How to make a Nitrate Reactor out of a Calcium Reactor
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- Опубліковано 18 вер 2024
- Today we are using the Calcium reactor we purchased and converting it to a Nitrate Reactor. I also DIY a custom stand for it. Feel free to leave a comment below and thanks for watching!!
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Appreciate your work and I have definitely learned something from this video. I am currently battling HIGH NO3 and PO4 after a H2O2 treatment for 12 weeks and absolute heavy feedings. NO3 tipping on the NYOS Nitrate Kit and PO4 the Hanna can’t even read and flashing at 2.5ppm. I will definitely buy the Aquamaxx CaRx and use that as the Sulphur De-Nitrator to reduce NO3 and not worry about not feeding enough to all my fin friends. Once again thank you for sharing.
You're welcome. Thanks for watching 👀
Very nice video Jon! Looks like you are ready to open your very own aquarium shop! 🤟🤔😁 Very cool to see you have dropped your nitrates to 40 already so quickly! I know that was something you really wanted to address. I’d have to say I am not only a hardcore Reefer but am addicted one to the hobby.
Thanks Jonas. The lower reading is just coming from the reactor not the whole system but it shows the system is working. It will take time to cut into the nitrates but we should be set up now to do so.
I use a T peice off a return pump with tap after then a tap on outlet, you can ballance the pressure better to give a good drip on outlet, tricky to get dialed in, the media takes a long while to get going and you may need more media to keep a good drip rate at zero nitrates.
Awesome!
Thank you!
Great video, funny thing is I wanna do the opposite lmao should work i think we shall see
Good luck
Horrrayyyyy for lower nitrates!!
Making progress. The lower reading was from the reactor not the main water volume. 👍
🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
That’s great you got your nitrates down👍 I know it’s been a long haul for you. And yes I’m a hard core reefer. Great Video Jon.
You are hardcore. Thanks for watching. The nitrates are coming down but not there yet.
Lol, always thought I was a hardcore reefer, and now I know for sure! This was really interesting. At the ideal flow rate you’re targeting, how long do you think it would take to turn over the entire system volume? Would it take a year do you think? If it does take a long time, is it going to be effective in the long term, i.e. will the reactor keep up with whatever is contributing nitrates? I’m a big fan of redundancy, taking parallel steps to accomplish control, so I can see where this reactor would work in concert with the chaeto to contribute to nitrate control. It’ll be interesting to see what happens. 👍🏻👍🏻
I am always happy to confirm how hardcore you are. Haha. At one drip per second it would take years. Eventually the bacteria will continue to populate as long it something to feed on. I dont know for sure but I am hoping I would get to a steady stream at some point. I also agree with using multiple ways to accomplish something. When my nitrates get under control I can make small adjustments from there. Thanks for watching Cindy
Any update on this? I have seen a few people struggle with keeping ORP down and having a decent flow rate. I wonder if the trick is leaving it totally closed for a few weeks until the ORP is super negative and then speeding up the drip. Im building a bigger sulfur denitrator right now (current one doesnt do much at its drip rate).
I added more media about 12 days ago so now the reactor is full. I kinda started the clock over with the bacteria but i can tell i am going to achieve a higher flow rate with more media. Right now i am back to keeping the reactor to 1 to 2 drips a second until the bacteria population grows more. I have seen the orp drop as low as negative 170 but there the flow had slowed.
👊👍
Thanks Rico!
#HARDCOREREEFER :)
Looks like a good design. Is it common to add the aragonite rubble? I think it would help add surface area for the bacteria. Does the effluent smell like sulfur? I had some live rock in a bucket for 2 weeks with no flow and it was smelly lol. #trulyahardcorereefer
No smell from the effluent. If there was I would need to increase the flow. The aragonite serves a few purposes. One as another place for the bacteria to grow, two it will help buffer the water as the chemical process of converting the nitrates leaves a reduction in alkalinity. It is the one negative side effect to the reactors. I will have to keep a closer eye on Alk. The 3rd is it helps hold the sulfur media in place. We do not want any tumbling. You are truly a hard core reefer!
How long does it last before you have to change the media
Sulfur Media should last at least 5 years or longer. It doesn't really break down but provide a surface for anaerobic bacteria to grow.
Great video,
After it was set up and the drip rate kept slowing down to 1 every 10 second, did you increase it back to 1 per second or leave it for a few days?
Thanks
Letting it slow down seems to work best. Eventually mine looks cloudy white on the inside of the reactor. Then I turn the flow back up.
Blue Carbon Reefing
Ok thanks for your reply, I’ll leave mine be for a few days and see what happens. It’s newly set up and keeps slowing down.
Blue Carbon Reefing
Oh, have you got it up and running now?
@@si8780 yes it is working great
Are you still using this system? and if so, how much did you notice your alkalinity drop when using this? was the aragonite in it enough to offset any alkalinity lost? I am just about to go live with this system, just wanted to get some final info on it before I go Live..thanks!
Forgot to mention I don't have a reef, just a predator tank with eels, lions, etc...but high nitrates and don't want to hurt the fish if the alkalinity drops more than am expecting...let me know..thanks
I am no longer using the system. I didn't notice any alk loss but I have a very high water volume. 1320 gallons now. 1250 then. It should work great. Just keep an eye on your Phosphates. The system will need some phosphates to work properly in my opinion. When I was below .03 phosphates I dont think it worked very well
@@BlueCarbonReefing thanks for the info...did you find that your phosphates got low, and did you dose phosphate back then? I don't have a reef, just predators like eels, lions, grouper...but the nitrates get high pretty fast and as you know water changes help but not like you want....
After I started dosing phosphates my nitrates started dropping.. before I dosed i couldn't get them down
@@BlueCarbonReefing thats grear information...what product do you reccomend and how much to dose in case i need to do that?
Im not a reefer yet. Just looking for some other methods of reducing nitrates. Atm im been a freshwater guys.
Come over to the dark side. 😉
After a new setup ,how long dose it take for your nitrate to start dropping down?
Normally it can take a few weeks for the denitrifying bacteria to build up to start to notice the drop
Blue Carbon Reefing Thanks for your reply.
@@MegaTheo1974 you're welcome!
Blue Carbon Reefing, Hi my Nitrates are dropping now, my KH is also dropping too fast, what will i do to stop the KH from dropping, in my Reactor i have the following media’s Sulphur beads =500mls and Calcium media =500mls the volume of my tank is 400L,Cheers
@@MegaTheo1974 Is your calcium dropping or just your alk? I have read the reaction causes your alk to drop. I would simply dose extra alk to keep it in line.
Hi great video, I’m building my diy sulphur reactor for a 17000lt Aquarium, is it ok when putting calcium and sulphur in reactor that I mix the 2 together?
Are you referring to aragonite or calcium reactor media? If so that is completely fine.
Blue Carbon Reefing yes same one your using in your video
@@joebasile267 yes you can definitely mix it together however I dont think it helped or hurt anything by mixing it.
Blue Carbon Reefing I’m thinking because I have such a huge reactor 60lt with 30lt sulphur 30lt aragonite , I was worried that if put the sulphur on its own it might get some dead spots the aragonite mixed through it would hopefully flow water a lot easier?
@@joebasile267 that is why the reactors have a recirculating pump to help prevent channeling and dead spots but you could be on to something