Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
If smell persists, remove denitrator, clean up,reinstall, I run 15ml Volka for 2 days before put back to use.my denitrators are sulfur base. Hope that helps
Poor Man's Nutrients Control - Donovan's Nitrate Destroyer
- Thread starter Donovan Joannes
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Thanks guys. My display water is a little cloudy as well. The whole thing smells a little swampy. And this is after a water change and fresh carbon. I'll try opening it up and see if that does the trick. Right now I'm not dosing any vodka. Could this be the problem?
Ok I have it wide open now so we'll see what a flush does for it. Just so I'm clear, flow is adjusted based on a target nitrate level you want to maintain in your tank. So if the nitrates are higher than target at a certain flow rate you reduce the flow rate to increase dwell time within the reactor to attempt to reach the target nitrate level. Let me know if I am thinking correctly with this. Thanks again for the help.
MaccaPopEye
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I'm hoping to get around to making a Donovan's destroyer in the next month or so, would these ceramic rings work as the media on both sides of the tower? I have 3kg that are currently in my sump that I was going to use but I am worried they are a bit small. Can I use just one kind of filter material or should I use other types too? I see that Donovan recommends a range of different kinds of media, are people still using bio balls? What other kinds of filter material? Is lava rock any good or marine pure balls any good for this purpose or are the holes on them too fine?
https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=4863
https://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/catalogue_products.php?prodID=4863
interested to know as well, if one type of filter media is OK? Seems like i've seen few people only using one
Ponraj A
RIP Mr.Donovan
A
As far as I have ecperienced dont use plastic bio balls, you can use marine pure balls, ceramic rings, Biorb porous bio balls and so on. I have nit tried with lavarocks, may be some body who has used may chime in to help please !!!
As far as I have ecperienced dont use plastic bio balls, you can use marine pure balls, ceramic rings, Biorb porous bio balls and so on. I have nit tried with lavarocks, may be some body who has used may chime in to help please !!!
I run a single type of media, a marine pure style ball, in my reactor and it does the job very well. If i built another, and I do plan to build multiple more for other projects, i would use the same media again. aquaneat I believe it what it is called.
bobman
Well-Known Member
I have pulled the trigger and got material to build one of these but not for my saltwater tank. I am planning to try it on a fresh water tank. I have noticed Donovan was able to dose carbon and remove his skimmer. I have planned to use one on my reef but my nitrates have never been a problem so if its not broke dont fix it. My kids freshwater tank on the other hand could use some help. Since it is on the other side of the house then my reef. Water changes become old school and trying to get to little boys to do it is next to impossible. I am going to run one of these as an experiment to see if this would be an effective way to carbon dose a freshwater tank.
bobman
Well-Known Member
Correct I am sure you dont really need to dose depending on your setup and feeding regiments. My kids freshwater tank they mainly take care of it. They are 6-8 so it tends to get abused. I only step in when you can no longer see in the tank lol. I tested the nitrates before and I dont remember what the numbers were but I do know every time I test that tank I end up doing a few 80-90% water changes if that tell you anything. I do know I am on a few different tank forums on facebook and I see all time that in a freshwater tank water changes are really the only way to remove nitrates. So I was just trying to see if there is another alternative. Carbon or no carbon if it works on their tank it will work for any tank. Might help those that are disabled and such who really cant have the means of doing large water changes to control nutrients. Which I am pretty sure it will work.
I would suggest looking at some Biodigest. Put a vial in the tank, and a vial into the reactor every few days to seed it and it will probably work out without carbon but yeah it all depends. In my tank all I use is biological filtration and algae growth to remove unwanted nutrients.
I feed heavy and even used to have a little shark that i fed chunks of silversides and raw shrimp. I have also had a clown die and i never found it to remove it and it never caused an issue.
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
How it suppose to look. The height of each tower depends on your available working height (for easy carbon dosing). I would recommend at least 18" high. You can make it higher or use bigger diameter PVC pipe but make sure the media sizes are increased as well. Bigger pipe with smaller media sizes will clog once bacteria grows in there. If having another pump for the reactor is not on your setup list, just tee-off your return or overflow pipe. My small fountain pump failed on me recently (leaky circuit tripping my main electrical switch) so I just drill a hole and fit in the hose.
Just a thought, add 100'x 1/4" plastic black tubing, before reactor /denitrator. Helps remove oxygen before reactor/denitrator.
