Nitrate Bio Reactor Build

[Reefscape]

A superb build thread mate....very impressed at your work and documentation...Threads like these are absolutly great for other people who are interested in building equiptment...I'll add this to the sticky list if you like?

Let me know..

 

[pistolpete3521]

Are things living in your tank at 1600 ppm ?

 

[kcress]

Have at it Reefscape. I would be honored!

pistolpete3521; Yes. At this time two 11 year old large fish. Yellow Tang and an Angle fish of some sort.
A cowry and twelve million pods.

The bio reactor is still putting out 20ppm
I just measured my tank for the first time since the start. My tank is down from +1600ppm to exactly 200ppm. BOOyah!

 

[Reefscape]

Have at it Reefscape. I would be honored!

Awsome...Added it to the Equiptment Section.....Thanks

 

[kcress]

Update:

18th day since I started the Bio Reactor up.

Here is the reactor's output.

Here is what my tank is at now, (this is straight tank water no dilution).

I wonder if I will need to actually reduce my media further to prevent starvation...

The output is about 7.4ph which has brought my tank down to 7.6ph

Now that the conversion rate is going to drop I wonder if the output ph will rise. I also wonder if the 200 pounds of crushed coral will rise to the occasion and bring the ph back up. Any suggestions on that guess? Sadly I didn't measure my tank's original ph before running the reactor for a week. (dang!)

 

[kcress]

UPDATE:

After about two months my tank nitrate levels started to fluctuate up and down about 30ppm. (60~30ppm).

The output readings were all over the place. I began to suspect the API test kit. I reviewed my test procedures. I tried other test kits. They seemed to agree.

The tests showed continued nitrite in the output. (1ppm)
I never really saw what I would call a lot of gas. Daily 'bleed offs' were never needed.

I finally came to the conclusion that the fauna in my column was not right. There are subtle battles going on in the microbial world and I believe the ones I was rooting for... lost.

Since I'd deviated from the quasi standard of pretty much only sulfur by including a whole lot of matrix I decided to change things.

I pulled my reactor out of service and cracked it open. I pulled everything out and washed it all in the driveway. I washed all the sulfur out of the matrix and returned the dried matrix to its original container.

I reinstalled the bottom diffusion plate, a media pad on top of that. And then pure sulfur, about half a gallon of the LSM.

I decided some of the bacteria I was seeking would probably be in the bottom of my existing crushed coral base. I got one cup of my base from as far down as I could get it. It was nasty dirty. I poured it in at the top of my column. My theory being that my column was going to select for the bacteria most suited for my sulfur bed. Hopefully it would be the ones I needed.

I followed that cup of CC with a stack of about 3 Scotch Brite pads to prevent the sulfur and the CC from being physically circulated thru my recirculating pump. Even more important is to keep the bed held together solidly. If the particles of your bed can move in any way then they are ground into mush. Sulfur is soft and will turn rapidly to mush if it is agitated. This is bad. You don't want that.

On the top of my last stack of Scotch Brite pads I cut a short piece of the remaining pump inlet hose, (you see in the pictures). I laid this hose on the top of the pads so when I screw the top cap on the hose will be pushed down on the pads holding the stack together snugly - no motion.

I put the unit back in service.
The bottom most outlet is my return to the tank. This is because the bottom of my reactor is where the circulating pump pressure is the highest. This means a line brought back to my tank above the water level will actually provide a discharge. This means either top port can act as the suction drawing tank water into the reactor.

This is the opposite from what I originally envisioned. I initially tried to use the second port down as the outlet. This required an external pump to force water into the bottom - an area of higher pressure.

So to repeat:
Top most port nitrogen outlet bleed. Normally valved off.

Second port down is the column inlet. Water from the tank. Fully open but with a strainer in the tank.

Bottom port is the outlet. It has a valve to control the flow rate out of the bio-reactor back to the tank. (and hence to the reactor from the tank too)

So back to the rebuilt/stacked column:
The first day there was little occurring. The next 24 hrs found my bio reactor's pump cavitating. Because of the clear tubing I could see a huge amount of bubbles being sucked into its inlet. I opened the bleed port and could feel gas coming out. I discovered if I held that tube under my tank's surface I could get a better feel for how much gas. It was about a 1/3 cup.

The next day I was occupied and didn't notice that the pump was fully cavitating and virtually no circulation was occurring. I promptly vented. WOW! It was about 2 cups of gas and there was hydrogen sulfide! I saw this as a great indicator that I had the right bacteria now. About 4 hours later the cavitation was back. Another two cups! No hydrogen sulfide. Another 4 hours and another two cups of gas. This got to where every couple of hours I had to bleed to prevent cavitation.

I measured the output but my tests are now very strange. The first half of the API nitrate test turns the water a burnt orange. This invalidates the test as color is what the test is all about. I don't know what causes this.

I switched to just measuring the tank nitrate. In couple of days it was down to 10ppm in a another 3 days it was down to Z E R O. It now tests zero. Always. The gas production has almost stopped. I haven't had cavitation in a week. Today I bled it just to see. I think there was about 3ml of gas. This perfectly squares with the zero nitrate. There is so little nitrate that there is no nitrogen gas.

It should be noted that on this second run I have never run at anything but 1 drip per second.

I have also noticed the water is much more fizzy! Like just after a water change.

I suspect the low flow rate (1dps) has prevented the huge colony die off that might normally occur when the food(nitrate runs out).

Changes I would make? The required bleed offs were annoying/demanding. If my reactor had more head space at the top inside above the pump suction port then more gas could accumulate before gas would reach the pump. This would make the column taller though.. Now it is not an issue. But you might consider that in your efforts.

Once the tank is low in nitrates you probably don't need a very big column.

If you make your own bio-reactor realize that the outlet can be from anywhere on it that works for you. This is because any actual drip into the column makes hundreds of passes before exiting it.

 

[Morgadeth]

Very cool build thread..
I would recommend adding some sort of schematic drawing (cross section) for better clarification on the assembly, and how the final product should be assembled..