Poor Man's Nutrients Control - Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer

[TMB]

It is an interesting twist to the original design. If mine were only 1 straight pipe it would only be 36" long. The reason I stuck with the split design was to keep it in the sump and avoid any leak issues. These things are pretty powerful, I think 8 feet would be overkill.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

It is an interesting twist to the original design. If mine were only 1 straight pipe it would only be 36" long. The reason I stuck with the split design was to keep it in the sump and avoid any leak issues. These things are pretty powerful, I think 8 feet would be overkill.

I thought so as well, but at higher flow rate it shouldn't be a problem. As mentioned before, I am eager to know how these monster perform.

 

[Khaotic]

It is an interesting twist to the original design. If mine were only 1 straight pipe it would only be 36" long. The reason I stuck with the split design was to keep it in the sump and avoid any leak issues. These things are pretty powerful, I think 8 feet would be overkill.

I'm sure actual length would end up a bit less, maybe 38-40 inches per tube reason being for horizontal is the design of my stand and sump setup doesn't allow a whole lot of room to sit things down or stand them up, I was going to try and put it in between my sump and frag tank but I'm not sure I would be able to manage. I'll be loading up on the glue to hopefully avoid any leak issues. It would either go above the left tank(frag tank) or in between the two tanks but I'm not sure I'll be able to get it in there. Don't have a better picture on hand but to give you an idea of what I'm working with. Just strapped for space and if I put it in my sump I wouldn't have room for a skimmer.

I'll probably go with a single almost 4ft tube above the frag tank, seems ideal.

 

[Homer Allman]

I woke up this morning with no leaks. This is a good thing since my unit is free standing. I didn't think there would be. I built a pretty solid structure. Anyways, within 12 hours the first gas bubbles are appearing on the return line.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Now, that is impressive. Any NO3 test result at effluent?

 

[Homer Allman]

Now, that is impressive. Any NO3 test result at effluent?

No testing yet. I will do a 24 hour test this evening at 8pm. I just hit it with another vial of bacteria and also 10 ML's of vodka. I'm getting a large bubble now, every 10 seconds or so.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

No testing yet. I will do a 24 hour test this evening at 8pm. I just hit it with another vial of bacteria and also 10 ML's of vodka. I'm getting a large bubble now, every 10 seconds or so.

Wow. I can smell your success from here. Gas bubble is very good sign.

 

[Davy Jones]

No testing yet. I will do a 24 hour test this evening at 8pm. I just hit it with another vial of bacteria and also 10 ML's of vodka. I'm getting a large bubble now, every 10 seconds or so.

Just curious if you rinsed your MP blocked before using them in the reactor? Seems the more *dust* that the blocks have in and on them from transport the more aluminum they leach into the system..

 

[Homer Allman]

Just curious if you rinsed your MP blocked before using them in the reactor? Seems the more *dust* that the blocks have in and on them from transport the more aluminum they leach into the system..

As I was putting the cubes and rings in reactor. I had a 5 gallon bucket full of RO water. I would rinse both of those off in the bucket of water. So yes.

 

[Ponraj A]

I woke up this morning with no leaks. This is a good thing since my unit is free standing. I didn't think there would be. I built a pretty solid structure. Anyways, within 12 hours the first gas bubbles are appearing on the return line.

Welcome to the poor man's family

 

[Ponraj A]

@ Homer Allman,
Can you send a picture of the where the reactor has been placed, I like to see this huge towers....

 

[Ponraj A]

@Homer Allman
Can you send a picture of the where the reactor has been placed, I like to see this huge towers....

 

[Homer Allman]

Okay fellow reefers I am back with results. I've been running the TTND for a little over a week. The first 5.5 days I was running at 300 ml per minute. That's 115 gallons per day on a 400 gallon system. I did not have a finer adjustment value. I have that squared away now and adjusted. More on that later. I tested every day with the salifert test and the nitrates didn't budge. They tested the second highest color, which is 50 ppm. I got a API test kit once I slowed it down to 100 ml per minute. I tested the slowed down water after running for 12 hours and the API test was blood red. They say 160 ppm with that color. I did not retest with the salifert. I was just looking for a base color. 24 hours later since the last test and now running slower for 36 hours. I tested again this morning. Guess what my API kit is only slightly orange. The color is in the 20 ppm range. OMG it is working....... All these tests are from the water coming out of the reactor. I am stoked....thanks for helping and reading. I will report more as a get more results showing improvement. thank thanks thanks again. I am on my way to lowering those pesky nitrates. I have been dosing 10 ml of vodka twice a day since start up. I also used 8 vials of bacteria.

