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I did the excat same here. 1ml per 24hr and my 1/4" rodi vale is fully open. My No3 went to 0, but now back up at 5ppm, target 10ppm.has anybody ever removed reactor media because his DND outperforms? I dose currently 1 ml VSV per day with maximum flow. Nitrates are 3 ppm now, target 10 ppm.
So I have decided to give this a shot because like many people on here the nitrates in my tank have been consistently high 80-100+ basically since I started the tank two years ago.
Here is the reactor I built. Hopefully it would make Donovan proud!
It's 3 inch pvc in 24" sections so I didn't have to cut them! The media inside is all one inch ceramic rings with some rubble rock at the bottom of each chamber. I just started the vodka dosing yesterday (5ml broken into 4 doses throughout the day).
I am having a bit of trouble dialing the flow down low enough. Part of that is because I teed off my reactor pump plumbing with a 3/4" ball valve which is not ideal for adjustment. I have a 3/8" valve coming to get better adjustment.
I am also wondering if my effluent line is a tad too large? Especially the barb attached to the reactor.
Final question would be do I need a strong seal at the top? Right now I have caps on the top but they aren't glued down. Wondering if that is sufficient to keep an anaerobic zone?
I am actually not too far off from that size. I have 3/16 ID tubing. RO tubing is 5/32. I have it at a steady trickle today. I think at the barb there is no air getting in but it's tough to tell.I did the excat same here. 1ml per 24hr and my 1/4" rodi vale is fully open. My No3 went to 0, but now back up at 5ppm, target 10ppm.
I'm leaving mine installed so i have something ready if needed.
i would reduce the effluent to 1/4" rodi, easy to get hold of a reducer and a 1/4" valve to control the flow. This will prevent air gettin back into the anerobic side
I was thinking of using a silicon grease or something like that to create a seal but not permanent.i would see if you could get a fitting to allow a screw top or something, just incase pressure builds up, but it looks like a good build.
How long you been running it and have whats your no3 in DT and reactor?
I tested this morning and no change in NO3. If anything it looks higher (which I believe is a good sign from somewhere I read in this thread.)before you change anything, give it a day or 2, test the reactor. if the reactor drops from your DT then you're on the right track. For me my reactor dropped slowly but a decrease was a decrease so i was happy. Flow really is the key. The more mature the reactor the better the performance.
if it starts to smell of sulphate (eggs) increase the flow a bit. i would recommend placing the effluent in a filter sock to catch the bacteria slime.
Too much carbon and the risk is a bacteria bloom or the DND clogging up from slime.
I tested this morning and no change in NO3. If anything it looks higher (which I believe is a good sign from somewhere I read in this thread.)
I also realized I can't even seal part of the reactor as I need to add the bacteria (I'm using seachem stability).
Hopefully when I return from my trip next week I will see a difference.
It looks like I am on track. Here are my nitrate readings from today. Looks like the reactor is working! Now how would I go about determining a maintenance dose? I am still doing the 5 mls over 4 doses throughout the day.Good news for the reduced flow/bacteria build up, means your on the right track. Try and avoid it blocking up. I used the API nitrate for High readings, really easy to use and to seeing the different colours. then once it drops to less than 10ppm I switched to salifert.
test your dt and reactor at the same time and compare the results. The OP said to test 1hr after dosing, I however liked to test just before dosing to see what the reactor is running at.
If u test 1 hr after dosing you will know if the reactor is working or not.
The slower the flow the better the performance the more bacteria build up.
Yes I assumed this would be a lot like tuning my calcium reactor. The feedback is just a bit slower though. I agree I've got about 10ppm effluent and 5-10 is where I would like my tank to be.Good to hear. It looks like you pretty much got it where it should be. You don't want the dt 0, so depending on what you no3 target is. 10ppm is a good target and by the picture it looks to be that.
give it a week and if the DT hasn't dropped further you could either try and get the reactor closer to 0 by either slowing the flow or increasing the dose.
For me the flow was the key. keep an eye on the effluent that it doesn't block, but the slower the flow the better the performance. As long as no air goes into the anaerobic chamber. As the reactor matures further you should be able to increase the flow and lower the dose.
its just a balancing act