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

[Duane family]

Forgot to add the pics to the post above.

 

[SPS clown]

Finally seeing some success and i believe that to be from the MB starter bacteria ive been injecting. Very excited because this was really laborious.

Nitrates at zero on the effluent, fianlly got some smell coming out so i turned up the flow a bit. Nitrates only increased from 17.5 to 18.1 in 7 days so im going to change nothing other than the flow for a few days and see what happens.

Phosphates at .07 (up from .04 in 7 days)

Im trying to keep between .05-.1 for phos and between 10-20 for nitrates

 

[Duane family]

I have been playing alot with my system and the nitrate destroyer. Each time changing the flow and gauging the response. Its a little strange how quickly I see a change in the tank but I am not changing anything else.

What I have found is that a faster flow rate (even though still slow but not a drip) reduces the nutrient consumption significantly. I find that just above a fast drip rate is optimal with my tank. This would mean that contact time is very important with this system.

Its just amazing fun playing with this to learn more about its ideal setup. I have been able to allow a bit of algae to grow then optimize the reactor and the algae turns translucent in 24 hrs, then I allow it to turn green again and then finally I set the flow to just above a fast drip and 2 days later the algae is vaporized. The reason I have been doing this is to give my snails some food source as I don't want them to die off in the tank.

I recall Donovan describing a bacterial bloom often and this I see also. Although this does not occur naturally in my tank, instead it only occurs when I believe I have overdosed slightly on the carbon source. But its just a slight bloom nothing crazy and the following few days after this the tank is absolutely crystal clear and clean. I try to maintain just a little under that level but occasionally I have caused this bloom. There are no corals in this tank so I am fiddling and learning while I am able to without stressing anything out.

Another point I believe is at play here which I did not pick up in the thread is light. I think that the rapid cultivation of the bacteria ( specifically anaerobic) within the reactor is because it is void or any light. I feel that the identical hardware and bacteria in a clear casing would be a huge amount less effective within the same application.

 

[SPS clown]

Ive been noticing the same thing. I increased the flow to a steady stream and my nitrated went from 17 to 25. I dropped it back down to a fast drip and they dropped back to 13.1 over 4 days. Pretty cool. My current vodka dosing schedule is 5ml every 4 hours

 

[Duane family]

Ive been noticing the same thing. I increased the flow to a steady stream and my nitrated went from 17 to 25. I dropped it back down to a fast drip and they dropped back to 13.1 over 4 days. Pretty cool. My current vodka dosing schedule is 5ml every 4 hours

Nice to hear someone seeing similar results. Wow 5ml per 4hrs is significantly more than I can dose without getting a bacterial bloom

 

[SPS clown]

Nice to hear someone seeing similar results. Wow 5ml per 4hrs is significantly more than I can dose without getting a bacterial bloom

My system is about 275-300gal for reference, not sure your size.

I did also have bacterial bloom issues for about 2 weeks but that has dissipated

 

[Duane family]

I am starting to see hetatrophic bacteria in my display tank so at this time I am going to shut down the reactor almost completely as clearly I have created an imbalance of bacteria. I think this is due to the sugar that I used in the carbon fluid I have been making. But I need to get some bacterial balance back before I do anything further.

 

[SPS clown]

I am starting to see hetatrophic bacteria in my display tank so at this time I am going to shut down the reactor almost completely as clearly I have created an imbalance of bacteria. I think this is due to the sugar that I used in the carbon fluid I have been making. But I need to get some bacterial balance back before I do anything further.

Can you just keep it running but stop dosing? Then you should maintain your bacteria in there so you can restart it easily later… my .02

Heres everything im dosing into my tank:
7ml bactobalance
Capful of microbacter7 every few days
Also kalk every hour
Lanthanum chloride at 5am (6ml) on m/w/f/sat (this time seems to affect my ph much less)
Four 5ml doses per day of vodka into the dnd

Phosphate are very steady at .05-.07
Nitrates are leveled off at about 9

Nitrates were my main problem, they were 70 before the dnd. I actually lost a few fish because i wasnt feeding them enough to try and control nitrates. Very happy i persistedand my fish are really enjoying the extra food

 

[Duane family]

Can you just keep it running but stop dosing? Then you should maintain your bacteria in there so you can restart it easily later… my .02

Heres everything im dosing into my tank:
7ml bactobalance
Capful of microbacter7 every few days
Also kalk every hour
Lanthanum chloride at 5am (6ml) on m/w/f/sat (this time seems to affect my ph much less)
Four 5ml doses per day of vodka into the dnd

Phosphate are very steady at .05-.07
Nitrates are leveled off at about 9

Nitrates were my main problem, they were 70 before the dnd. I actually lost a few fish because i wasnt feeding them enough to try and control nitrates. Very happy i persistedand my fish are really enjoying the extra food

Yeah wrong terminology from my side, I should have said I'm putting it on idle.

