DIY Denitrification Project.

bkv1997

bkv1997

Reef enthusiast
Pictures of David and I preparing a DIY Denitrification unit for the next meeting. Will edit this and post petter pictures/instructions after the meeting, just some action shots and fun photos for now.

pipe2DIY_thumb.jpg


PipeDIY_thumb.jpg


CapDIY_thumb.jpg
 
Last edited:
dang i shrunk the picture to small look closely at the last picture and you can see my amazing photoshop skills :)
 
yea david is great at coiling 75' of tube in a 4" PVC pipe.

I recommend everyone gets him to help you with that part of the project, he has a real natural tallent with that.

Thanks for all your help david.
 
I would make a few suggestions for these directions.

First you can buy the tube already coiled from Harbor Freight for $1.99 but it still comes in 25 feet sections so you still have to connect 3 together after cutting off the metal connectors. Getting it IN the big pipe is much easier becuase it's already coiled.

Also if you try hard you can find flat caps or spigots for the ends of the big pipe without the bow that the cap shown has. A bonus is you dont have to use the knockout version for the bottom. But the biggest advantage of this is because then you can use a small bulkhead for the tube passthrough with two reducer tube connectors instead of relying on glue. Polyethelene is highly resistent to glue. In fact most consumer grade glues are shipped in polyethylene bottles. God bless you if you can get your hands on indutrial 3M polyethelene glue, if so send me a tube.

I reccommend throwing a healthy amount of 5 min epoxy on the connections as well because you won't be able to peek in later to make sure it's still connected.

Also, make sure you use a pvc cleaner and coat the pvc connections really well with pvc glue.
 
that sounds good to, but id probably keep the bottom the same, gives more support for the base. I was wondering myself, if there was a reason you used a dome top?
 
He probably used a dome because that's the most readily available cap for the pipe. Sure there might be some microscopic advantage to being able to put the outflow at he very top of the dome but I think that's outweighed by the danger of leaks from not having a flat surface for the passthrough to seal against.

As for the bottom My concern with a knockout is that it is specifically designed to be knocked out. True they are probably strong enough for this application but they are very thin where they are designed to break. It's probably fine though. I'd probably strap it to something anyway becuase it would be easy to knock over even with a foot so I figure you don't need a "foot" anyway. I like to make things smaller given a choice to give me more options on where to stick it and I can forsee the foot being annoying under a tank.

THe key for me is the ability to get a good seal you can trust on the passthrough I think.
 
i thought about sealing it like you said. If all you want out of the flat top is the seal, take the dome cover and sand down the top just enough so its flat. Then drill the hole. This way you get the dome with the best seal, since the scuffed up surface will hold sealant better anyways :bounce:

starting mine this coming weekend.
 
I am very interested in this project, the question i have is since i dont have a sump or anywhere to have the coil drip into by gravity, is there a low power pump available to do the job for me?

Brian
 
I always wondered if on couldn't simply use a diverter from the main return pump with a small valve to regulate how much pressure goes through the denitrator. Obviously the high pressure side connections would have to be clamped pretty good but this would eliminate the need for another pump.

BTW, I noticed that Northern tool now has a sheap 50 foot poly hose which might be enough to avoid piecing your internal coil together.
 
I would think that would also work well.

The onlything I noticed was all that tubing bunched up tight, even with the rio 600 wasn't pumping alot of water through it. So timothy's idea might be better, but I wouldn't go any smaller.

They sell those T kits at champion lighting etc for feeding a Calcium Reactor.

Brandon
 
Walmart has a yellow coil used for air compressors for less than ten bucks. I just cut off the brass nozzle fitting and it was perfect for my DIY coil denitrator. It took 6 weeks for my coil to age to where I recorded 0 nitrates in the output drip.
 
I did it for about 4 months and it worked great, but got rid of it when setting up the new system. I now have a bigger skimmer, which helped.

The only draw back to using the tubing suggested is it is a bigger diameter and if you don't have 100% of the oxygen deprived by the time it gets to the end you will kill the anarobic bacteria that resides in the middle part of the chamber.

So a slower drip rate would probably be needed.
 

Similar threads

Mike
  • Sticky
New Member (Owner 😲)
Replies
0
Views
720
Mike
Mike
Mike
We're Back!
Replies
0
Views
651
Mike
Mike
drm180
LPS frag ID
Replies
0
Views
2K
drm180
drm180
Sashimi
75 gallon LPS 2.0 suggestions
Replies
0
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Sashimi
75G LPS 2.0
Replies
2
Views
2K
Sashimi
Sashimi
Back
Top