Well, its been a few days (busy working). I did a water change yesterday and kept the old water with nutrients for this project. It took a long time to get it primed again with old tank water. Lots of manual priming (pushing out air bubbles). (I've got a heater and no pump in the bucket as there is enough extra circulation already from the pump in there.)

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps9f7166c4.jpg

After a gymnastics event with it, the air is gone (I think) and its dripping old tank water at about a drip a second. The rate was hard to get as the valve isn't obviously rated for such precision. You can maybe see a slow drop forming....

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf2e9b2f8.jpg

I'm getting the Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrate readings from the bucket of water. Just so we have something to compare against.

:-) Lets see if this thing works.

Here are my levels as of today
Ammonia - 0-0.25
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 20

I know that the colors don't really come through that great.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps6aec1310.jpg

ON 10/19

I tested the NITRATEs and the test came back so 'Dark Red' I was concerned about what was going on - but I left it to just run and do its thing. I am figuring it is part of the initial cycle. (I didn't take a picture)

I will guess that...

Nitrates - 100 ppm

Today I tested the water again and am very happy with the results!

Nitrates - 5-10 (This is easily a reduction of 75 ppm)
Phosphates - 0.25 (maybe a bit less & not far from the source water)
Ph - 7.9 (a bit low but there is no light/photosynthesis in the bucket)

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pse8e2097d.jpg

All water samples were taken from the return hose and not the bucket of water. If the Nitrates are just dropping now from the massive 100 and I'm sitting at 5-10 I am very happy. I'll give it another few days and we will see where things are at.

I hope that when I check it again Nitrates are a Zero from the return line and the bucket. The phosphates are easily correctable with Rowaphos & the Ph I can correct with some buffer.

Lets wait and see........

Tonight I tested the water again and I'm ecstatic with the results!

Nitrates - 0 (No interpretation needed)
Phosphates - 0.25 (maybe a bit less & not far from the source water)
Ph - 7.9 (should self correct once its in the tank water circulation, plus its holding at 7.9 and not dropping.)

ONLY CHANGE IS NITRATES TO A ZERO!!!!

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa1e28a0e.jpg

All water samples were taken from the return hose and not the bucket of water. The Nitrates have dropped from the massive 100 and I'm sitting at ZERO!!!!!!! It first started running its cycle on the 17th and by today the 28th, it looks to be running (fully cycled).

Time to add this thing into the tank circulation and monitor it & the tank!

Update....
 

This post my indicate it is working...... have a read.

Well, its time for another update, it has been 19 days and I think we are on track. On day 15 I noticed a slight drop in NO3 from the return line coming from the denitrate coil - not enough that I was excited. I have been keeping nitrates about 40-50 so there is a constant supply to culture the anaerobic bacteria in the denitrate coil. Yesterday I did a small water change just to freshen up the tank water. This dropped my tank NO3 to 20.

In the last few days I have noticed twice that when I examine the return line it has stopped flowing & so I adjust it again for a small drip. Understand that I have not tampered with the valve restricting flow to decrease it. I am hypothesizing that the slimy barrier has formed inside and that small buildup has clogged the small opening in the ball valve - hence stopping or blocking the flow. Thus twice I have adjusted the flow to a slow drip... about 3 drips in 2 seconds - very hard to get right - but I don't want to get a flood of O2 rich tank water into the coil for fear of altering the bacterial cultures that are O2 void. I also think that the slime layer that is forming is also where all the anaerobic bacteria will basically be thriving.

So, in short, I think the slimy smooth coating is formed or forming and the anaerobic bacteria now in turn is establishing itself. Here is the latest NO3 values.

Tank NO3 - 20ppm
Denitrate Coil return Line NO3 - 5 ppm

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps389de736.jpg

Lets just wait a bit longer and keep our eye on things to see how this progresses. There is no other way the return line would be less than the tank supply line unless the NO3 was being consumed inside the coil.

Question is - Am I running it to fast and the 2 stoppages have allowed the consumption of NO3? or is it just starting to work? either way I will post updates. I may need to slow down the flow a bit.... but I'll wait for now and see what happens.

The second question is when is this tank journal going to see some tank photos? :biggrin:

You have a good point, I will take a few pics of the tank....

UPDATE on the denitrate coil.... ( I really do hope this works better than a DSB!!!!!!!!!!!!)

I added in another inline ball valve to allow better control over flow restriction. It worked well, I was able to bring down the flow just a tiny bit more.

Today I tested the coil return water and the tank water and here is the results.... (no new H2O changes either)

Tank - NO3 - between 15-20 (just under a 20 by my eye)
Coil - NO2 - looks like a ZERO to me.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps981c46ac.jpg

There have been no noticeable changes to my Ph as I check my Apex for its readings (graphing weekly).

So, it looks to now be working. I will give it another week, just like it is and see how my tank NO3 adjusts. Can I combat NO3 production (from the tank) and stay at a 15-20? or will I rise up to a 40? Either way the coil will help. Once I know that the coil is 100% functional & stable I will consider turning it up just a tiny bit if I need to. Maybe next week or a bit after that.

I will try to get some pics of my tank and a current stock list.

Tank...
 

I had a comment about there not really being pics of the tank. So, here is a current shot of it.

The tank:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pse55395cf.jpg

The Sump: (far right -chaeto, skimmer, baffles, smalll pumps, and return pump. I am pumping tank water to a 9w UV, 2LF reactor (rowa & carbon), and the denitrate coil)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa9b77209.jpg

Side shot with the Denitrate Coil: (there is a Tunze ATO with the return pump and the grey basin on the side is the ATO water, the Apex can be seen on the right - floor)
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psa19bb345.jpg

FYI (coil denitrator), I have not done a water change since Nov 15 (26 days) and the NO3 in the tank is still hovering around a 15-20. This thing actually works - its a bit finicky but whatever - now that its running I am not gonna mess with it.

Considering how high your nitrates have been your tank is spectacular, sand is clean, doesn't look over-run with nuisance algae, and those corals are beautiful.

I read about denitrator coils a while back when I was looking in to nutrient control methods for my tank. Just curious, what made you decide to go with this instead of something like organic carbon dosing?

Have you ever struggled with algae, or just high nitrates?