So this bottle of de-Nitrate is good for 100gallons…well, thats about perfect for me, so why not just use itself as a reactor. It’d be better than putting it in a sock, and I’m pretty sure there is nowhere in my crowded sump for another sock full of rocks so…lets repurpose. It took longer to wash the rock’s than to do this setup.
Only modification was to add silicone over the superglue…it did drip only out of the lid as the teflon tape didn’t work so I just siliconed the crap out of the lid…not really an issue since its over the sump but hey… Its air tight now too. If i close off the valve completely, it halts the siphon. I had to cut a little slit at the top of the bottle to bleed off air so I could fill the canister with tank water to start it. I’ve since silicone’d over it.
$6 for the valve, $2ea for the speed fittings. Used the speed fittings with the 6 sided hex bottoms for increased surface area for gluing.
Got to love cheap DIY stuff. Not the best looking but effective, that is what matters. Do you have a pump feeding it, or some how just gravity siphon? Hope it works out.
Totally just a gravity siphon w/ the valve metering the flow. The 1/4" water line is secure to the teeth in my overflow box about 1/8th of an inch below the water line…just in case. Agreed, its not sexy, but it works, and the flow is nice and slow. Manufacturer wants less than 50gph thru the media.
Not yet. Bio-load is just the Green Chromis who gets fed minimally 2x a day. The reason I hold out hope for accuracy on the API test kit is when I test my DI top off water. Granted there isn’t any salt in it, so I don’t know for sure if this skews the results or not.
I have Old and New tank syndrome at the same time! I’m WINNING!
Source of the Nitrates was the tap water I filled the tank with…atleast 20ppm of it. I’ve done 40gallons worth of water changes over the last month to try and thin it out with DI/salt mix post setting up the RODI system. For now I don’t feel like another water change is worth it, so I’m gonna let it coast on the Bio/de-nitrate for awhile. Until then, Solo the Green Chromis will remain…Solo
Have you tried tossing some microbacter7 or other alternative in, I have dropped my nitrate from 20 ppm down to 0 overnight (right after my cycle).
With the biopellets I read that they need both phosphate and nitrate in order to colonize. Someone can correct me if i’m wrong, but maybe the biopellets are stalled because of a lack of phosphates?
My API test kits have never failed me as far as the saltwater master tests go…
BioPellets were brought online June 3rd, so its only been 8days. I’m guessing they need more time than that to come online. I’ll checkout the Microbacter7. It feels more like i’m beating my tank into submission rather then letting nature take its course, doh! Probably just requires more patience on my end.
