HFP75's - 55 Galllon

[Kryptic4L]

also you might want to do some googling about ceramic rings, as it appears you have a large amount of them in your sump. Alledegely they can become nitrate factorys if not maintained.

[hfp75]

Good Point, the ceramic rings and SeaChem Matrix is gone - and sump cleaned. Before I run the coil I'll test nitrates.... Dont worry.

Well, back to the denitrate coil. Yesterday I finished all the plumbing for the "IN" side of it. Not much working room and things in there are tight. Here is a before pic.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscbc849a8.jpg

I had to use a 90degree connecter to get the bits together, but there shouldnt be 'much' water moving through this thing so... it should be good. I might hate myself for using the internal barbed connecter (even narrower and more flow restriction) much like the other 90 connecter at the bottom. Maybe I should have used the double female quick connect push connector. We will see with time.

Here is an after shot & you can see some silicone - GE1 (windows/doors) just enough to keep the tubes inside from moving or shifting.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps8b63cf5a.jpg

I finished work on the top cap BUT dropped it and now I am re-JB Welding it. I think it would have been fine without more JB but I'll add just a bit more - never hurts. Pics on the next post.

All thats left is to glue on the top cap, add in BIO BALLS (I'm still searching for some - Hint Hint Hint) & screw on the bottem cover.

It will need 2 hoses hooked up and a week or 2 to cycle. Then we will see.

[hfp75]

OK well here is the promised picture of the topcap. You can clearly see the 2 grey colors. That is the second batch of the JB Weld that will hold that bulkhead in place. I needed to reinforce the top cap just a bit with an extra layer of pvc.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...ps81969446.jpg

Hopefully next pic and update has the Cap glued on and bioballs in.

[michika]

This is pretty cool. I remember trying to make one of these way way way back in the day. Sadly it wasn't successful for me, however I still think the idea is very interesting and I'm excited to see someone succeed with it.

[hfp75]

OK, 'jettawagon' was kind enough to let me fill this thing with some of his surplus bioballs. THANKS!!!

Next, I glued on the top cap and tightened up the bottom access. Voilà its done!

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...psf47d9482.jpg

I have an extra 260 gph pump sitting here so hooked it all up. I got the pump in the bucket and filled it with water. Problem, as you know we need alot of pressure to "Prime" this thing and get out all the air bubbles. I'll admit (as it wasn't working) I was fearful of a dis-assembly. After finding a large syringe, I was able to pressure infuse by hand the water that was needed into the 75' of coiled hose (inside), to prime it. After that the pump worked great and I was able to easily fill the rest of it up with tap water. It is sitting recirculating water from the bucket. With a 260gph it has a steady flow out but no pressure.

http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m...pscdc60c7a.jpg

There are a few things outstanding still. The hoses leak a bit where it attaches to the denitrater, I need to get 2 hose clamps (this is easy). Also, I think that the screw on bottom cover might dribble (leak) a bit. I'll try tightening it up & if that doesn't work, silicone. I think so that I can sleep at night (fearing a leak) I'll use the silicone, but it might make it really hard to get back into - lets hope I don't need to. (I'll silicone just a bit for a seal but not the threads!)

I need to open it, dry it, silicone it, let it dry/cure, ventilate it, and then I think it'll be water time again. This will be a few days & I'll save some water from the next water change to help back fill the new volume that I need.

[hfp75]

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.

[hfp75]

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

[asylumdown]

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?

[hfp75]

Well, I have not really had nuisance algae at all. Every now and then I get a bit of algae built up on the sand, but usually that is under the tube anemone, as none of the snails or sand sifting star fish will go under there to stir up the sand (I'll just do it with my fingers every few weeks). Rarely will I find much for algae, I have only suffered from high NO3 from the mixed reef tank.

I debated vodka, sugar, bioballs/pellets & IO NO3 reducer, but in the end the 'COIL' looked best as there were no additives, just loads of anaerobic bacteria. Less overall cost!!!! Plus, if the additives run out (in the tank/system) you have a bacterial crash as they don't have the carbon to live on. This way, if the 'COIL' is removed or shuts down it just reverts back to aerobic bacteria and the existing anaerobic that is in the tank. No massive die off. All my bacteria live on their own. You could say that dosing is like steroids, but dosing doesn't only effect bacteria. So, the potential mess/crash if there are carbon issues (runs out, or changes in concentration) could be monumental!!! Hence why I steered away from it.

No Additives, no increased cost, less chance of a crash....

My cost to build the coil was about $50 bucks plus the pump, hose & inline ball valves.