Cleartides
Nitrate N150

Filling the Reactor:

1. Unscrew the wings nuts and screws and lift lid gently and remove lid.
2. Place the yellow media on bottom blue sponge.
3. Push ‘O’ ring and then the white disk approx. ½ way down the central downpipe and push sponge on top.
4. Place calcium media on top of the blue sponge.
5. Refit the lid carefully and gently tighten screws. Do not over tighten as this will damage screws and may cause unwanted leaks from the gasket. A gently pressure on the gasket is required.
4. Screw pvc union into position on lid.

Set up:

1.	Fit Tee Piece to required supply pump outlet. 
2.	Connect the Airline from the Tee Piece to Central inlet hose of nitrate reactor.
3.	Fit the piping to pvc outlet and feed to the Aquarium or Sump. Fit control valve.
4.	Add power to pump and open exit valve till 1 drip per 3 seconds is achieved.

Drip Rate flow:

Allow 1 drip per 3 seconds till nitrate level reads 5ppm through the reactor; this will usually take 1-2 weeks to complete. Increase flow to reactor to 1 drip per 2 seconds for a further 1-2 weeks or when the nitrate level again read near 0ppm. 
Increase to 1 drip per second for 1-2 weeks or when the nitrate reads 5ppm and so on.
Following this basis continue to increase the flow rate to its maximum flow of approx. 4 litres per hour or where the nitrate levels cease to drop.  

Note:
 
1. A Pre filter is recommended. This will collect and stop detritus from entering the reactor, spoiling the efficiency of the Nitrate reactor.
2. The Nitrate reactor may produce nitrates for the initial set up period. We recommend you run the effluent from the reactor into a container rather than run into your system until the reactor begins to mature, as nitrates may run high during this period
3. Vertical Position of Reactor is required.
4. Check the ph coming from the reactor periodically. If ph is running low, extra buffering maybe required. Run the effluent over coral sand etc to higher ph before entering the aquarium.

The unit can take from 7-10 days up to a number of weeks to commission and as this is a natural biological process it can not be rushed. When the temperature is low, near 17 C and if the nitrate is below 25 mg/l it may take longer to start working. At higher temperatures the bacterial growth rate will increase considerably.

It is possible ultimately to increase the flow rate to 10 litres per hour. We recommend as the flow increases that you wait four days with near zero reading before moving on.

It is possible under the right conditions to further increase the performance of the Nitrate NO3 filter up to a maximum output of 15 litres per hour when there is a high concentration of Nitrate NO3 in the water. The Nitrate will fall but it will take a little longer and will require less buffering.

Buffering: The water leaving Nitrate media has a very low PH, approximately 6 to 6.5, or lower in fresh water. This water passes through the calcium based media to raise the PH before entering the aquarium, as well as adding calcium and minerals in the process, so working as a calcium reactor would.

If you exceed at any time the maximum flow rate until the bacterial colony can deal with it then you will add oxygen, raise the redox and the system will crash requiring you to start again.