Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

[ravi197699]

Ok came back from business trip and tested my nitrates in my display tank and they are at 5ppm, when I left for business trip 2 weeks before and I tested water before I left and my nitrates were at 15 ppm, So it is moving to the direction and It has been week and I will test the water again this weekend and see if it is going down even more, My goal is not keep nitrates at 1-2ppm, basesd on the readings in the tank I will adjust the effluent coming out of the reactor. But I am happy with results so far..

 

[djbon]

Shawn, that is exactly how the thing works. I made quite a numbers of my destroyer and amazingly all works fine. You can scale up the design by using bigger diameter pipe without affecting the overall length.

Juniorrocket, my design is 100% will work if all conditions are met. Flow, oxigen depletion, correct bacteria and possibly the absent of lights are the main criteria for success. Please share your experience. Good luck

 

[djbon]

Ok came back from business trip and tested my nitrates in my display tank and they are at 5ppm, when I left for business trip 2 weeks before and I tested water before I left and my nitrates were at 15 ppm, So it is moving to the direction and It has been week and I will test the water again this weekend and see if it is going down even more, My goal is not keep nitrates at 1-2ppm, basesd on the readings in the tank I will adjust the effluent coming out of the reactor. But I am happy with results so far..

Congratultions ravi. You can either adjust the flow a bit higher or reduce the carbon to maintain no3 at desired level. You can dose bacteria once in while into main tank. I think bacteria loves to hang out in the chambers instead, leaving live rock a bit dusty. It might be true for me, as i was battling with algae due to po4 in my top off water. Now all algae has gone, my rock looks a bit dusty. Dosing gen.m to clear up the dust once a week now.

 

[ravi197699]

Congratultions ravi. You can either adjust the flow a bit higher or reduce the carbon to maintain no3 at desired level. You can dose bacteria once in while into main tank. I think bacteria loves to hang out in the chambers instead, leaving live rock a bit dusty. It might be true for me, as i was battling with algae due to po4 in my top off water. Now all algae has gone, my rock looks a bit dusty. Dosing gen.m to clear up the dust once a week now.

This is awesome, i will post results when i test water again this weekend, I will be seeind vinegar weekly basis but a little, may be 2-3 ml week just to keep bacteria populaiton going, but I think it is the media that I have used that will hold pleny because of pores in the media..

 

[djbon]

Great Ravi. Do update us your result.

 

[ravi197699]

Great Ravi. Do update us your result.

you bet,

 

[juniorrocketdad]

Alright so here is what I'm thinking, what if I did a 6 tower design made up of two inch pvc where each tower would be 18 inches tall bringing the total volume to about 1.5 gallons

I would have each tower have it own media in this order:
Bio balls
Siporax
Crushed coral
Seachem denitrate
Xport bio cubes
Seachem matrix

Let me know what you think and how many fog I would need, total tank volume is about 90 gallons

 

[djbon]

If you can go higher, make the chamber highest possible. Do take note that my design uses gravity for water flow, so inlet must be slightly higher than outlet. Four of your chambers must be way below the outlet level for proper flow. Getting media in the chambers will be much problematic and your footprint will be much wider.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

If you can go higher, make the chamber highest possible. Do take note that my design uses gravity for water flow, so inlet must be slightly higher than outlet. Four of your chambers must be way below the outlet level for proper flow. Getting media in the chambers will be much problematic and your footprint will be much wider.

I have no height limit I just assumed I wouldn't want it to big or it will strip all the nutrients out, I figured I would just dump the media in and than put the pvc cap on to he them all in the chambers? Since there was only one media in each chamber it would be easy to just dump it in. Maybe I should go with 4 chambers that are 30" high?

 

[djbon]

30" x 4 chambers is double than mine for roughly 80 gallons volume. There is no reason why 2 chambers is not suitable for your tank of 90g.

 

[juniorrocketdad]

30" x 4 chambers is double than mine for roughly 80 gallons volume. There is no reason why 2 chambers is not suitable for your tank of 90g.

Ok I was thinking like having them in a u shape but I prolly need to rethink this, thanks for your help

 

[djbon]

Hope this will help you with the design

 

[ravi197699]

I tested tank water again today and reading is 10 and last week it was 5, do i need to slow the output of the water from the reactor?

 

[djbon]

Yes, reduce the flow a bit. You can increase carbon a bit, 1/2 - 1ml. Once reached 5ppm, you need to find your maintenance spot (flow & dosing).

 

[djbon]

Mine varies from 2 - 5ppm no3. I don't have auto doser, and i travel quite frequent so my wife is taking care the tank.

 

[gregkn73]

I tested tank water again today and reading is 10 and last week it was 5, do i need to slow the output of the water from the reactor?

What is your currently reactor outlet NO3 values Ravi?

 

[ravi197699]

I did not check that, I will check today and I will post the readings

 

[jml1149]

Is it possible zero phosphate will stall the reactor? The bubbles out have slowed significantly, and my Nitrate is stuck around 15. My phosphate reads 0 on a Hannah Checker and salifert kit. Does this make sense?

 

[djbon]

Emmmm. It should be the other way round. Zero no3 will halt po4 reduction, at least that is what i have read. What is your effluent no3 level?. Comparing effluent no3 against water column will tell you the reactor's functioning as intended or not. If still detectable, than reduce the flow, increase carbon dosing and add bacteria again. If you are using vinegar, maybe ph has drop affecting bacteria population in the chambers. I'm using vodka for all my reactor.

 

[djbon]

I just tested my display water column and here was the result. My bioload varies from time to time due to feeding changes (wife, daughter and me if i'm at home ). I recently added sun coral, so broadcast feeding added at night when sun coral is blooming. I added carbon dosing 5ml at night, instead of single dosing in the morning daily.