Ok, bare with me here.....LOL.....this should be kinda of long......
I'm confident that the Seachem DeNitrate WILL function splendidly within those parameters. Seachem's staff isn't prone to fad marketing. Their product line is based on Solid Science and our mutual success.
I agree Completely. I have become a Big Fan of Seachem and their products.
This is what I am dealing with and what the overall setup is for,...The smear of Duckweed is from Drip-Acclimating some Food (Comet Goldfish--which ate the Duckweed--Yay!):
Its an Acrochordus javanicus which is a fully aquatic snake. They are Extremely Sensitive. Zoos cannot manage any Long-term success (over 6 months) and only a Handful of people (literally!) on this planet can keep them alive "Long-term". I do not yet know if I am one of those people, but, if not--I am close. I have over 30 yrs herping experience and about 2yrs of working with Acrochordus species. They are animals that are Extremely Sensitive to "Stress" which includes Light, Temps, Water Quality, Vibrations, and the list goes on.
This setup is as follows:
40g Breeder-36x18x13"H
~100gph Overflow to
~30g Plant Filter full of Hygro Polysperma
which overflows to
~40g Filtration Sump/Return(back to the 40g Breeder)
The 40g Br is filtered Directly with an xP2 which is full of sponges, filter floss and micro pads.
The ~40g Sump is currently just housing 18w UV, heaters and the Return pump--which is prefiltered by ~1g container full of floss and 2 micro-pads.
the Return Pump plumbing has a "manifold" like this:
One ball-valve will feed the UV. -110gph to kill parasites et al.
The other ball-valve will feed the Denitrate System--30-40gph.
The large valve is to balance the Return-flow.
As always the key was moderation utilizing BOTH Ammonification, AND Anoxic Denitrification. Instead of myopically focusing, and Amplifying one individual process !
Ok, so this is why I posted all of the above. With all of the sponges, floss, subtrate, etc: Is it safe to assume that I can avoid:
If the metering or the food source were allowed to fluctuate by even the most minute tolerances they either went into dormancy, or bloomed exponentially releasing toxins or pathogenic bacteria. This type of articulation may be fine for industry where a clinical staff can administer their maintenance, but were all but impossible for the average hobbiest to maintain, and very often disaster was only a drop or two away !
???
The Denitrate System is simply a SUB-system of the entire setup--Its just there to help maintain water quality. And will only run at 30-40pgh. I can increase the flow slighty--if it works too well. Water will by-pass the Denitrator via the Return, since Denitrator flow is only 30-40pgh.
The reason for this Original post was becuase of confusion over a response from Seachem to another poster there:
There are two types of denitrification that can occur: ammonification and anoxic denitrification. Ammonification results when there is no oxygen and anoxic denitrification results when there is low levels of oxygen. Both result in the conversion of nitrate to nitrite and then eventually into nitrogen gas which can gas off. Ammonification can create ammonia as the final product.
Their statement above says that nitrite and/or ammonia will be produced BEFORE it is converted to nitrogen gas. Tom says otherwise--from the way I understood it. I'm not picking sides here: because I am confused. What confuses me more and leans me toward what Tom says is Seachem's response to my question of whether I should see an ammonia and/or nitrite spike when I hook up the system:
you will have no ammonia spike when setting up,
I realize now that they didn't answer specifically about the nitrites.
So, the result is: I'm confused......LOL
I understand, I think, what has been said here, so far, but I now have 2 questions:
1) IS there a step in the Denitrafication process that creates Nitrites and/or Ammonia from Nitrates before it is turned into Nitrogen gas?
2) What, from Your Experience/Knowledge, should I be able to expect from the Denitrate system used as described above as a sub-system?
Here are the specs for the Denitrator:
It contains ~3.5L of De*Nitrate. Flow: 30-40gph (Current calculation: 80oz in 60secs=37.5gph). Water well Pre-filtered.
Just trying to get a grip on this stuff.....LOL
TIA