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

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

Have you tried reducing the the effluent a little maybe just to a trickle ( barely a steady stream)if the vodka is leaking out it’s either too much vodka or the water is going to fast. There’s been a few people on here that it has taken quite a while for their reactor to start working properly but eventually it did.

holdyourlight · Jun 10, 2018

Toomanyfish said:
Have you tried reducing the the effluent a little maybe just to a trickle ( barely a steady stream)if the vodka is leaking out it’s either too much vodka or the water is going to fast. There’s been a few people on here that it has taken quite a while for their reactor to start working properly but eventually it did.

Hey, thanks for the reply. It's definitely at a trickle. It's the lowest amount which is still a steady stream and not dripping. It is dead on the 10ml/10sec rate that has been recommended here. I can dose vodka in 0.5ml increments until it starts working, just not sure how often i should be doing that?

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

How much vodka are you dosing and how much water volume is your system?

holdyourlight · Jun 10, 2018

Toomanyfish said:
How much vodka are you dosing and how much water volume is your system?

125G, nitrates currently around 10. Have tried several dosages over the past 3 weeks i've had it running. Currently dosing 1ml 3x per day. Have tested 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours after dosing, no drop in nitrates. Have dosed and tested at 0.5ml up to 2ml per dose too, same result, no change in nitrates, but vodka is for sure escaping the reactor

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

That’s not a lot for that water volume at all. Try reducing the flow a little more even if it’s dripping a bit and if you can use a overflow sock or a paper coffee filter on the output to see if there’s bacteria coming out of it. What did you use for media in the reactor?

holdyourlight · Jun 10, 2018

Toomanyfish said:
That’s not a lot for that water volume at all. Try reducing the flow a little more even if it’s dripping a bit and if you can use a overflow sock or a paper coffee filter on the output to see if there’s bacteria coming out of it. What did you use for media in the reactor?

when you say "that's not a lot for that water volume at all" do you mean i'm not dosing a lot of vodka? If that's what you are saying, yes i agree, that's why it is so frustrating that the reactor can't consume that small amount.
I've had a sock on the output the past week. no bacteria. I used a mix of Aquaneat (https://www.amazon.com/Aquaneat-Bacteria-Filtration-Aquarium-Aquaculture/dp/B074MQQCDG/) which several people on here used, and siporax.

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

Yup that’s what I meant

Only thing I can think of is reduce the flow for a week and test it at the end of the week.

holdyourlight · Jun 10, 2018

Toomanyfish said:
Yup that’s what I meant
Only thing I can think of is reduce the flow for a week and test it at the end of the week.

Thanks will do and report back in a week. What dosing amount and frequency, or does it matter much?

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

It’s always better to split it up more but I wouldn’t change the total your dosing per day.

holdyourlight · Jun 10, 2018

Thanks. Final question for now, i promise! Keep dosing the MB7 daily as well since the bacteria doesn't seem to be colonizing yet? Or try a different strain of bacteria from another company since MB7 doesn't seem to be working. Hard to imagine that i could have gotten another spoiled bottle of it, but crazier things have happened i guess

CNDReef · Jun 10, 2018

Just dose it to your tank as directed but during the day( bacteria consumes oxygen)

Dr. Dendrostein · Jun 10, 2018

holdyourlight said:
I've been running my unit (4" pipe, 24" tall, 125G total water volume) for almost 3 weeks now and i'm having an issue where the vodka does not appear to be getting consumed within the reactor. I have slime build up on the glass walls of my sump and my skimmer is working overtime. I"ve also seen no slime coming from the output tube.
Also the nitrate in both tank water and reactor effluent is about the same. Around 10, not high but i want to get 0 out of the output. I've experimented with different dosing amounts from 2-4ml per day. All at once or spread throughout the day. I'm pushing 10ml of water per 10 seconds through the reactor, so about 1 gallon per hour or ~10% daily turnover.

I can only attribute this to a few possible causes.
1) The bacteria population inside the reactor is not there
I seeded with MB7 the first 5 days and when i didn't see results i decided that bottle of MB7 must have been bad cuz it had a bit of a funky smell, so picked up a new bottle. The new bottle had the same smell but it was much much fainter. I seeded for another 5 days with this. 10ml MB7 per day.

2)Air is getting in or water is leaking out
I don't see how this is possible. I leak tested the reactor multiple times including after it was running for a week, i took it back out of the tank to make sure - no leaks. The 2nd chamber is completely sealed, all of the connections are glued and the threaded connections are siliconed and air tight. Same goes for the first chamber except there is a hole in the cap for dosing. The effluent tube is 1/4" and stays filled with water, so no air can get in

I'm at a loss right now. My nitrates aren't high but i want it to be working as it should!

I've ran up to 3 sulfur denitrators at once. I always add apprx 10-20ml volka in it.when first startup, before adding to tank. Circulate thru denitrator only. For 2 days, then start drip rate, as per your choice. I've ran 150ml per min. Coming out of denitrator in the pass. Faster in comes out, more it effects calcium & alkalinity. Always keep eye on calcium and alkalinity. Then in two weeks or sooner nitrates get really low till reach zero. Give it time . Your design different from mine. Mine had circulating pump on each.

holdyourlight · Jun 11, 2018

Jomama said:
I've ran up to 3 sulfur denitrators at once. I always add apprx 10-20ml in it.when first startup, before adding to tank. Circulate thru denitrator only. For 2 days, then start drip rate, as per your choice. I've ran 150ml per min. Coming out of denitrator in the pass. Faster in comes out, more it effects calcium & alkalinity. Always keep eye on calcium and alkalinity. Then in two weeks or sooner nitrates get really low till reach zero. Give it time . Your design different from mine. Mine had circulating pump on each.

I'm wondering if I need a better method to seed the reactor. Something like you are talking about. I could recirculate between a bucket and the reactor. My method now was to dose the mb7 and let the flow on for half hour to get the bacteria down into the reactor, then shut off the flow for a couple hours. There is not a lot of talk about seeding methods on this thread but seems as though at least a couple others seeded the same way I did and theirs were successful very quickly.

Dr. Dendrostein · Jun 11, 2018

If method you say works for others, try it. In the end patience it will kick in eventually.

Torben · Jun 12, 2018

Have read this end to end, what a success and what a tragedy! RIP Donovan!

I run a 20G without sump experimental tank to scale up to 200G as soon as the new house is done.
Adding a 50G Frag next months once done.

So my Nitrates were going up steadily, clearly connected to feeding.
Water change only did so much.
So decided to give this a shot.
As the 4” tube came in 3m length, I decided to build as big as possible. At the same time I wanted all connections above water level to avoid mega issues with leaks if any.
I stuffed the tubes with all the unused Eheim media from my canister, added 6ltr Siporax and some natural coral rocks.
Total water amount after stuffing 12ltr.
I pre filled with 60ppm tank water and Seachem bacteria mix.
Let it sit for 2 days before running and flushed out initial water before running return back to tank.
I connected a bubble stone as inlet for the Apex DOS. I run 36,000ml / 36ltr in 24h and started dosing 3ml Vodka immediately.
Left head pumps tank water, right head adds vodka into return line.
Outlet Nitrate down to 10ppm after 2 days of operation. Looking extremely good.
API shows first day output and today.
Tank at 80ppm.