Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

Very nice. I'm hoping for the same results. At the moment my no3 is at around 20 and po4 between 0.08 - 0.13. I'm hoping to be able to get these numbers down so I can feed my fish more. I feel like my tank is starving for "food" yet dealing with high "high nutrients", if that makes sense.

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No worries. Once parameters stabilized and nutrient under control, the rest will follow suit. There is nothing more rewarding in reefing other than coming home and enjoying every moment looking at your tank.
 
Don, Those are beautiful pictures you posted. Nice work!

John, thanks for sharing your parameters. It will be interesting to see how quickly your parameters come down. The good thing for you is both are fairly balanced.
 
I wonder if replacing the small aquarium pump with a peristaltic pump (like a calcium reactor) would solve the uneven flow problem. I'm not sure if a peristaltic pump would be better at the inlet or outlet position.
 
It has nothing to do with pump, the changes in flow is due to bacteria build up in the reactor. More bacteria means less flow.
 
Don if you can collect such beautiful acros, just in front of your local beach, why don't you make water changes, by taking water from there? Leaving beside such a clean waters, where all the beautiful animals we admire, grown, why did you ever consider using synthetic salt?

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gregkn73 said:
Don if you can collect such beautiful acros, just in front of your local beach, why don't you make water changes, by taking water from there? Leaving beside such a clean waters, where all the beautiful animals we admire, grown, why did you ever consider using synthetic salt?

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Parasites?. Viruses? Unwanted animal eggs? Bacteria?. I can buy NSW for USD2 per 10 gallon from LFS as well but frankly speaking I hate doing water changes. I am dosing lab grade products for major components, daily evaporation roughly around 1.5litre so I prefer to top off rather than WC.
 
As far as I'm understanding the system, the reactor is supposed so be gravity driven not pressurized correct? So then do you need to have the top caps on the "U"?

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blackthunda77 said:
As far as I'm understanding the system, the reactor is supposed so be gravity driven not pressurized correct? So then do you need to have the top caps on the "U"?

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It is gravity driven but you still need the caps in order to seal off the chamber. Aerobic bacteria inside the closed off chamber consume oxygen and then nitrate.

Here is a good explanation of the principle....

Like humans and other animals, bacteria need to breathe. Anaerobic bacteria basically mean bacteria that respire anaerobically. All living cells need to respire in order to release energy for vital cell activities. Anaerobic respiration is respiration in the absence of oxygen, hence anaerobic bacteria does not breathe at all. The purpose of respiration is to provide the cell with the appropriate molecules for creating energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate, ATP Many types of bacteria respire anaerobically. In other words, they can go through the process of respiration without oxygen present. Instead of using oxygen to help them burn the energy in their food, these types of bacteria use other naturally-occurring chemicals to create chemical reactions and release the energy they need. Common naturally-occurring chemicals used include nitrates, sulfates and carbon dioxide.
 
Other than what ReefKeeper64 had said, proper plumbing and aesthetic look are the other reason I put on the caps.
 
The reason I ask, is because I was planning on building the reactor and setting it up partially. I have basically all the parts for the reactor just not a hundred percent of the media. So I was wondering if running it without the Caps or taking the Caps off when I get the rest of the media would have any ill effect? I have seachem Matrix and some Marine pure ruble. I plan on adding the bio rings once I get them.

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I guess the pump is just there to pump water into the reactor but it's not actually building up pressure in the reactor it's basically just there to pump enough water to make it overflow out of the effluent

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Which most certainly would build pressure, even if it's a little bit because it's a little pump.

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced a peristaltic pump on the effluent would solve the uneven flow issue.
 
Salty, with a hole for dosing at inlet chamber, there is no way there will be pressure build up in the system. Some of my denitrator user teed off their return pipe to feed the reactor. Small control valve regulate the flow.
 
Last edited:
Gotcha, thanks. If I set one up, I'll also T off the main pump just like I do for a calcium reactor. And use a peristaltic pump on the effluent side. :)

Very nice setup, thanks for sharing.
 
The issue with peristaltic pumps is that all but the expensive ones don't last if run full time. The hosing at the pump is damaged by the constant rotary compression.

You certainly could set up a dosing input with a valve that you open only when dosing. I think djbon uses a syringe fitting, and you can get those in a T with valve configuration.

Alternatively, you could use peristaltic pumps for the dosing and the input water and have the water pump turn off when you are dosing. Peristaltic pumps usually handle back pressure well.
You could also insert one way valves to deal with the issue.

There are lots of expensive solutions. But, I think djbon's whole concept was an inexpensive solution to reducing nitrates.
 
My denitrator is dirt cheap to operate (1.5 litre of carbon will last more than 6 months, at 5ml per day means 300 days before next buy).

1 litre vinegar = USD1.15
1 litre vodka = USD6.5
1 kg sugar = USD0.7
 
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