[OzIA]

I have been doing extensive water tests on the system over the past week, with salt water. I’ve been transferring water from each side at higher than normal running levels to stress test the seams. Everything looks good, including my repairs.

The lights on the refugium look good and I’ve tested the tumbling effect with some chaeto.

I also ran the bioreactor stir, extensively and without issues. I still don’t have it completely filled (only 1600 balls out of the full volume of 2400) but everything looks good. The water causes the balls to float ,which reduces the necessary torque. I added a tensioner pulley for the wet belt. Also, there was no moisture transfer between the wet and dry belts during the tests so I am pleased that result as well.

I fine tuned the flow of the process and flush pumps and adjusted the float switch heights. I also removed one of the three floats. I had a ¾ inch fitting on the process pump that went straight into the inlet side of the reactor, so it was running at zero head. The water level was about 2 ½ inches higher than the reactor compartment so I went to a 5/8 fitting and that dropped it down to about 2 inches above. I then, went on down to ½ inch and it looks better at about 1 inch above the water level in the bioreactor. I set the first float switch height to trigger at 2” so when the biofilm builds up to the point where the water goes from 1 to 2 inches, it should trigger a stir and flush cycle. I’m guessing the Syncra Silent 1.5 process pump will be running around 200 to 250 gph with this flow reduction. That should turn the entire chamber over about 10 times per hour.

I also adjusted the flush cycle, reducing the Syncra 2.0 flush pump, from ¾ inches to 5/8 inches. This gives me about 3 inches difference between chambers and the top float, which will stop the pump if it reaches 5 inches. I am figuring this new flow rate will be in the 400 gph range. I will also trigger a reduction in speed of the Waveline variable speed return pump to compensate for the transfer of water into the bioreactor, during the flush cycle. This will prevent the water in the return chamber from dropping too low and causing the pumps to suck air.

I also added a cleanout port in the back of the bioreactor. This is my biggest regret, not considering this during construction. At least I did catch it before I installed it. The cleanout port allows me to run a round brush, on the end of a flexible shaft, into the distribution / stirring pipe for cleanout. I assume that biofilm will eventually build up inside the 1 inch pipe and will need to be cleaned. I can see into it from the front so that is one positive takeaway. Hopefully this doesn’t happen too often but it was one of the maintenance steps called for in the DyMiCo system, which some of this is based on. If I had 20/20 hindsight, I would have put this port up front for easier access and actually incorporated it into the sump, rather than having to go through the outer 3/8 inch wall. The second regret was that I didn’t use a larger size for the distribution / stirring pipe.

I also wish I had added a second pump at the bottom of the bioreactor that would have allowed me to pump it down completely. This would have been a, “nice to have” for cleanout and maintenance but also from an experimental perspective, I would like to have been able to completely empty the chamber once the ORP reached it’s target level, before adding the next batch of water, just to see what the results were.

I plan to pull out the old (version 2) system and install the new one this weekend. I will update once complete.