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
Right, the pump has 1/4 connection , would need prefilter, for no issues. The effluent came out at 150ml @ 1 minute. Of course you want drip flow. Good point . Thanks for info
MaccaPopEye
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I'm still waiting on some more media (ceramic bio balls to go in with the ceramic rings I already have) but in the mean time I have 3D printed a top and bottom cap for my nitrate destroyer so it is a bit cleaner.
I have uploaded the STL files to thingiverse in case any one else wants to print one out. It fits 80mm PVC pipe from Bunnings in Australia. I'm not sure if it can be easily scaled to fit American PVC pipe sizes however if you are interested then modeling it yourself won't take long and it is a great thing for a beginner to try and 3D model.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2937243
I've printed it in PLA and it is water tight. I have heard mixed results with the longevity of PLA in a reef tank but I am half way through enclosing my printer so if it works well then the next one can be printed in ABS.
The bottom piece has a 25mm hole for water to flow between the towers and the top two aren't connected. In the top piece there is a high intake and a hole in the top for a carbon source on the left and a low outlet on the right.
I'm going to leave the top as remove able but lightly silicone the bottom in place. Only other things to do are drill the matching intake and outlet holes in the PVC pipe and fill it up with media!
I have uploaded the STL files to thingiverse in case any one else wants to print one out. It fits 80mm PVC pipe from Bunnings in Australia. I'm not sure if it can be easily scaled to fit American PVC pipe sizes however if you are interested then modeling it yourself won't take long and it is a great thing for a beginner to try and 3D model.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2937243
I've printed it in PLA and it is water tight. I have heard mixed results with the longevity of PLA in a reef tank but I am half way through enclosing my printer so if it works well then the next one can be printed in ABS.
The bottom piece has a 25mm hole for water to flow between the towers and the top two aren't connected. In the top piece there is a high intake and a hole in the top for a carbon source on the left and a low outlet on the right.
I'm going to leave the top as remove able but lightly silicone the bottom in place. Only other things to do are drill the matching intake and outlet holes in the PVC pipe and fill it up with media!
Ponraj A
RIP Mr.Donovan
Woow Looking amazing man !!!!I'm still waiting on some more media (ceramic bio balls to go in with the ceramic rings I already have) but in the mean time I have 3D printed a top and bottom cap for my nitrate destroyer so it is a bit cleaner.
I have uploaded the STL files to thingiverse in case any one else wants to print one out. It fits 80mm PVC pipe from Bunnings in Australia. I'm not sure if it can be easily scaled to fit American PVC pipe sizes however if you are interested then modeling it yourself won't take long and it is a great thing for a beginner to try and 3D model.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2937243
I've printed it in PLA and it is water tight. I have heard mixed results with the longevity of PLA in a reef tank but I am half way through enclosing my printer so if it works well then the next one can be printed in ABS.
The bottom piece has a 25mm hole for water to flow between the towers and the top two aren't connected. In the top piece there is a high intake and a hole in the top for a carbon source on the left and a low outlet on the right.
I'm going to leave the top as remove able but lightly silicone the bottom in place. Only other things to do are drill the matching intake and outlet holes in the PVC pipe and fill it up with media!
trinisteve
New Member
The nitrates won't know what hit them. Amazing!I'm still waiting on some more media (ceramic bio balls to go in with the ceramic rings I already have) but in the mean time I have 3D printed a top and bottom cap for my nitrate destroyer so it is a bit cleaner.
I have uploaded the STL files to thingiverse in case any one else wants to print one out. It fits 80mm PVC pipe from Bunnings in Australia. I'm not sure if it can be easily scaled to fit American PVC pipe sizes however if you are interested then modeling it yourself won't take long and it is a great thing for a beginner to try and 3D model.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2937243
I've printed it in PLA and it is water tight. I have heard mixed results with the longevity of PLA in a reef tank but I am half way through enclosing my printer so if it works well then the next one can be printed in ABS.
The bottom piece has a 25mm hole for water to flow between the towers and the top two aren't connected. In the top piece there is a high intake and a hole in the top for a carbon source on the left and a low outlet on the right.
I'm going to leave the top as remove able but lightly silicone the bottom in place. Only other things to do are drill the matching intake and outlet holes in the PVC pipe and fill it up with media!
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!
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!
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