De-nitrification by the use of Sulphur in a fluidized bed reactor.

[Belgian Anthias]

Mine performed exactly as I described it for quite some time. It maintained NO3 as I still do at 0.2ppm .

BTW, out of curiosity ,do you sell sulfur or manufacture sulfur dentrators?

No, I do not have any commercial interests in sulfur de-nitrators. A sulfur de-nitrator is commercially not interesting because it is very cheap to build, any airtight container will do, and sulfur can be bought for 1€/ liter and it will last for years. So, once functioning, there is very little to sell. Maybe this is why a sulfer de-nitrator is not popular. In a commercial way of view it is not advisable.

It maintained NO3 as I still do at 0.2ppm :

At 0.2 ppm and a given flow of 9l/h a reactor will be able to remove maximum 43 mg nitrate/ day. For a 600 gal system, which is heavily fed, this is only +- 20mg/1000l or 0.02ppm/day. it will take 40 days for the nitrate level to build up to 1ppm if the reactor is removed.. Why using a de-nitrator?
If the quantity of sulfur is an issue concerning water quality, one may consider to remove the reactor from the system. For me, it may stay, it may become useful in the future.

At 0.2ppm and a normal flow of 30l/h a 3 liter reactor is able to remove maximum 144 mg nitrate daily or +- 70mg/1000l or 0.07 ppm. This is not much.
A 3 liter reactor is useless in a 600 gal system for maintaining 0.2ppm but it will keep the level at or below 2ppm in a well fed aquarium.

If 0.2 ppm has to be maintained and the daily production now and in the future can not be estimated I can advice a 6 gal reactor for a 600 gal system. The reactor will be able to remove +- 1100mg/day or +- 0.5ppm/day at a level of 0.2ppm. This will handle a well fed system and keep the nitrate level very low.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

are you a chemist?

are you a chemist?

One has not to be a chemist to run a sulfur de-nitrator.

Running a calcium reactor or dosing VODKA seems to me a lot more complicated.
A sulfur de-nitration system consists of a reactor containing sulfur, which is inert and feeds the working bacteria for years, no concerns about dosing food for the little beasts, and a second reactor filled with the same media as used in a calcium reactor but no CO2 bottle is needed, avoiding the possibility for overdosing CO2.
The system produces sulphate but there is already a lot of sulphate in natural seawater and any influence on marine live may be considered as nihil. When a low sulphate salt mix is used you will end up after a few months with the same level of sulphate as when a high level sulphate salt mix was used to make the water. Both salt mixes are considered to be of high quality.
No need to use osmosis, passing the new made water mixed with system water true the de-nitrator and a reactor containing diakat will remove the nitrate and phosphate while performing a water change.
The major concern is the effect on alkalinity, a concern for all closed seawater system keepers also when a sulfur de-nitrator is not used. A sulfur de-nitrator system can help in keeping the calcium level high enough. It is also known to remove some phosphate.
When a big enough fluidized reactor is used only severe mismanagement can create small problems when the reactor becomes anoxic. Any device used will create problems when mismanaged. Dosing to much CO2 will create a lot more danger for animal live as a de-nitrator will ever do.
A sulfur de-nitrator is easy to use and very reliable and will work satisfactory for many years.
I am propagating this system because when used as part of the system it gives the possibility to keep and feed marine live not depending on the level of light and keep the nitrate level very low, creating a new horizon to look forward to.
A lot of systems discussed in several forums are in my opinion to small and not able to handle high feeding at low nitrate levels. A lot of them are also running at a very low flow because of mismanagement.
To bring the level from 2ppm to 1 ppm the flow must double. This is done by little corrections and time is given for the bacteria to find the balance they need. If the reactor is not big enough it will not be able to handle the flow needed and keep the same anaerobic activity. This is mostly the point where it goes wrong. Because the effluent can not be kept at 0 one will decrease the flow till the effluent is 0. As nothing changes one may decrease the flow more thinking creating more anaerobic room will solve the problem. It will not because less nitrate and less oxygen is entered. Effluent is still 0. When reducing the flow more the risk for an anoxic reactor is approaching. When a reactor has to work at a lower level and remove the same nitrate production the flow must increase If one can not because the effluent does not stabilize at 0 any more the reactor is to small to reach that level. if lower level is the goal, a bigger reactor is needed. If the limit of the reactor is reached at 2 ppm, to reach 1 ppm the reactor has to be twice that big.
One have not to be a chemist to solve this out and run a sulfur de-nitrator satisfactory for may years.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

There is no need for excessiie sulfur. Manipulating flow and sulfur to match the nitrate level does the trick.

Level is 30ppm. How flow and sulfur will be matched and manipulated? How much sulfur is used based on the level at 0.2ppm and how much based on 30ppm?

As this method thus the trick please explain me how because I do not understand how one can match the sulfur to the level of nitrate in practice.

After what I have explained I really do not believe this. A reactor is based on the daily to remove production and the desired level of nitrate. If only the nitrate level is used as base for flow and sulfur quantity how are you going to remove more than the daily production. A lucky guess? How the flow will be handled if the sulfur is matched to the level of nitrate in the system.
It would be interesting to know how this is done.
I think one must be a very lucky guy having a de-nitrator based on the nitrate level of the system that does the trick at 0.2ppm.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

minimum flow.

minimum flow.

