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Old 01-03-2005, 02:42 PM   #2
archie2000
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Pictures and links

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/sh...2&page=1&pp=10

http://www.arofanatics.com/forums/s...ight=denitrator

Frequently Ask Questions

Q1. Saw your denitrator. Really impressed by it. BTW how does water flow thru the whole system? From what I could gather, the powerhead pumps water into the long coil of hoses & ends up at the bottom of the denitrator. Water then exits & flows upwards thru the bioballs & comes out thru the outlet valve. Is that about right? What do you use to pump water thru the system?

I was hoping to build one. Would you mind, if it's convenient for me to pay you a visit to see your denitrator? Thanks for your time. Cheers.

A1. Thanks for your compliment. You are right on how does the water flow through my whole system... with the help of a powerhead. I've a powerhead in the main tank for water movement. At the same time I've detached the air hose inlet of the powerhead for a hole to insert my de-nitrator water inlet tube. In this case I only use a single powerhead for 2 different purposes.

You are most welcome to visit. However its all sealed up and there is really nothing to see. You've already got the whole idea correct and maybe I can help to elaborate more on the forum to benefits more bros. Please do let me know if you've more clarifications. I'll try my best to answer. Thanks.

Q2. Thanks for the explanation. The PVC tube has 2 end caps. 1 end cap at the bottom is sealed with no outlet. The other on top has to outlets. 1 outlet is the inflow from the tank & I presume the coiled hose inside the pipe is connected to it. The other is the outflow from the pipe. Now how does the water flow out? There is no hose attached the the bottom of the outflow valve right? Does water flow out just from the pressure built up inside the pipe?

Do you by any chance have pics of the assembly of the denitrator? Thanks again.

A2. You hit the right note again. The water flow out from the built up pressure inside the pipe.

Sorry that I did not take enough pictures during the building process to provide sufficient aid. Hope the link to one of our AF bro here will help
http://www.arofanatics.com/members/...ileddenitrator/

Also I've added a diagram and some write-up in the forum. Hope that will help too.

A summary and some assurance here....
1. coil the tubing in the pvc pipe
2. one end expose at the inner bottom, the other end at the innner top
3. use a tank partition sunction cup to position the bottom tubing opening at the centre of the bottom end cap
4. cover and glue up the bottom end cap with pvc glue
5. fill up pvc pipe with as many bioballs
6. fill up pvc pipe with tank water almost to the rim
7. fix the upper tubing to the valve at the bottom of the top end cap
8. cover the top end cap and glue
9. run the powerhead with the tubing connected to the inlet valve of the top end cap
10. water in the pvc pipe will raise n pressure built up
11. water will be streaming out from the outlet valve from the top end cap
12. a tubing connected with a control valve should be connected at the other end of the outlet tubing to control the flow rate

That's it! You'll be amazed how easy it is. Having built your de-nitrator, then we'll take about the flowrate, feeding food into the de-nitrator, etc.. Can check back to the link to my diy de-nitrator thread discussion. Let me know anywhere you are still not sure of. I think you are already there and all set to start building it.

"Water change is a history" .... wah so nice .

Q3. Where did you get the valve connector from? Do you need to drill into the end cap to attach the valve connector? What do you use to attach the connector to the end caps? Thanks again.

A3. The L-shape tubing connector can get from any lfs. I got mine from aquastar y934. Yes I drilled 2 small holes through the top end cap to insert the connectors. It is much neater and also prevent cracking of the end cap.

Another important part to success. The glue used to seal up the end caps as well the connectors to the top end cap. Its a pvc glue. Very powerful and quick dry in few minutes. It comes in a small round steel container. Its cap is attached with a brush to apply the glue. It has only Japanese wordings on it. I got it from the hardware shop which I bought the pvc pipe and end caps. Just tell them that you want the glue to seal the end cap and pvc pipe they will know what is it.

Hope its clearer this time. Please let me know if you have any further clarification.

Q4. Sorry. I got a few more questions.

1. The inlet connector has to have two tapered ends, so that the air tubes can be connected to both ends, right? Where do you get such a connect?

