good article on nitrate removal resins.

http://www.wwdmag.com/nitrate-removal-ion-exchange

You can get automated systems that work like a water softener, but they cost more than RO. Here is an example of one. I'm not sure but these might make low pH water in the first batch after a regeneration.

https://www.pelicanwater.com/nitrate-filter-systems.php?gclid=CJr6yvul49MCFQ-1wAodD3gO6A#PN3?mm_campaign=29038E65A0A569DC50D041 C43DF27436&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=WP-Shopping

[Bizarro252]

Yep I did lots of research on them. Was thinking about He using a bio pellet reactor for my sump. From what I have read is that as the bacteria feeds on the pellets and they dissolve the byproduct is a lot of excess nutrients into your tank. To combat that the outlet of the reactor is plumbed into the intake of the skimmer to remove the waste. Also from what I have learned a skimmer is not effective with freshwater so that idea was shot down

I hope you find a good resolution to your issue. Will be interested in the results of your science experiment

Why type of filtration do you use?

There are some nitrate removing products that I have read pretty good things about but they need to be in a very low flow area like in a sump.

Hello again Ryan!

I did know they pellets were consumed (sounds like those bacteria require a source of carbon) but I didnt even think about the excess waste and the advantage of a skimmer to clean it up...hrm, I wonder if they would still be OK in a tank where you were doing large frequent changes to get rid of the waste...

I wanted to find a solution that took care of the source Nitrate from the tap because what I am seeing is a bump of less than 5ppm a day when I do my WC from the actual fish waste going through the cycle, I can tell its higher than at the tap, but not much. So if I added plants, biopellets, etc I would basically be putting the fish through a jump up to 10 or so ppm every WC and that would slowly go down to zero, then BAM back up again next WC. I didnt want this cycle of movement in the parameters so thats why I wanted something to get rid of it up front, so at least then we are talking going from 5ppm to 2-3ppm from a WC :) If that makes sense...basically my tap comes pre-contaminated with 3 days of fishwaste worth of Nitrates lol...

I went ahead and purchased that resin from BRS, I think it is very similar to the resin in the NitraZorb but has the advantage of not having other stuff in it as well, which I think is what clouds the water if I disturb the bag. Having just the resin will get rid of this issue - I also like that it has more specific details about how much it can adsorb and how long it will last (says you can recharge over 250 times!!)

My Discus tank is a 55gal with 6x 3-3.5" Hans Discus, filtered by 3x Hydro sponges (size 4) and a Fluval 406 with an ehiem prefilter and homemade spraybar output. The canister has the stock foam in the first area, and the bottom basket, the remaining baskets are filled with BioHome ultimate and two bags of purigen on the top level (also some fliter floss).
I pulled it open the other day after about a week in operation and its sparkling in there, that prefilter is amazing :)

On my Mbuna tank I have a HOB fry thing, with a VERY slow pump, the first section has filter floss and the next two have Seachem DeNitrate, which has pothos and bamboo planted in it. My nitrates are still high in that tank but they do not get nearly as high by the end of the week as they used to - so its working but not nearly enough to reduce it massively, mostly just maintains a decent level... Might put something similar on the discus tank when they are adults, for now if I can get my source nitrates down and continue my daily 50% WCs I think Nitrates should hover around 5ppm :)

[Bizarro252]

Its not clear from the Q&A which type of resin they are using. Either way it would be better to use a nitrate selective resin that won't dump the nitrate back when it reaches its capacity.

Here is a good article on nitrate removal resins.

http://www.wwdmag.com/nitrate-removal-ion-exchange

You can get automated systems that work like a water softener, but they cost more than RO. Here is an example of one. I'm not sure but these might make low pH water in the first batch after a regeneration.

https://www.pelicanwater.com/nitrate-filter-systems.php?gclid=CJr6yvul49MCFQ-1wAodD3gO6A#PN3?mm_campaign=29038E65A0A569DC50D041 C43DF27436&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=WP-Shopping

Thank you! I will read through that article this evening. I went ahead and grabbed 500ml of that product you posted from BRS and some bags for it. That should work even better as its purpose built for ONLY targeting Nitrate so thank you! I will report back!