Stopping it completely is not a good idea.
Sorry for the confusion

 

[blazn]

Nitrates were my main problem, they were 70 before the dnd. I actually lost a few fish because i wasn't feeding them enough to try and control nitrates. Very happy i persisted and my fish are really enjoying the extra food.

Such a positive result and so glad that you're now able to feed your fish basically as much as you/they want!

I added a Copperband 2 years ago, which required doubling my daily frozen food feedings, so having a functional DND has been a blessing!!

 

[Dukereefnz]

Looking at people DND reactors there seems to be a mix of inlet and outlet sizes.
Looks like everyone has a similar size output at 5-6mm tube. What is the input size?

 

[Dukereefnz]

Here is what I will use for inlet, 14mm barb on it for a hose from a pump, with a tape to control water infeed. This pump also supplies my Algae scrubber, which is not big enough to control nitrates. My nitrates are around the 20 - 30 mark. Not toooo bad but could be better.

Outlet will be 1/4inch bulkhead

Question.... has anyone automated the carbon injection?
If the DND is under pressure, the water would want to exit the inlet for the carbon.

How can a dosing pump be used if the DND is under pressure?
Plan is to have the inlet and outlet bulk heads both on the top of the DND at the same height.
Problem? No over flow.....

 

[Dukereefnz]

Tops are screwed on, bulk heads in top... how to inject carbon?

 

[twentyleagues]

Here is what I will use for inlet, 14mm barb on it for a hose from a pump, with a tape to control water infeed. This pump also supplies my Algae scrubber, which is not big enough to control nitrates. My nitrates are around the 20 - 30 mark. Not toooo bad but could be better.

Outlet will be 1/4inch bulkhead

Question.... has anyone automated the carbon injection?
If the DND is under pressure, the water would want to exit the inlet for the carbon.

How can a dosing pump be used if the DND is under pressure?
Plan is to have the inlet and outlet bulk heads both on the top of the DND at the same height.
Problem? No over flow.....

This should not be under pressure. It should be a trickle of flow through it. The carbon source should be injected in the top where the flow enters the first cylinder. The outlet should be below the input to help with water level in the first chamber.

 

[blazn]

Tops are screwed on, bulk heads in top... how to inject carbon?

I feed carbon via auto-doser. I have a small hole in the top of my input chamber, so any 'back flow' will go out that direction (and drain back into my sump) rather than up thru my carbon source feed. I have a 1/2" input & 1/4" (airline) output.

 

[SPS clown]

My input and output are both 1/4 tubing and attached with john guest fittings. If i turn the flow up too much it will go up my carbon tubing

I automate injection with a ghl doser. Im now down to 2 doses of 5ml per day, nitrates at 4 currently. Im actually trying to get them to go up a little ha, who woulda thought id say that

 

[Tritie]

Has anyone experienced high aluminum levels (icp) after setting up their DND? I'm wondering if Marine Pure is leaching aluminum under anaerobic conditions, like siporax will leach silicates under anaerobic conditions.

 

[twentyleagues]

Has anyone experienced high aluminum levels (icp) after setting up their DND? I'm wondering if Marine Pure is leaching aluminum under anaerobic conditions, like siporax will leach silicates under anaerobic conditions.

There are threads aplenty that say Marine pure will leach aluminum. I have heard it for years in both saltwater and fresh. I dont think it has ever been proven and when I used it I never saw an indication that it did. Just type it in the search bar and you will get pages. For as many people that say it does there are as many people that say it does not or they have never had issues with it.

 

[Tritie]

There are threads aplenty that say Marine pure will leach aluminum. I have heard it for years in both saltwater and fresh. I dont think it has ever been proven and when I used it I never saw an indication that it did. Just type it in the search bar and you will get pages. For as many people that say it does there are as many people that say it does not or they have never had issues with it.

I never had a problem until I put my Marine Pure into the denitrator.

 

[twentyleagues]

I never had a problem until I put my Marine Pure into the denitrator.

When in doubt take it out.