2. How in the world did you manage to coil the tube on the inside of the PVC pipe so neatly? Care to share the trick to it?

3. The hose to the inlet goes into the air intake of the powerhead. What does that do? Does it pump water out or suck water in? I always thot the air tube on the power head suck as air in to be pumped out by the powerhead.

Thanks again for your time & patience.

A4. Not at all. I'm sure everyday you handle much more aro illness questions then we are now.

1. Actually not necessary to have a special L-shape tapered tubing connector. the idea here is to use a solid connector so that it could be held strongly in the end cap hole. As I mentioned I got everything from aquastar Yishun blk 934 lfs. Except the pvc pipes and end caps I got them from hardware shop.

2. Very good question here. Guess having clarify all these will save you a lot of time and frustration when building it. The idea here is for the water to pass thru the long tubing and surface from the bottom of de-nitrator through the bioballs to the top and flow back to the tank. It does not matter whether to coil it neatly and nicely by the inner side of the pvc pipe. Having said that, I just bundled the tubing neatly around my hand (make sure no severe bending angle) and slowly put into the pvc pipe. You also noticed that I use a almost 3 ft tall pipe. Now you know my reason. Can you imagine in the pvc pipe, the bottom squeeze all the tubing and the top half occupied by all the bioballs.

3. Aha. Thats normally how the powerhead air hose works. Now over here there is a slight modification to the powerhead air inlet. Some powerhead allows you to remove the air inlet connector. Having done that. I squeeze the de-nitrator tubing inlet through the powerhead air inlet hole, all the way into the powerhead towards the motor direction. In this case, water is forced out at the powerhead outlet and at the same time will forced through the tubing into your de-nitrator. Wonderful and amazing isn't it.

Once again please don't mention. Its really nothing compare to your effort in the forum.

Q5. Any particular brand of powerhead that allows you to make such a modification? Thanks again. You been a great help. Cheers.

A5. You hit the right question again. I'm using Resun SP-2500. The air inlet connector can be removed by hand. Please check again before purchase. If you have an existing powerhead and the air inlet connector is fixed. You can just break it and slowly use a power drill to drill a small hole, barely enough to squeeze the tubing in will do.

Almost there now. Good luck bro.

Q6. I've built it, but realised that I can't get the powerhead to pump water thru the pipe. What I've done is to reverse the flow of water. By connecting the outlet directly to the air hose portion, it sucks water out of the pipe which in turn would suck water out of the tank thru a hose connected to the inlet. I find it makes more efficient use of the power of the powerhead this way.

I just have to seal it up & test it. What is this about feeding the bacteria with suger solution? How long before it starts to work? What is the flow rate thru the denitrator? Thanks again.

A6. Sorry for the late reply. Well done! I've built it. De-nitrator needs to be tuned to a flow rate of 1 drop of water per seconds. Too fast will not deplete the oxygen in the water flowing thru it. If you do it the reverse way, you may need to think of a way on how to make the flow rate at 1 drip per sec.

You need to feed a very small pinch of fine sugar into the de-nitrator. This is to kick start the colonization of the anearabic bacteria. Totally shut off the water flow into the de-nitrator for 1 week. After that starts at a flow rate of 1 drip per sec. Initially the first few hours you'll sense a pangent smell. Thats nitrogen sulphide and its normal. After the smell shall be gone and you can start measuring the water from the de-nitrator output. After about a month time, you'll find zero nitrate from the output of your diy-ed de-nitrator.

Q7. Hi...! I've seen yr wk in the forum. V nice piece. Would u mind teaching me how to construct..? I've some doubts after reading the materials. http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/pr...ycoildenitr.htm


M i rite to say i end of the tubbing paste to the end cap at the bottom and the other end connect at the top connected to tube connector..? Water will flow from the top tube connector is it..? wat to do wif the other tube connector and valve..? las k use other media to replace the bio balls..?

A7. thks for your compliement. yes u r rite about the tubing. water is pump in fro the top tube connector all the way to the bottom. the other outlet tube connector n valve will control the flow rate. of course u can use other media. bioball is just a media with large surface area.
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