[Ryan925]

How about a sulfur reactor? From what I understand they don't need to be fed a carbon source and are low maintenance. I believe it does lower ph of water but I wonder what they effect would be on an aging barrel nitrate reduction vs ph drop

Just kicking ideas around. Might be worth reading up on

[brewmaster15]

If your nitrates are only 10-15 ppms , you may want to get a water storage barrel , stick a grow light over it... and root a bunch of Pothos or some other nitrate loving plants.. They can easily handle those levels. Cheap. biodegradable, improves your air quality and the fishes water quality.


al

[Ryan925]

If your nitrates are only 10-15 ppms , you may want to get a water storage barrel , stick a grow light over it... and root a bunch of Pothos or some other nitrate loving plants.. They can easily handle those levels. Cheap. biodegradable, improves your air quality and the fishes water quality.


al

Leave it to Al to bring up the most simple answer. Guess we are overthinking

[Bizarro252]

How about a sulfur reactor? From what I understand they don't need to be fed a carbon source and are low maintenance. I believe it does lower ph of water but I wonder what they effect would be on an aging barrel nitrate reduction vs ph drop

Just kicking ideas around. Might be worth reading up on

I have seen that while poking around but didnt even click on it, figured it was some reef thing :) I will check into it thanks for the tip :)
I think this product DJW pointed out will work even better than my current setup. I am going to buy a smaller pump (current one for refilling the tank is 850GPH and very loud...just a cheapo one...) and just hook it directly to the pipe 'reactor' thing I made and let it just run in the aging barrel whenever its full - since it will not leech Nitrate back out it shouldn't be an issue to just leave it running in there until it becomes exhausted and recharge it.

Checking into the sulfur ones too :)



If your nitrates are only 10-15 ppms , you may want to get a water storage barrel , stick a grow light over it... and root a bunch of Pothos or some other nitrate loving plants.. They can easily handle those levels. Cheap. biodegradable, improves your air quality and the fishes water quality.


al

:) I guess I had not considered that because I was unsure if they would consume enough in 24 hours to have an effect. I do have pothos in most of my tanks though - good stuff :)
My guys love your FDBW btw :)

[Bizarro252]

Its not clear from the Q&A which type of resin they are using. Either way it would be better to use a nitrate selective resin that won't dump the nitrate back when it reaches its capacity.

Here is a good article on nitrate removal resins.

http://www.wwdmag.com/nitrate-removal-ion-exchange

You can get automated systems that work like a water softener, but they cost more than RO. Here is an example of one. I'm not sure but these might make low pH water in the first batch after a regeneration.

https://www.pelicanwater.com/nitrate-filter-systems.php?gclid=CJr6yvul49MCFQ-1wAodD3gO6A#PN3?mm_campaign=29038E65A0A569DC50D041 C43DF27436&utm_source=Google&utm_medium=CPC&utm_campaign=WP-Shopping

Interesting note from the article you posted, sounds like the Nitrate Selective resins will not have this effect nearly as much as non selective but good idea regardless to buffer the brine you recharge with just incase :)
Thanks again for the resource.

pH Effects

Anion resin in the chloride form removes not only nitrates, but also sulfate and alkalinity. The removal of alkalinity can lead to a reduction in pH of the product water in the beginning of the run. To minimize this effect and add some buffering ability back to the water, soda ash (Na2 CO3) can be added to the brine tank. This will convert a portion of the resin to the bicarbonate form during regeneration. A ratio of one lb./cu. ft. of soda ash mixed with nine lbs./cu. ft. of salt can be used.

[brewmaster15]

My guys love your FDBW btw :):thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsu p: Thanks! Glad they love them!

al

[DJW]

I looked at this a few years ago and ended up using ro... but my water is always 25-45 ppm nitrate, too much for pothos. At 10-15ppm you could go with plants or plants + mixing in some ro. That way you wouldn't always be waiting for ro water to show up. Good luck with the resin. I would have tried it by now but my water is free (sort of) and I don't have time to regenerate resin.

You want to hear something crazy? I accidentally hatched some Gourami fry in a filter-only tank where the nitrate was 600ppm! Not only that, I was dumping ammonia in there every day for a week before I noticed the fry. I changed the water and they are doing fine at the moment. Don't try any such thing with discus...lol

[Hart24601]

Here in Iowa we have very poor water with high nitrates being part of the problem. I do automatic W/C in my systems, not just discus, and they get around 20% daily change or approx. 60 gallons. The resins just can't absorb enough nitrate to be very effective with W/C - and if doing a large amount it requires a lot of pothos.