Provide yourself a reactor that is minimal able to pass the systems volume daily. it will work at low nitrate levels and when a sudden build up occurs this will be removed before not wanted marine live has the time to adapt and use it to grow and multiply.
In a heavily fed aquarium it is important that the reactor can follow the nitrate production and remove it before it can accumulate. When a level of 0.2ppm is desired and the daily production is about .5 ppm it is very inportant that the system water is minimum passing once a day, otherwise keeping low levels will be impossible.
A 1 % reactor will do the job satisfactory in most conditions. This is a reactor of 1 gal for a 100 gal system. If a level between 1ppm and 2ppm is good enough, a 0.5% reactor will serve you well.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Amount sulfur

Amount sulfur

How big a reactor must be depends of the daily to remove quantity of NO3 end the desired level of nitrate in the system. The more flow needed the bigger the reactor has to be to deplete the oxygen entered and keeping the same anaerobic activity.

On 1 liter of sulfur with a grain size of 1.4mm, the bacteria are able to reduce +-800 mg NO3/ day at 100% ( 0 NO3 in the effluent) This means that daily 1ppm can be removed from a 800 liter system. Above this quantity the reactor will lose efficiency but can remove +-3000mg or 3g/ day.
The higher the daily added nitrate, less efficient the reactor will be. If the daily quantity NO3 passing the reactor is about 4.5 grams, efficiency will be only +- 30%, which means +- 1.5g or 1500mg will be removed. Michel HIGNETTE,* Benoit LAMORT,* Marc LANGOUET,** Sébastien LEROY*( 1996) Guy MARTIN ( 1979 - 1996) Adey ( 1983), Jaubert ( 1988)
To reach the maximum capacity of +-3000mg/day daily quantity Of NO3 passing the reactor has to be very high.
Conclusion: If oxygen is depleted before entering the sulfur reactor 1 liter of sulfur is sufficient to keep most home aqua systems at a low nitrate level.

 

[tavoreef]

hi has any one use the aquamaxx ts-2 suffer denigrator will it work on a fish only tank for nitrates

 

[bertoni]

I looked at a listing for this product. It seems fine. I can't vouch for the quality, but you could ask in the equipment forum. As long as it doesn't leak, your tank should be fine.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

hi has any one use the aquamaxx ts-2 suffer denigrator will it work on a fish only tank for nitrates

If the aquarium is not bigger as 550l as the usable volume of the reactor is 5.5 liter. (1% reactor) It depends of the nitrate level desired.

users manual: http://www.f3images.com/IMD/UserManuals/UJ94574.pdf

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Bades

Bades

To keep a nitrate level steady at 2ppm and the daily nitrate production is 2ppm, the total volume of the system has to pass the reactor at least once daily, this when a 1% reactor is used. And one has to add an other reactor containing at least the same amount of calcium carbonate media.
If managed as a sulphur denitrator and the reactor is kept anoxic the above is not possible due to the limited flow to keep the reactor below 0.5ppmDO.
When managed following the MAAO method the reactor is not kept anoxic after start up. http://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=en:badess:bades:maao
A BADES- bio reactor is a nitrifying reactor in which all nitrate produced is removed simultaneously. http://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=en:badess:bades_bio-film_reactor
Any reactor can be transformed into a BADES reactor. It is just the way the reactor is managed
A reactor can be any recipient that can be closed.
One thus not need a reactor for BADES http://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=en:badess:bades_bio_filter#spc_system. Only when full control over the nitrate level and the nitrate removal rate is desired a reactor is needed.

We still use BADES the same way as in 2014 but we learned a lot since.
The last few years a lot of research was done concerning BADES . We not only now how to use BADES but also why, how everything has its place. As in any biofilm denitrification takes place reactors are not needed. A study of the biofilm is important to understand the denitrification process. http://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=en:makazi:bio-chemie:biofilm Autotropic denitrification by sulphur bacteria and the presence of nitrate is responsible for keeping biofilters and aquaria H2S free due to partial or complete HS reduction using nitrate.
Everything about the BADES process is known, all side effects are known and are controlled.in a BADESSystem .
As BADES does NOT need anoxic conditions why using sulhur denitrators which are kept anoxic and are difficult to manage using sometimes expensive equipment to manage the flow?
Reactors managed as BADES reactors are safe to use as anoxic conditions are avoided , are reliable and easy to manage. A BADES reactor is self-regulating.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

I looked at a listing for this product. It seems fine. I can't vouch for the quality, but you could ask in the equipment forum. As long as it doesn't leak, your tank should be fine.

What could be the problem of a leak for the tank?

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Aquamaxx BADES reactor.

Aquamaxx BADES reactor.

If the aquarium is not bigger as 550l as the usable volume of the reactor is 5.5 liter. (1% reactor) It depends of the nitrate level desired.

users manual: http://www.f3images.com/IMD/UserManuals/UJ94574.pdf

The manual follows the MAAO method. http://www.baharini.eu/baharini/doku.php?id=en:badess:bades:maao The manual does not advice for keeping the reactor anoxic once the start up procedure is completed. This means the aqumaxx reactor can be managed as it is a BADES reactor following the users manual.
A BADES reactor is fully operational after +- 20 days and will reduce nitrate after 48hrs. ( manual 4-6 weeks) A sulphur denitrator must not be confused with a reactor based on heterothrops needing carbon dosing and an anoxic environment. Managing a BADES reactor is completely different as anoxic conditions are not required.

The manual advices to use a mix of 2/3 sulphur and 1/3 calcium carbonate media. Using at least the same amount of carbon carbonate is advised 1/1.
Following the manual 3.6l usable sulphur is available, enough for a 360l tank or +- 95 Gal ( removing 1ppm nitrate daily while keeping a nitrate level between 1-2 ppm using a 1% reactor)

It is advised to use a separate calcium reactor of minimal the same volume when the aquamaxx reactor is used as a BADES reactor.

The volume needed depends of the volume of the system, the daily nitrate production and the desired nitrate level to maintain.