carbon source for denitrator?

i made a denitrator, been running for over 5 maybe 6 months. 1 drop per second. i have not seen any difference in nitrates, still blood red on test kit.
after researching denitrators, i found that they need to be fed a carbon source like vodka or sugar-water once in a while. i have never injected anything in the denitrator. do you think that is why it is not working?
while researching, i came across the sulfur denitrator. it says the sulfur feeds the bacteria so they can convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas. since the sulfur feeds them, you don't have to (so called maintenance free.)
one of those units go for around 350 bucks, so i would rather keep the one i have, if i can get it to work.
does anybody know where i can get some info about feeding a carbon source? i've seen articles about dosing the whole tank but i want to know about injecting carbon source directly into the denitrator.
thanks in advance (lol !!! i couldn't resist it!)

 

There are many different designs for denitrators. As you mentioned, a sulfur denitrator is one, but there are also coil denitrators and carbon-source "fed" denitrators. It really depends on the type of denitrator that you have... That being said, it sounds like there may be an issue with your setup and/or husbandry to have such high nitrates. Have you checked only the output of your denitrator? This would determine whether or not the denitrator was working at all.

 

Coiled denitrators need no feeding that I know of. They use the anaerobic counterparts of the aerobic nitrobacter and nitrosomonas bacteria that reside in your live rock.

I've never run one, so I'm not familiar with their effectiveness or lack thereof.

If yours isn't working, perhaps it's time to investigate why your nitrates are blood-red. You could perform water changes during the interim period while you find out the culprit, but until you do, you'd be fighting an uphill battle.

Good luck.

 

i have a coiled denitrator. a little over 80 feet of 1/4 inch tubing. i just feel like it needs a shot of carbon to overcome that much tubing. i want to know how much to inject without over dosing and killing the whole thing.
yes, i tested the output. it's the same as the rest of the tank water.
anybody have experience in dosing vodka?

 

i think i found what i was looking for. what do yaw think about the amounts of vodka? i think i will try the small amount then go from there. i don't think i will do more than 8 ml because my tank is 29 gallons, about 50 total. if all goes good, i will let everybody know.

aquaripure.com/EZfeed.htm

 

As asked earlier, do you have test results from the effluent of the CDN as well as the tank to see what the delta is? I'd run some additional tests and look at the other parts of your setup before I would begin adding vodka or sugar to the tank...

If in the end you feel the need to add such, do some careful research.... as with any treatment, there are risks you take to obtain some benefit...