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

[Steve2020]

All but one of my types of media has arrived. I have an idea on how I think I am going to layer them but I would like to hear recommendations on layering from bottom to top from my fellow Reefers. As you can see they are all different shapes and sizes which I thought would help reduce any clogging. As mentioned in previous post the tubes are 4" diameter and 54" tall each prior to water exiting the anaerobic side.

I plan on cutting some of these. Easy to cut.

 

[olonmv]

Wow! You’ve got quite a set-up! My lil itty bitty tank is just a drop in your bucket lol. Can wait to see it in action! Doin a leak test on mine ATM running some water through it at full flow the I’ll bring it down to a trickle and then full stop. Looks good so far.

 

[Steve2020]

Wow! You’ve got quite a set-up! My lil itty bitty tank is just a drop in your bucket lol. Can wait to see it in action! Doin a leak test on mine ATM running some water through it at full flow the I’ll bring it down to a trickle and then full stop. Looks good so far.

Glad to hear it is looking good. Sounds like you may put it into action today. One thing to keep in mind is that aerobic bacteria will grow and consume Nitrite producing Nitrate before the anaerobic bacteria populates to consume the Nitrate so you may see an increase in Nitrate for a few weeks. Maybe test every 4-5 days. After a few a couple of weeks of running the DVD I would do Nitrate testing on your tank and DVD output daily to monitor the progress of the DVD. I'm sure you already know this. Just giving a reminder.

 

[Steve2020]

All but one of my types of media has arrived. I have an idea on how I think I am going to layer them but I would like to hear recommendations on layering from bottom to top from my fellow Reefers. As you can see they are all different shapes and sizes which I thought would help reduce any clogging. As mentioned in previous post the tubes are 4" diameter and 54" tall each prior to water exiting the anaerobic side.

I plan on cutting some of these. Easy to cut.

Anyone with layering recommendations out there? Would love to get your input! I plan on starting up the DVD in a few days.

 

[wmb0003]

All but one of my types of media has arrived. I have an idea on how I think I am going to layer them but I would like to hear recommendations on layering from bottom to top from my fellow Reefers. As you can see they are all different shapes and sizes which I thought would help reduce any clogging. As mentioned in previous post the tubes are 4" diameter and 54" tall each prior to water exiting the anaerobic side.

I plan on cutting some of these. Easy to cut.

All of those are pretty big so you shouldn’t have much clogging problems. I would break those “sticks” in half. I tried to saw mine but found it out as much easier to hit in the middle against the side of my patio table and they broke where I hit them. I would make the layers of the smaller media as thin as possible or mix in larger pieces with that layer. Good luck!

 

[Steve2020]

All of those are pretty big so you shouldn’t have much clogging problems. I would break those “sticks” in half. I tried to saw mine but found it out as much easier to hit in the middle against the side of my patio table and they broke where I hit them. I would make the layers of the smaller media as thin as possible or mix in larger pieces with that layer. Good luck!

You actually just gave me the the recommendation I was looking for. Making thin layers with the ceramic rings and using the bigger media to divide the layers was also my thought.
Appreciate your reply. Thank you.

 

[olonmv]

@Steve2020 you were correct. I was gonna havet this goin by today. Pressure tested mine. It’s good up to about 15 psi. And it leaked very slowly at the clean out port. Since I only got the one media and it’s such a small project, and future tweaks will be easy if needed I went ahead and filled it with the one media type. Got it plumbed to my tank and I’m currently running a heavy ish flow of tank water through the rings which returns to my filter. My draw pump is in same chamber as my filter located after my filter. I’m gonna run that for a few hours to flush the rodi I used to rinse the ceramic rings. Later today I will test tank parameters and then slow my flow down to about 8% and dose 2.5ml of mb7. Fingers crossed.

 

[Steve2020]

@Steve2020 you were correct. I was gonna havet this goin by today. Pressure tested mine. It’s good up to about 15 psi. And it leaked very slowly at the clean out port. Since I only got the one media and it’s such a small project, and future tweaks will be easy if needed I went ahead and filled it with the one media type. Got it plumbed to my tank and I’m currently running a heavy ish flow of tank water through the rings which returns to my filter. My draw pump is in same chamber as my filter located after my filter. I’m gonna run that for a few hours to flush the rodi I used to rinse the ceramic rings. Later today I will test tank parameters and then slow my flow down to about 8% and dose 2.5ml of mb7. Fingers crossed.

@Steve2020 you were correct. I was gonna havet this goin by today. Pressure tested mine. It’s good up to about 15 psi. And it leaked very slowly at the clean out port. Since I only got the one media and it’s such a small project, and future tweaks will be easy if needed I went ahead and filled it with the one media type. Got it plumbed to my tank and I’m currently running a heavy ish flow of tank water through the rings which returns to my filter. My draw pump is in same chamber as my filter located after my filter. I’m gonna run that for a few hours to flush the rodi I used to rinse the ceramic rings. Later today I will test tank parameters and then slow my flow down to about 8% and dose 2.5ml of mb7. Fingers crossed.

Did you fix the small leak? Post a photo if you can. Would like to see your setup.

 

[olonmv]

Did you fix the small leak?

All I did was add some Teflon tape. I’ll never get close to 10 psi with this setup. I pressure tested it with my house pressure and barely got a leak and the leak stopped on its own when I brought it down to about 15 psi. The pressure this pump builds will never be capable of building pressures strong enough to make it leak. Dosing is gonna be tricky but I think I got an idea.