Long term the most affordable solution is bulk reef supply water saver RO/DI. It's 1:1 waste/pure water and you can test post membrane and see if you even need the DI down the road.

[brewmaster15]

bulk reef supply water saver RO/DI. It's 1:1 waste/pure waterreally? Thats pretty darn good efficiency. Does it require any special water pressure parameters? Being on a well here myself... I may look into that one when I start up RO again.

al

[Bizarro252]

really? Thats pretty darn good efficiency. Does it require any special water pressure parameters? Being on a well here myself... I may look into that one when I start up RO again.

al

Looks like min water pressure is 65PSI vs 50PSI on their standard (non water saver) systems. Looks like the only difference is dual (in parallel) RO membranes.

Good to know this takes efficiency from 1:4 to 1:1 though! Hrm... I have no idea what my water pressure is, will have to check it out.

[Ryan925]

Looks like min water pressure is 65PSI vs 50PSI on their standard (non water saver) systems. Looks like the only difference is dual (in parallel) RO membranes.

Good to know this takes efficiency from 1:4 to 1:1 though! Hrm... I have no idea what my water pressure is, will have to check it out.
Don't know about this specific unit but have done a lot of reading on ro lately. I have seen other systems with the same 1:1 efficiency and they utilize a permeate pump, so if your water pressure does not meet the needs that is an option.

[Bizarro252]

Just an update for everyone who is wondering about this :) I put a fresh pack into the tube thing I made that I hooked up to the pump and ran for 2 hours... ZERO NITRATE! WHOOO!! I still think that resin that DJW suggested will be better overall, since it is targeted specific for Nitrate and sounds like it should last a long time! WHOOOO!!

Also just some pics because why the heck not!

This is from a week after I got them then the next ones are from today and yesterday - Look at how much the checkboard has come along already!!
109516
109517
109518
109515

[Hart24601]

The other responses about the BRS system are correct, and the higher the pressure the better you get. We have right at the membrane limit where I live (85psi I think, can't remember) so I actually get a bit better than 1:1 but that ratio will not be as good, but still solid, with lower pressure.

[Hart24601]

Just a heads up, DI resin will work ok, but it will be expensive long term. RO/DI use resin at after the RO and in some cases it still get used up pretty quickly. I know RO/DI isn't the easiest option, but once you get the filters sorted it's pretty easy especially with the amount of water we use. And if you don't need the DI at the end it's even better since the membranes last years and just replace the prefilters ever 6 months or so depending on chorine of tap water. I use 60g a day of RO/DI water or 420g a week, ~22,000g a year for my 2 FW tanks... I don't know any lower cost option for that amount of water.

[Bizarro252]

Just a heads up, DI resin will work ok, but it will be expensive long term. RO/DI use resin at after the RO and in some cases it still get used up pretty quickly. I know RO/DI isn't the easiest option, but once you get the filters sorted it's pretty easy especially with the amount of water we use. And if you don't need the DI at the end it's even better since the membranes last years and just replace the prefilters ever 6 months or so depending on chorine of tap water. I use 60g a day of RO/DI water or 420g a week, ~22,000g a year for my 2 FW tanks... I don't know any lower cost option for that amount of water.

That is kinda crazy when you multiply it out like that, I only change 30gal a day on the discus (plus other tanks but those only once a week) but there is additional water used by the python to pull the siphon, etc. Crazy when you add it all up.

I am not sure on the long term cost of my method, I dont see it being an issue because the initial investment is less than 50 bucks and it should last 7 days between recharges (that only take salt and 2 hours time) and they say you can recharge over 250 times, I am guessing that is assuming you run it in a filter which even after floss, etc will clog up the resin faster than just plain fresh water so I think that 250 will be the low side of what I should see for recharges. That means this will last me 250 weeks, or almost 5 years :)

I put an older second pump in there and hooked that up to the pipe 'reactor' I have and just let that run independently, so I dont even have to mess with the system now except for a once a week recharge :)

RODI however would probably be a better choice if you want to set it and forget it for months, or if you have much higher volumes of water than I do to change :)


You mention 'if you dont need the DI portion' when would that apply? If you dont have that bad of water to begin with TDS wise?

