Abstract In this paper, the dynamic behaviors of a competition model in the turbidostat with discrete delay are investigated. The stability of the positive equilibrium and the existence of a Hopf bifurcation are discussed by choosing the delay of digestion as a bifurcation parameter. Furthermore, we determine the direction and stability of the bifurcating periodic solutions by the normal form and the center manifold theorem. Moreover, some examples are given to illustrate our main results.