DIY denitrator 'd ever worked? for any one?

[tamarindthai]

i removed it out from my system 2 years ago,,really don't know what i'm dealing with,,water change every week and a few clams seem to help,,keep no3 low to exceptable level,,not even test for no3 anymore,,everythings seem to be ok .

 

[charlyclown]

It depends what you mean by close to 0. I would like to have one in place when I'm on vacation, just to make sure. If your nitrates are close to 0 already, they are not likely to go down much anyways. If your nitrates go down to 0 - 0.25 in your water the amounts of denitrifying bacteria will decrease in your denitrator eventually, making it less efficient and probably useless.

 

[clayswim]

I agree with charlyclown; if your nitrates are already close to zero you won't likely see any change. In my own experience with them they're really only useful for cutting the nitrates, not eliminating them. It also depends on your biological filter too. Trickle filters tend to overwhelm them rather quickly for example.

Clayton