Yeah I was going to say same thing. Drop it even lower if you want. a drop every 2 seconds. That’s what I started with for 2 weeks. Think I did 1 drop a second after 2 weeks. This is a slow process that you really can’t speed up. Test nitrite after a week, then every couple days after. You will see it spike, then go down slowly. Once it’s 0 then start testing for nitrates. This will take a long time
You may have picked the wrong method if after 2 days you are ready to give up. It takes weeks to a month to get going, but it is worth it. I brought a 220G tank from 200+ ppm to 20 in 4 months. Now it's under 10.
Got it. I'll slow it down more. Thank you for the tip.
I run a FOWLR so I'm not overly concerned with Alkalinity other than what is needed to keep the pH from getting dangerously low.
I believe you are misinterpreting the point I want to get across because I am not adequately communicating. My point was if there are ways to speed up the process but people don't do them because they want to avoid additional expense, I'm OK with the additional expense because time is money. For example, two years ago I used the process I used to use back in the day of Fritz (MB XLM) to cycle my aquarium in a few days versus weeks. It cost more money but it was worth it to save time. If there was a similar process available, I don't mind spending $20, $40, $60, or $100 to gain that time.
I can tell you that it probably won’t hurt adding more bacterial but I don’t see it really helping. The reason why it takes weeks just to start with very slow drips is because all the regular bacteria need to consume all the oxygen in the reactor. Then the nitrate eating bacteria start growing. Hence the nitrite spike. I’m not cheap either and understand that sometimes it’s worth spending more money to make things happen quicker, but for this type of filter imo it may not work. I could be wrong and I honestly don’t see the harm in seeding it, or throwing in a little carbon like vinegar or nopox in there to try speeding it up. However out of everything I’ve read about these reactors, and instructions given by the manufacturers, none of them said seeding it or using carbon would speed it up. Good luck and let us know progress over next couple months.
You need to dose alk. The reactor won't work properly if alk gets too low.
Thank you for the info. I’ll probably dose something. I’ll also switch to weekly testing.
Thank you for the clarity. I’ll probably do Kalkwasser on a timer.
That won't work. Kalk has calcium. You would need to dose only alk, not calcium. If you dose kalk your calcium will keep climbing. The problem with sulfur denitrators is you need to dose a regular 2 part to make sure your calcium levels are correct, for those of us growing coral that is. You don't need to do that if you do not have any stony coral. But we also need to dose additional alk for this type of reactor.
OK. Alk it is.
I like this.
Are you measuring any nitrite? If you measure any nitrites it will show up as nitrate
