Thank you for doing this experiment to see the nitrate reduction that “anoxic filtration” claims. I see you will be doing this experiment with ammonia as your source of nitrogen input vs fish and food. Makes sense. You could also do this experiment After your aquarium is fully cycled, and add something simple like one goldfish. You would then test nitrate levels right before your water changes and right after, then after 7 days test nitrates again right before your next water change. This will give you a base nitrate accumulation provided you are feeding the exact same amount every day and not changing the bioload (adding fish). Then start the anoxic filtration to see what happens with the rate of nitrate accumulation. If there is denitrification occurring, you’ll see a drop in your weekly accumulation of nitrate. But your proposed method should work too. One note of caution- give this more than a few months of time. You’ll see a possible drop in nitrates with an initial burst in bacterial growth- not just nitrifying bacteria will be thriving in that tank. Nitrogen is used in making new cells for proteins and RNA, etc. There will be other micro organisms in your tank most likely as well. So give it time to establish an equilibrium before measuring nitrate reduction. Also so glad you won’t have plants! I found it hysterical when Novak was claiming zero nitrates due to anoxic filtration in a tank loaded with plants. Zero science behind his statement if plants are involved. So I did this same experiment with his “biocinosis clarification baskets” (BCBs) or aka kitty litter baskets. I have sumps on all my tanks and it was easy to swap traditional media with the kitty litter baskets. I downloaded Novak’s book, watched all his videos, I followed his directions to the T. I gave it 11 months. I found zero reduction in nitrate accumulation. There was no difference then when I had any other type of traditional bio filtration set up. The baskets work just fine in housing nitrifying bacteria, but no measurable denitrification was occurring. When I reported my findings to Novak, he said I must have done something wrong and deleted my comments from his channel. Thanks for doing an honest experiment and sharing your results.

Running an anoxic system in my 30 Gallon Tall. Used Fluride red as the base layer and very small gravel on top. Approximately 4 inches deep. Slow moving Plenum with filter under gravel plates covered with garden fabric to prevent Detritus form setting into the Plenum. I was able to load the whole plenum with small ceramic rings for increased surface area for bacteria to colonize. This tank was running before for 2 years and I could not control algae even with lots of plants in the tank and out with roots in. Now 6 months after the tear down and reset up almost zero algae growth, plants are out of control growth with just a cheap Hygger LED and no CO2. Very Happy with the results and I think you are going to be surprised as well. Thanks for a great video and look forward to updates!

Also the first few times I attempted these I got sulfur bubbles so be on the lookout for those.

Interested in a well-done, up-to-date video on this style system. Appreciate it! 😊

I have always been sceptical of this type of system even though it has been around for decades. I always felt that the results were questionable due to the sheer number of variables in the set ups I have seen. I am very glad to see you eliminating the vast majority of said variables and logging your results weekly. Thanks!

Have created a similar system. We are blessed to have laterite clays in Western Oregon. No “charging” done, but used 1/2” of red laterite clay to provide iron and minerals, under 2.5” of medium-grained basalt scoria (2-4mm porous lava bits) and then capped with 1.5-2” medium-grained sand (2-4 mm) Jumped straight to plants…so can’t know for sure whether nitrate elimination would have happened without them. And also was able to safely stock 38 fish over the course of two weeks in a 29T. Have yet to see the nitrates go over 25…riding the line nicely for a couple months now. Fish feeding plants and plants/substrate keeping water parameters optimal. Couple of squirts of Easy Green occasionally for potassium/phosphorus/calcium for the floaters, but other than that just root tabs. All systems go.

look forward to see the progress, id also love to here any potenial pitfalls the could arise through this process

I have three tanks set up with his system for the last four months. I can tell you it is a Diatom factory . If I could sell Brown Algae I would be rich . The tanks are clear , KH is very high and it grows brown algae , a lot of algae. Water change 20% week and clean clean clean the algae. I am hope full this will go away soon.

Can’t wait to see more. If I ever start another tank , this is the method I’m going to use .

I used Matrix De*Nitrate and the original eheim regular substrat (not the pro) under the UGF. The both fit pretty well. Put a garden liner on top. Then a gravel layer, a bright well laterite mixed with safe t sorb layer, then a control soil- fluval bio stratum layer. Was going to cap with black diamond blasting sand, but decided to have the bio stratum be the top this time. Has been working well for almost a year. Minimal algae growth. Plants doing well. 90 gallon over stocked here.

I recently did a similar setup in a 54 gallon. I am however also using chemi-pure elite in a canister filter. I have no measurable nitrates or phosphates, and zero algae. In fact the black beard algae already on the plants and wood I put into the tank quickly disappeared. Only down side was a month long bacterial bloom the smelled a bit like laterite. But my water is crystal clear now and my fish are more colorful and active than ever before.

I live in Louisiana and we have lots of red clay around so I used that for iron in my substrate.

I've been running undergravel filter system for a long time. when you're running one of these, you really don't have to wash your substrate. undergravel system will clear the water. then clip the tube

Thanks!

NICE!

Interesting!👍🏻

Looking forward to seeing the results!

