Gimmito's 450 gal L-shaped tank

[aqua-nut]

Nice vid, Jim. I liked seeing you on camera this time.

I gotta ask about that screen to the right of the filter. Looks like you had a dolphin try to jump out!

On a bit more serious note, what do you feel is the advantage of the Vortex over filter socks?

 

[gimmito]

Nice vid, Jim. I liked seeing you on camera this time.

I gotta ask about that screen to the right of the filter. Looks like you had a dolphin try to jump out!

On a bit more serious note, what do you feel is the advantage of the Vortex over filter socks?

Hey John,

Sorry for the late reply.

As you may know socks need to be rotated frequently and can be a nitrate factory if not. The vortex filter is great for polishing the water when needed. It can also filter out much smaller particles than filter socks. My friend Lance Ichinotsubo uses them on all his systems that he maintains.

I hope your tank is doing well.

Jim

 

[Kensington Reefer]

hey Jim
how's the box of water doing?

 

[gimmito]

hey Jim
how's the box of water doing?

On auto pilot E.

 

[gimmito]

I've dosed carbon (vodka/vinegar) for a while now with varied success to keep nitrates in check. Based on some friends in the hobby recommendations, I thought I'd try a H&S sulfur denitrator to help control nitrates. I'm starting off at a drip per second and will adjust accordingly. I'll report periodically how it goes.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Glad to hear from ya!
Happy new years

 

[gimmito]

Glad to hear from ya!
Happy new years

Always a pleasure E. I think I'm due for a visit to "The Shed" one of these days.

 

[rygh]

Interesting on the sulphur denitrator plan.
It is rather funny to think of cleaning a 500+G system one drop at a time.
(Not that you can't, just funny to think about it that way)

 

[gimmito]

Interesting on the sulphur denitrator plan.
It is rather funny to think of cleaning a 500+G system one drop at a time.
(Not that you can't, just funny to think about it that way)

Must be some potent drops.

 

[sfsuphysics]

What's the rocks at the top part? I was thinking it almost looked like half calcium reactor, half denitrinator.

 

[rygh]

Must be some potent drops.

Doing some math:
There are about 20 drops per 1 mL of water.
There are 2,000 liters in a 528G tank.
So about 40,000,000 drops
At 1 drop per second, that means it takes 462 days to do the entire tank.

While that sounds crazy, it is really not so bad.

Looking at the old Randy Holmes Farley data here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/images/Figure10.GIF
It shows what "constant water change" will do, which is pretty much what you are doing
by constantly cleaning the water through the denitrator.
Lets say you want to clean 1.5% per day to make a difference.
Running the math, that is only 7 drops per second.

 

[gimmito]

What's the rocks at the top part? I was thinking it almost looked like half calcium reactor, half denitrinator.

That would be course aragonite media used in calcium reactors. The sulfur will bring down the ph, but placing the aragonite media on top helps buffer it.

 

[Flagg37]

Very interesting.

 

[gimmito]

Doing some math:
There are about 20 drops per 1 mL of water.
There are 2,000 liters in a 528G tank.
So about 40,000,000 drops
At 1 drop per second, that means it takes 462 days to do the entire tank.

While that sounds crazy, it is really not so bad.

Looking at the old Randy Holmes Farley data here:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/images/Figure10.GIF
It shows what "constant water change" will do, which is pretty much what you are doing
by constantly cleaning the water through the denitrator.
Lets say you want to clean 1.5% per day to make a difference.
Running the math, that is only 7 drops per second.

That's a great way of looking at it Marc.

 

[gimmito]

Very interesting.

Sulfur denitrators have been around for a long time. There are so many ways of reducing nitrates such as algae scrubbers, macro algae, deep sand beds, carbon dosing, bio pellets, etc. The key is finding what works best for you.

 

[gimmito]

 

[Flagg37]

I had heard of various methods but it seemed like the most trusted method was just doing water changes. I'd never really done much research on the other methods. Especially since I've really just started out.

 

[gimmito]

I had heard of various methods but it seemed like the most trusted method was just doing water changes. I'd never really done much research on the other methods. Especially since I've really just started out.

Water changes work to a point, but is a good habit to get into. That being said, find what works for you when it comes to dealing with nitrates, phosphates, etc.

Welcome to this addictive hobby!

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Getting down to funky town!

 

[gimmito]

[/URL]
I picked up some rbtas (Thanks Mike!)...hoping to add more clowns down the line.