[Hart24601]

Keep us posted on how well it works! I tried salt recharged resins and found they didn't pull enough for long enough. I spend like $130 on brightwell nitratR and it just didn't work well for me. They all went in the garbage after the 1st recharge after using a whole lot of salt! I didn't see enough reduction and it just didn't seem to pull much. Not the 20ppm per 100g for 500ml at least. However I suspect that is best case and it was absorbing other compounds. It might be perfect for you though!

Not needing the DI applies for most people in FW. I also use my RO/DI for my reef and live in a heavy agricultural area so I want 0 TDS, but the water coming off my BRS water saver membranes is only 2 TDS before the DI. If you test that and it has 0 nitrate then realistically you wouldn't need the DI.

EDIT: I missed the post where you picked up the nitratR! I am excited to hear how it works for you and how long it absorbs nitrate.

[Bizarro252]

Keep us posted on how well it works! I tried salt recharged resins and found they didn't pull enough for long enough. I spend like $130 on brightwell nitratR and it just didn't work well for me. They all went in the garbage after the 1st recharge after using a whole lot of salt! I didn't see enough reduction and it just didn't seem to pull much. Not the 20ppm per 100g for 500ml at least. However I suspect that is best case and it was absorbing other compounds. It might be perfect for you though!

Not needing the DI applies for most people in FW. I also use my RO/DI for my reef and live in a heavy agricultural area so I want 0 TDS, but the water coming off my BRS water saver membranes is only 2 TDS before the DI. If you test that and it has 0 nitrate then realistically you wouldn't need the DI.

EDIT: I missed the post where you picked up the nitratR! I am excited to hear how it works for you and how long it absorbs nitrate.

I did, it should be here Friday - The NitraZorb is pulling me down to 0 Nitrate from 10-15ppm and I am guessing the nitratR should only work better since its more targets (and will not leech back Nitrates when exhausted, unsure if NitraZorb can claim the same or not, I have not run it long enough to be able to tell for sure.)

Thanks on the DI info, I would mix my RO with 50% tap if I went that route rather than dosing it back up, I think my KH and GH would still be OK if they were cut in half - PH would drop though so I would have to acclimate slowly. That would still put me at 5-7 Nitrate though which would be sad after going through all the effort of getting RO :P

Interesting that you didnt see much of a drop, again, with the NitraZorb I saw a drop from ~12 to 0 in 3 hours last night. I built a think out of a pc of pipe with a threaded encap on one side and a solid endcap with holes drilled in it on the other, I load the bag and come floss in and let the pump cycle water through it in the aging barrel, works like a charm :) How were you running yours when you didnt see reduction?

BTW is that your GTR in your pic? Jelly.... :)

[Hart24601]

When I tried them it was a bit different so hopefully it works better for you with fresh tap water. I was trying to reduce nitrate in a 300g system from ~20 to 0 with 4 500ml bags just to see if they would work. I put the bags in the sump that has plenty of flow, left them a couple of days and didn't see any change in nitrate.

That is my GTR, zoom zoom - haha.

[Bizarro252]

When I tried them it was a bit different so hopefully it works better for you with fresh tap water. I was trying to reduce nitrate in a 300g system from ~20 to 0 with 4 500ml bags just to see if they would work. I put the bags in the sump that has plenty of flow, left them a couple of days and didn't see any change in nitrate.

That is my GTR, zoom zoom - haha.

Ah OK, I have yet to try it in a tank (However I think I am going to toss the NitraZorb in my Mbuna tank once I get the new stuff, I always struggle with Nitrate in that dang tank...) with fresh water it works pretty dang fast - I need to see if I can find any evidence regarding chlorine, I read it can damage the resin... I can just add prime to the barrel when I fill it but that makes the hoses and stuff slimey after a few days...I kinda like the chlorine in there overnight since it seems to keep growth of scum down...

Super jealous, that is my dream car - had a 400WHP STi for a few years, just recently sold it, got me in to much trouble and was getting annoyed with that and all the money it cost me (spun a hearing on it and rebuilt the whole thing myself, took forever)....

[Bizarro252]

Day 3 with the new resin, thats 90 gal of zero ppm Nitrate water with no recharge yet, each time I checked at three hours and it was free of Nitrate, so not sure just how fast its doing it - but FAST! I will need to do an experiment first but it might be fast enough that I can run it through directly into the tank - which would be awesome!