 

[olonmv]

Ok, in this pic I have my cheap petco pump in chamber 1 after filtration. In-line I have a valve to open and close so that I can dose. in next pic, I have the mini DND just hanging. Line from pump comes into bottom where I have a valve to set flow before it enters the DND. the top of the DND is my outlet which is dumped into chamber 3 of my AIO in the next pic. and that’s pretty much it. Hope it works.

 

[olonmv]

And so it begins. Added 2.5ml MB7 at a drip of 70 drops a minute. I thinks it’s close to the 10% threshold as far as flow goes.

 

[Steve2020]

And so it begins. Added 2.5ml MB7 at a drip of 70 drops a minute. I thinks it’s close to the 10% threshold as far as flow goes.

That's great. Hope it all works out for you.

 

[Steve2020]

I just finished dry fitting my DVD. In a day or two I will add the media and some salt water and cycle the system with a small pump I have and recirculate the water with a bucket and a filter sock for about 6hrs. Pretty much the same setup I used during my emergency overflow leak test. Then I will add some MB7 and recirculate using the bucket for 2 days then hook it up to the tank and then we are off and running. Hope I thought of everything. Attached are some photos of the project.
LEAK TEST WITH DOSING CHECK VALVE INSTALLED


DRYING OUT THE TUBES AFTER LEAK TEST. ALL THE MEDIEA


A TRICK I LEARNED WHEN USING 3/8 TUBING. PRESS IN A PIECE OF 1/4" RO TUBING. DND IN IT'S HOME


MORE PHOTOS OF DND. I HAVE IT SITTING IN A CONTAINER IN CASE OF A LEAK. CONTAINER WILL HAVE A TEMPORARY BATTERY OPERATED LEAK DETECTOR IN IT UNTIL I RECEIVE THE GHL LEAK SENSOR. UPON DETECTING A LEAK, THE PROFILUX 4 WILL SHUT DOWN THE VECTRA M2 AND THE UV SINCE MY UV ALSO RUNS OFF THE M2.


DND RESTRAINER QUICK CONECT/DISCONECT STRAP WITH SECURITY TIE FOR EXTRA PROTECTION.
DICHARGE LINE AND EMERGENCY OVERFLOW WILL GO THROUGH A STUFFING PLUG IN THE UNION THAT USED TO BE FOR MY REFUGIUM DRAIN. THE SMALL BALL VALVE IS JUST INCASE I NEED TO INSTALL IT FOR FINE TUNNING BUT PROBABLY WONT NEED IT BECAUSE DURING A TEST I WAS ABLE TO CONTROL FLOW WITH THE 1" BALL VAVLE AT THE 1GAL/HR I PLAN ON RUNNING


DND FEED LINE COTROLLED WITH 1" BALL VALVE THAT USE TO FEED MY REFUGIUM. DISCHARGE AND EMERGENCY DRAIN WILL FEED INTO A SILENCING/SPLASH PROTECTOR THAT ADVANCED ACRYLICS INSTALLED IN THE RETURN SECTION OF THE SUMP.


IF I EVER NEED TO FLUSH THE DND I WILL CLAMP A 7" FILTER SOCK TO THAT FREE SPACE AREA IN THE SKIMMER SECTION. I MADE THE DISCHARGE AND EMERGENCY LINES LONG ENOUGH TO REACH.


CLOSE UP VIEW OF THE DND SUPPLY, EMERGENCY DRAIN AND DOSING LINE WITH CHECK VALVE.

 

[Steve2020]

Well dang, Hooked this up to my tank and I have an issue. With this setup why would the anaerobic side ( discharge side ) create a vacuum? Can't control flow? When I shut the supply valve water keeps on flowing out the discharge. When I unscrewed the cleanout cap air entered the tube and the flow stopped. This did not occur when I ran my leak test?
Recommendations PLEASE!!

 

[Steve2020]

Anybody else that has a tall U-shaped DND ever have an issue with a vacuum/siphon on the discharge when you stop the feed and if so what did you do to fix it? I'm pretty sure I am not the only one that has a tall external DND, and I have not read about any siphon issues.

 

[Steve2020]

Anybody else that has a tall U-shaped DND ever have an issue with a vacuum/siphon on the discharge when you stop the feed and if so what did you do to fix it? I'm pretty sure I am not the only one that has a tall external DND, and I have not read about any siphon issues.

Ran a test and problem solved. Added a vent tube to the discharge line. Time to go to Home Depot to get the proper parts.

 

[olonmv]

Glad you got it sorted out. Hopefully you have no more road bumps!

 

[s17nce]

Hi guys, up to page 45 of this thread, thinking of building one of these units 4” by 3’ tall, tank 2000L and nitrates below 40 , quick question is some of these have a small tube from left to right tower, is there a reason for smaller tube or can it just be a U tube type between the two chambers , thank you , based in the UK

 

[olonmv]

Hi guys, up to page 45 of this thread, thinking of building one of these units 4” by 3’ tall, tank 2000L and nitrates below 40 , quick question is some of these have a small tube from left to right tower, is there a reason for smaller tube or can it just be a U tube type between the two chambers , thank you , based in the UK

I tried to build mine off of scale to Donovan’s. If my math is correct, using a 4” pvc pipe, yours would need to be over 200” long.

 

[olonmv]

If you’re trying to filter a 2000L tank your DND would have to be sized to hold about 47L (when void of media). The dnd flow rate needs to be flowed to cycle the DND volume by 2-4 times a day (5-10%) of tank volume in a 24 hr period. At least that’s how I’m seeing it. I have a nano tank and just started up a mini DND that I think I scaled it down correctly. I’m on day 3. Today is when I’m supposed to introduce a carbon source.

If I’m correct…..a 10” PVC at 36” long is what you’d need.