 

[TMB]

@Homer Allman That's awesome!! If I'm understanding you correctly it looks like you were seeing higher nitrates out of the reactor for a short period, and I think I had the same result. I believe this is due to the bacteria population growing and creating it in the reactor, instead of in the tank. My understanding is that as they multiply, and consume all of the oxygen, the anaerobic environment is created and they then go after nitrate in the absence of oxygen.
Glad it's working for you. As your nitrates drop, and approach your target level, you should be able to start cutting the vodka dose to maintain rather than lower nitrate.
Love this "Nitrate Destroyer" thanks @Donovan Joannes for the idea.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

Thanks for the update @Homer Allman. You can stop bacteria dosing as the reactor is now properly seeded. May I know your carbon dosing quantity and how many dosage per day?. What is the no3 differences between reactor and display?. This info (tracked and recorded is recommended) will help you with maintenance dosage later on. Rest assured the reactor is working now

 

[Donovan Joannes]

@TMB a properly maintained destroyer is very easy to tune. I have been keeping nitrate constantly within 3 - 5ppm for years now. Occasionally I will forced my reactor into turbo mode (carbon overdosed) for a couple of days, brought down water column's nitrate to zero for a day or two. Good to know it's true capability from time to time. Surprisingly it didn't clogged at all.

 

[crs751]

I've gathered materials to make one of these. Anxious to get it installed and dropping my nitrates. For those who are running these now did you follow the OP's media materials or did you modify what you loaded it with? Also when feeding the reactor do you use just vodka or a mix of vodka, vinegar and Sugar? And if you use a mix what is the Recipe? Thanks.

 

[Reef Monkie]

Some other reefers around the world (i shared this design on another forum last year) have built one with additional features such as ORP and incorporated auto dosing with great result.

First I want to thank you for sharing this great DIY project, it seems such a simple and elegant solution for a problem we are encouraged to spend a lot of money on to solve in other ways, I intend to use this idea when I start my tank build.

I am curious about this version with orp monitoring and auto dosing you mention. Do you have any more information on how this was accomplished? Part of the reason I find this idea of auto-dosing via orp monitoring so interesting is because there is also a open source and open hardware controller build on this forum and I thought perhaps these two DIY builds could be combined to achieve this.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

First I want to thank you for sharing this great DIY project, it seems such a simple and elegant solution for a problem we are encouraged to spend a lot of money on to solve in other ways, I intend to use this idea when I start my tank build.

I am curious about this version with orp monitoring and auto dosing you mention. Do you have any more information on how this was accomplished? Part of the reason I find this idea of auto-dosing via orp monitoring so interesting is because there is also a open source and open hardware controller build on this forum and I thought perhaps these two DIY builds could be combined to achieve this.

Hi there. Thanks for your compliment. I have a few builder whom are using ORP sensor at the second chamber to trigger the dosing when it reached certain voltage. They are on the other forum, so I cannot refer you to them. If you are familiar with dymico filtration system, the same concepts applied. You have to build a trend based on ORP curves to determine the exact time of carbon delivery. I am not an expert on ORP, hopefully someone will chime in.

 

[Donovan Joannes]

I've gathered materials to make one of these. Anxious to get it installed and dropping my nitrates. For those who are running these now did you follow the OP's media materials or did you modify what you loaded it with? Also when feeding the reactor do you use just vodka or a mix of vodka, vinegar and Sugar? And if you use a mix what is the Recipe? Thanks.

There is no standard media to use. You can use any inert and very porous media easily available on the shelf. Just make sure the sizes are correct so that when you fill the chambers, there are voids all over for good water movement. Mixing media (balls, rings, cube) of different sizes is recommended. As for the carbon source, vodka alone is fine but I would say VSV is better as it feeds different type of bacteria. DIY nopox recipe is good enough, but you can tweak the ratio to determine which is the best for your tank.