Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

[nematode]

update
I have been running my reactor at 400- 500 ml per minute ( that is 180 gallons/day or approximately 1/3 of the system turn over per day) and 2ml per hour NOPOX since last update (4/25/17). Nitrates now at 4 ppm (so it went from 15 ppm tank wide to 4 ppm in just over 2 weeks), effluent was zero when I tested, but I stupidly I did not check how far past the last dose I collected the test water. Next time.
I have today lowered the NOPOX from 2 ml to 1 ml per hr since nitrates around 4 seems acceptable.

There is very very large amounts of white bacterial growth in the container (Which is acrylic- it is so dense I cannot see pumice any more.) This is mostly on the outflux side, not the influx side, which is different from when I was running the reactor at much slower flow.
The water level on the input side has been rising slowly suggesting it is taking more pressure to push the same amount of water through the reactor- consistent with clogging.
We will see what lowering the level of NOPOX does.
I haven't checked phosphate levels again, but will soon.

 

[djbon]

I wish I can get a clear pvc pipe locally. That means higher flow pushes the anaerobic zones further up, most probably due to higher oxygen level (bigger volume). I am now at 1.5ml single dose carbon and effluent is zero. I can't increase my flow due to massive bacteria colony. My effluent is dripping at 2 - 4 drips per second and a lot whitish slime is coming out. The reactor is so efficient, I have been running with less than 1ppm no3 for weeks now.

 

[djbon]

Tank picture update...

 

[gregkn73]

Wonderful picture

 

[djbon]

Wonderful picture

Thanks Greg. I removed some rocks for more swimming space. How's your tank doing?

 

[gregkn73]

Thanks Greg. I removed some rocks for more swimming space. How's your tank doing?

I have get rid of, cyano and phosphate remover, and your denitrator contribute pretty sure, to both

 

[djbon]

I have get rid of, cyano and phosphate remover, and your denitrator contribute pretty sure, to both

Glad to hear that. Guess what? I am no longer runs a skimmer

 

[gregkn73]

Glad to hear that. Guess what? I am no longer runs a skimmer

And I am sure that you didn't notice anything negative to your tank there are many methods , reducing nutrients level ,more efficiently than skimmers, without harming micro fauna of our tanks and your denitrator , is sure one of those.
How much did you increase carbon dosing, after unplugged your skimmer?

 

[djbon]

And I am sure that you didn't notice anything negative to your tank there are many methods , reducing nutrients level ,more efficiently than skimmers, without harming micro fauna of our tanks and your denitrator , is sure one of those.
How much did you increase carbon dosing, after unplugged your skimmer?

It has been more than 2 months since my skimmer retirement and so far so good. I put a small powerhead in the sump to stir the goodness back to DT at night. An air pump on timer is turned on simultaneously with the powerhead for 6 hours.

Yeah, I am now on 5ml VSV, twice dosage daily at 12 hours apart. NO3 below 3ppm, PO4 below 0.25. 13 fishes poops alot

 

[stormrider27]

I have my destroyer up and running in the sump of my new tank but I am waiting to seed and start adding carbon until I return from my vacation. I added a small inline filter system to keep out larger particles that might cause a blockage. I thought this might come in handy, especially if I decide to go skimmer-less down the road.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/157571595@N05/shares/i8B46p

 

[djbon]

Woah!. Nice build stormrider27. Like the red color, really looks like a destroyer . Good thinking about the prefilter. Most of the issue that came out from a new user is fine tuning the carbon dosing and matching up the flow. Just keep your nose and eyes open. With auto doser, separate the carbon dosing and you might get a better result especially for big tank. Catch the effluent with a sock, if it gets bacteria slime coat then you know its kicking. Good luck!

 

[djbon]

For ozone/oxydator and UV sterilizer user, you might be having issue to start the bacteria engine as these are known to kill off bacteria.

 

[nematode]

update 8/5/17

Tanks basically doing as usual.

I left for Hawaii in late june leaving my college aged son in charge of my fish tank.
Upon my return the house smelled like sulfur. This was something that happened hours before we returned (17 days out of town), because in the morning things were fine.
The nitrate destroyer was dripping at 3 or 4 drops per second. I just adjusted the flow to run at a good clip (500 ml/minute) and we went out for dinner. Smell was better but not gone that evening, and gone the next day. The fish did not seem to mind. The few corals I have started in the tank (monitipora) didn't seem bothered either.
My whole house 2 story large house smelled of sulfur when we entered. This level of surfur production did not cause significant damage to the tank.
There has been a little red slime algae in the tank in the last few weeks that was not present before, so I am not saying that there was no damage, but it was not catalstrophic even with a huge anerobic run .
So, my lesson from this is don't worry too much about things going anaerobic.

I returned july 13.

I tested my system today
4 ppm nitrates. I have been running at 1 ml of NOpOX per 2 hrs (12 ml per day) since around june 1.

Although this completely controls the nitrates, it does absolutely nothing to control my phosphates.
My phosphates are at 1 ppm. And the only thing that lowers this is GFO.


Overall, the nitrate destroyer requuires very littel effort to keep going and even major problems like the slow down while I was on vacation did not cause significant damage to my system

 

[djbon]

Good Lord! Nothing happens to your tank. Yup, it happens to me once (h2s2 smell) and tank doesn't bother at all. But off course we don't want it either. Regarding phosphate, mine remains below 0.1 on SERA, except on a few occasion of frozen cube overfeeding to train my anthias and chromis to accept pellets. 1mg/ml is how many ppm?. Sorry, I am still struggling with all these measurement

 

[nematode]

corrected 1 ppm . My bad. (1 mg/ml is 1000 ppm and I think everything would be dead if it were at that level).

 

[djbon]

That is quite high for PO4. Grab some GFO to bring it down slowly. At 0.5ppm my coral is hardly growing . I am lucky my tower is consuming PO4 as well.

 

[nematode]

Its not luck. It is different physiology of the system.
I must have either more mass (and thus more food being fed)
or there must be a significant phosphate source (rocks?) in my tank.

 

[djbon]

I will call it "luck" as all my live rocks are seeded by the sea herself. It must contained all the goodness (and a few bad things like bobbit worms) nature has to offer

 

[gregkn73]

About a month ago, after 10 months I started the denitrator, I had the first nearly blockage of the reactor , in a strange way....the flow didn't reduced a lot, but the water ,overflowed a little at the entrance of the reactor! I reduced carbon dosing from 9*1ml to 2*1ml /24h, for 3 days, increased the flow a lot for 5min after 3 days, and everything is normal again. This was the only serious maintenance , I did to the reactor the last 10 months, apart from cleaning the floss at the filter supplying water to the reactor , every month, and periodically adjust the flow at the filter. I aim about 300ml/minutes.

As far po4, I always had ATS and chaeto in my systems, but they couldn't keep up with phosphates, so I had to run 250ml of ferric po4 removers in a reactor for my net 850lt reef. But after tuning the denitrator by splitting carbon dosage throughout 24h , thanks to nematode experimentation, po4 remover is no more needed Don's denitrator , give that extra help reducing also po4

Sent from my Tab2A7-10F using Tapatalk

 

[djbon]

I am so glad that it works for you as well. As long as the reactor doesn't clogged due to detritus, it should be in service for a long time. Keep experimenting guys!