Definitely interested in this will be following along

Very good

Love this - looking forward to following along to see how this goes over the next months. I have not done an anoxic setup yet.

bro I have 2 tanks on anoxic plenums and I havent done a single thing besides top offs. the pull of the water helps the roots. all of them are white and to the bottom. the fish food usually has potash in it. calcium and magnesium I get from shrimp additives to my water. Im telling you this style worked for me. anoxic filtration changed the game on my tanks. I have about 25 green neons, 18 guppies, 6 Amanos, countless cherry shrimp all in a 30 gallon. no issues. I call it my death tank experiment. theory would have you believe all the fish and shrimp would be dead by now. also have like 20 assassin snails somewhere in the tank

I use carbon filter pads as my 'underneath' media especially around the rim if I'm using sand

I used Saf-t-zorb as the substrate in a 300gal backyard Rubbermaid tote, that was like 3yrs ago and the water still stays cloudy. Probably dosent help that there are a couple hundred marmokreb crayfish constantly disturbing it. One of these days I will replace it with sand.

Some of the salt water bacteria kits have anoxic bacteria in them. See king of diy overhead sump.

Had a thought, crushed cuttlebone would add calcium, magnesium and potassium to the substrate, and possibky be cheaper. I will try it in my next tank. Welcome thoughts.

So... Are you going to break down cost of all this stuff🤣 when you start breaking out brightwell products and amendments it makes the "just use kitty litter or safe t zorb as a substrate because it's more economical than flourite or aqua soil" peeps seem a wee bit cuckoo 😜... But in all seriousness, I've always been interested in the kitty litter or safe t zorb deep substrate planted tanks. Though this won't have plants, I'm looking forward to learning a bunch today!! 🙏💙✌️

Great information, Thanks! What is your favorite source for Brightwell products?

Thanks for the vid! What stands are you using int he background for your tanks?

Hi..would you add anything to eco complete on setup? I plan to cap with bdbs. That's basically it for my 110 plan. A couple bags of stratum too. About to create my 110 planted rainbow tank!😊

Is laterin the same as laterite I have all the parts underwater filter and kitty litter but i bought a laterine brightwell product by mistake and was wondering what the diffrances are between the two products and if it would matter if I just use laterine?

Hi, QUESTION Wath is the name of those white litter ball in the bag????

I am currently using and getting ready to setup a new tank with an almost identical system to what you described here. I can't wait to see if what I have been doing is worth the extra work. Great job! I will be looking forward to what you find. My experience with my current 75g that uses this system, which is heavily planted , has CO2, and around 25 fish , the nitrates never get above 40ppm even after a month or more of doing nothing. I don't know if the plants and CO2 contribute to the low nitrates, but the tank looks amazing after 3 years. My one question about these type of setups is how much iron do you need to use to maintain the anoxic environment after an extended period of time? It took me 2 years before I started seeing nitrates above 20ppm. Good luck!

The whole slow moving plenum thing doesn't work either you need uplift tubes with good flow to get water moving thru the substrate. Having a tiny little bubble go up the tubes does nothing 😆 😂

I like how the tank is going, but I have a question why didn't you choose a larger undergravel filter for your tank? in Dr. Novak's videos, I see he covers more than 70% of the tank's bottom with plates, I am not sure if you are going to have similar results just using plates in that area, hopefully, you will, I've been running a plenum on my tank since 2022 and I am completely pleased nitrates are lower in my tank than in my tap water, my UGF plates cover about 95% of my tanks bottom though.

Why would anyone choose this over an oversized canister filter? Seems like way more mucking around for less gain to me. 😎👊👍🇦🇺

where do you get the florin laterite ball? I tried searching and can't find any in the US.

Is there a way to slow down the flow rather than cutting it like kevin novak did

Also sent you 5 bucks to help with expenses for this experiment

Are you going to turn the lights off to prevent algae growth? Algae can also consume nitrogen and throw off your denitrification testing.

I’m confused as to why you’re altering your Gh and Kh. You’ll be raising your Ph. If you’re not going to have plants, why is this important for anoxic filtration? After you get your desired pH/ Gh/ Kh, and after your experiment, With each subsequent water change, you’ll drop the pH right?

it would be cool if you did a side by side of charged vs uncharged. Dr Novak has said that charging the substrate is unnecessary. thanks for the videos and experiment Bentley!

interesting ! Have dabble with anoxic for some years, stopped testing my tanks 40 years ago so just my observations:Dont use sand in substrate,ok in FF systems not here.For BCB strong fiow posetive.

I've been following Dr Novak for two years now. Six tanks running anoxic setup. It does tank a good few months for the system to start developing the denitrifying bacteria. All my tanks generally run about 10-20 ppm nitrates before water changes. This is awesome! I still change water for a variety of other reasons, but NOT to reduce nitrates - big win in my opinion. And the undergravel system just keeps my tanks clear as a bell. To late now, but I would've suggested using a Lee's premium undergravel. Penn plax is cheap, weak, and I hate the connection points for uplift tubes. Although Lee's is substantially more expensive. Also, you could've removed the matrix media from the bag to fit under the plates, but really isn't a worry either way. Glad to see you are going to cut down the uplift tubes and slow air flow after the tank settles. I love this method and hoping your results mirror mine. Good luck my friend although I really don't believe you'll need any.

All thats going to do is be a diatom factory 😮, i actually set up a 75 and a 40 with SafeTSorb and the 1 inch UG filter plates and it couldn't grow plants the whole time I ran it. Any plants would be covered in brown algea in days and that continued from April of 2023 to feb 2024 when i got rid of it for red flint gravel and the diatoms went away in 3 days even on stuff that was in the tank prio to substrate change. The whole anoxic thing is a scam 😂