Aquaripure De-Nitrifier

Question
Hi Jennifer, and welcome back.  It must be strange to have total strangers waiting for your return from vacation.  While you were gone, I happened to look at your profile, and you look EXACTLY like my sister (10-20 years ago).  I was shocked when I saw your photo!!

But I digress - I read one of your answers to another person, and you advised the Aquaripure De-Nitrifier to take care of a long-standing nitrate problem.  I'd been searching for a solution to my own nitrate problem, since I'd been registering 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrite, 8.3/8.4 pH, and very low Phosphates, but always around 20 ppm Nitrate. I'm aiming toward good enough water quality for some coral, anemones, live rock, etc.  Well, I installed it and set it for the about 6 drips per second rate.  Of course, no differences early on, but I started getting an increase in both ammonia and nitrites, not to mention nitrates above 20 ppm.

In the manual for the denitrifier, I saw that they recommend lowering your biological filtration.  I have an Eheim 2299 (?) wet/dry canister filter, and removed the "bio-balls" from one tray and substituted with filter floss.  No help.  The past few days, I've gotten a reduction in nitrates to around 10 ppm, but still have some spikes in ammonia and a little spike in nitrites.  The fish are acting healthy, all are eating like maniacs.

Finally, the question:  Would you recommend that I put back some of the bio-balls and replace them more gradually, to allow the bacteria in the denitrifier to establish themselves, or get rid of them all now, or something different?  I also am getting a recurring red-slime algae problem, but expect that to go away when my water finally gets tuned up.

Answer
Hi Jim. Sorry about the wait. Sometimes I just need a break you know? Anyway I have not had any of these problems with my denitrator as far as the ammonia and nitrite goes. I check these levels weekly and have never noticed a spike. I did not remove any of my biological filtration as suggested however and simply left my tank as it was with the addition of the denitrator. I now have zero nitrates at all times. I still test every week however it usually turns out to be a waste of time because everything is always at zero. I would say that your ammonia and nitrite spiked due to you reducing the amount of biological filtration in your tank. The denitrator will not help with ammonia or nitrite due to the fact that the box has a very low to almost zero oxygen level and is the perfect spot for the anaerobic bacteria(bacteria that thrive in areas of low oxygen) to thrive. However the bacteria that converts ammonia and nitrite need an area high in oxygen and therefore can not live in the denitrator. If you were not having problems with ammonia or nitrite before you removed some of your bio balls then I would say for you to put them back in and leave them there. You need to have good biological filtration all around. The denitrator is more of an addition of biological filtration than a substitution. The red slime algae is growing because you are having problems with your ammonia and nitrite. And your right once you fix that it will clear up on its own. So my final answer is to put back all your biological filtration as it was and get the good aerobic(oxygen loving) bacteria that is needed for the ammonia and nitrite conversion to nitrate, back to the established colonies that you once had and leave it that way. The denitrator will not help with the ammonia and nitrite because it is an area of very low oxygen. I will tell you this; I love my denitrator and it works better than I had expected. It took about two months to really reduce my nitrate to zero but it has kept it there for over a year. You may have to play with the frequency of dosing and the amount to get it working as efficiently as it needs to for your tank. I have the medium one and the directions suggest dosing the denitrator with 8mL of vodka once a week but I have found that for my tank I need to dose with 7mL every four days. This is what worked for my tank. I hope you are using vodka to dose and not sugar water. Although sugar water will help feed the bacteria vodka does a much better job. Then once your denitrator is taking care of your nitrates completely for you, you can fill up a shot glass and toast your denitrator with a drink! :)