Seachem De❊Nitrate is a biological filter media that is mainly designed to reduce nitrates in your fish tank. So, how long can this product last?
You can find out in this guide from Aquarium Blueprints.
Quick Summary
Seachem De Nitrate will not breakdown, be exhausted, expire or need to be replaced in your fish tank.
However, you need to occasionally rinse the filter media in order to prevent its pores from clogging. Otherwise, the blockage will end up killing the beneficial bacteria living inside, causing the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels to elevate.
As long as you rinse the product during water changes, Seachem De Nitrate should last you a lifetime.
What is Seachem De Nitrate?
Seachem De Nitrate is a special filter media that is highly porous. Due to its structure, there are chambers within each of these stones that contain very little or zero oxygen.
For the beneficial bacteria that consume nitrates to grow in your tank, you will need to create surface area with depleted oxygen. De Nitrate should make growing these colonies quite easy in your aquarium.
De Nitrate should also provide surface area for the ammonia-consuming and nitrite-consuming bacteria colonies to grow on as well.
It is important to note that this product actually does not come with any beneficial bacteria. Instead, these organisms should appear naturally in your tank. For De Nitrate to be effective, you will need to grow and maintain these colonies on the filter media.
How long will Seachem De Nitrate last?
With proper care, Seachem De Nitrate won’t ever breakdown exhaust, expire or need to be replaced. In other words, it can last indefinitely.
To take care of the De Nitrate, you first need to make sure to establish enough beneficial bacteria colonies on the filter media. This process can take a long time.
If you have a new tank, for example, it can take up to 8 weeks to grow the beneficial bacteria colonies that will consume ammonia and nitrites. The colonies capable of consuming nitrates will take even longer.
If you already have an established, fully cycled tank, then the process of growing beneficial bacteria on De Nitrate should be a lot faster.
How to maintain the effectiveness of Seachem De Nitrate
Without proper maintenance, Seachem De Nitrate will lose its effectiveness. This is because the mulm, debris and detritus will cover up the microscopic pores of these filter media over time. The blockage will starve the beneficial bacteria living inside to death if not remove in a timely manner.
Therefore, we recommend that you regularly rinse Seachem De Nitrate, preferably during a water change. In order to do so, we suggest that you take the following steps:
1. To begin, remove De Nitrate from your filter or your tank.
2. We recommend placing the filter media in a water bucket or container.
3. Next, you should remove the tank water and then place it in the same bucket or container as the De Nitrate.
You can also use distilled water or tap water. For tap water, make sure you add a dechlorinator, like the Seachem Prime, as the chlorine and chloramine are harmful to the beneficial bacteria living on the De Nitrate.
4. You should then stir the filter media around in the bucket or container to knock off any mulm, debris and/or detritus from the De Nitrate stones.
5. If the stones are still dirty, then you can remove the directly water from the bucket or container and then add in more water. Afterwards, re-stir the filter media again.
You can repeat this process over and over again to get rid of the mulm, debris and/or detritus that may be blocking the pores.
6. After unclogging the pores, you can put the filter media back into filter or your fish tank.
After giving it a rinsing, the Seachem De Nitrate should work optimally when it comes to providing biological filtration to reduce ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.