And, much the same as you I have let the impulsive part of my brain take over and decided to purchase a Nitrate Reductor. Now you probably know their are many different brands available as well as a whole host of home made contraptions but, in the interest of saving time and possible heartache i.e. from failed attempts and fiddling around I went and purchased a ready made - good quality - small nitrate reductor for my 300L reef tank.
Those of you who don't know what a nitrate reductor is will be happy to know that it is a unit designed to help reduce the harmful by-product nitrate. It is caused by a bacterial cycle which occurs in the aquarium and breaks down ammonium to nitrite to nitrate which either dissolves into a gas (leaving the tank) or builds up in your aquarium and becomes toxic to your fish and other aquatic animals. This cycle is natural/healthy and, is caused by different bacteria using different fuels for growth, i.e. phosphate, nitrate, nitrite and ammonium... not in that order .... Also, different groups of bacteria detoxify different toxins produced by the Nitrate cycle and, over time these colonies of bacteria develop and grow to large numbers allowing for better water conditions in your aquarium.
However the load of natural bacteria your aquarium filter contains isn't enough to cope with the amount of waste build up your fish or water changes produces..... therefore, nifty gadgets like a nitrate reductor come in handy.
The product I purchased was the Aqua Medic Nitrate Reductor 400 suited for freshwater and saltwater aquariums up to 400L. Now this is a german made product and most Australian fish people regard Aqua Medic products as Top Notch ... I mean have you seen some of those German Reef Tanks!
So going with the general concensus and, deciding to stick with what the experts recommend I bought myself an Aqua Medic unit.
Pretty simple looking unit and, quite easy to set-up but, as everything else you need to either adapt it to one of your current pumps i.e. in terms of water flow or use a seperate one.... I opted for the using the 2000L p/h pump I have going to my chiller.
The unit itself comes with two different coloured Bio-balls in the main filter unit white and black and, one of these (I think the white ones) actually dissolves slowly and feeds the anaerobic bacteria which detoxyify the nitrates from the water. There is space to add a Redox probe and two connectors i.e. one for inlet hose and one for the return plus a cap which can be unscrewed to feed the anaerobic bacteria during the start up process.
The fiddly bit is trying to get the flow rate just right since the inlet and oulet hoses are soooo small in diameter that if you turn the inlet hose too far and cut off the water flow it stuffs up the overall return flow and it takes while to rectify... a little frustrating... but once you get this sorted it needs no more work. The actual unit itself is quite sturdy in construction and the plastic material they use doesn't seem to fragile i.e. the clips on the side. It takes a bit of fiddling to redirect the flow from the main pump or whatever pump you decide to use into the reductor becuase obviously we all use different hose fittings in our aquariums therefore, need to adapt the t-piece provided to suit your set-up.
So the good things:
- sturdy and good quality make
- easy to understand connections
- simple operation
- looks asthetically pleasing (not that that is a must in most aquariums)
- overall good quality product
The not so good things
- Not a very good set-up guide i.e. no diagrams provided in the information booklet and, there isn't a huge amount of information on the internet but, the website does provide slightly more information than the pack insert...
- fiddly set-up but, I believe this a more a inherent flaw in a nitrate reductors than any particular model or brand
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