DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12326775#post12326775 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rolyguy7
I have a salifert nitrite test kit at home as well. I'll go ahead and test the nitrites on the effluent when I get home. I called the house and had a family member turn down the drip rate to 1-2 drips per second. Hopefully the denitrator will cycle soon.

Thanks....

rolyguy..............TulsaReefer is right on the mark. I have the exact same cycling happening and Nitrite(s) are the bug in the rug so to speak, be assured you will find high Nitrites, this is one of the reasons some of us run these SR's out of a bucket until "up and running".

Dcik

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12304535#post12304535 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by IowaReef
djfrankie,

OK, So I am using you basic design. I found a piece of Acrylic scrap at a local plastics place and the Plumbing fits good enough.

What do I use to hold it all together. Will Silicon hold?

Will water leak from the pump. I have not used these out of water?

Where did you get the valves on your drip and gas relief?

Thanks again for your time posting and answering questions. I had fun on my first DIY.

I like weldon products best. They have a cross reference chart to help you decide which glues to use.

Here it is :
http://www.ipscorp.com/weldon/selectionguide.html

Water will not leak out of the MJ pumps unless your oring is old, dirty or damaged.

You can find the drip valve at the HD irrigation section. They come (2) to a pack and it's like two bucks. I like to use John guest valves for the degassing since only half a turn will get it fully open and they seal well. Those you can find in the plumbing section.

HTH,
djfrankie

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12320392#post12320392 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by siskiou
Should I use a stronger feed pump, or go to less sulphur in the reactor?
Or will the bacteria adjust if I just leave it running as is?

BTW, would this type of reactor work for a freshwater tank, too?
My daughter is always struggling with nitrates on her 29G freshwater tank.

You can do either one. Stronger pump or less media. I'd go for a reduction of media since it's free. You can store the media dry for years to be later reused.

The whole idea came from freshwater use. So yes, you can use the same technique for a freshwater tank.

Here's the reference:

http://mars.reefkeepers.net/USHomePage/USArticles/SulphurDenitrator.htm

HTH,
djfrankie

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12321883#post12321883 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adnup
5.4L per hour and still smells - NO3 zero out of SR

Increased to 7.5lph

I calculated that I have 2.8L of LSM in my SR

Once your tank hits zero nitrates you may want to rethink using less media or buying a bigger tank

djfrankie

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12322406#post12322406 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wizsmaster
Hey djfrankie,

I'm running about 2.88 L/hour (48 ML /Min) through my Korallin S-4002 on a 500g system. Just bumped the flow up a bit about 6 hours ago - will test in another 36h if we're still putting out 0 nitrates.
What do you think i should be flowing around? The 4002 ships with 20lbs of media .. i think it was 15 sulfur/5 ca media.


Take care,

marco

Hey glad to see you're not poking around to see how much I'm selling my livestock for

You can run up to 5 liters per hour per liter of media according to original experiments conducted by Marc Langouet. I've stayed on the conservative side and run about 150 ml per minute (9 liters per hour) in my reactor right now with 3.5 liters of media in there. So, almost 3 times flow per liter of media. I get no sulfur smell and no nitrates. I also feed 3 times a day.

So based on that :

15 Liters of sulfur x 5 = Up to 75 liters per hour of flow

That's quite a bit of media in there since 1.5 liters will treat up to 250 gallons of water. You may want to reduce the media in there once you hit zero nitrates in your tank and start getting the rotten smell no matter how high your flow is.

HTH,
djfrankie

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12323598#post12323598 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wizsmaster
how many of you guys monitor the ORP within the reactor? I had read some posts about monitoring ORP, and keeping it around =160? or was it -200? cannot remember, or find the posts/thread where i read this.

I don't and don't think I ever will or need to.

Here's the link to someone who uses the ORP monitor. Some good information there as well.

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_smf&Itemid=26&topic=4537.15

HTH,
djfrankie

 

[wizsmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12331570#post12331570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by djfrankie
Hey glad to see you're not poking around to see how much I'm selling my livestock for
.....

HTH,
djfrankie

I don't get it? I'm not following you .. are you sure you're thinking of the right person?

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12331570#post12331570 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by djfrankie
....

You can run up to 5 liters per hour per liter of media according to original experiments conducted by Marc Langouet. I've stayed on the conservative side and run about 150 ml per minute (9 liters per hour) in my reactor right now with 3.5 liters of media in there. So, almost 3 times flow per liter of media. I get no sulfur smell and no nitrates. I also feed 3 times a day.

So based on that :

15 Liters of sulfur x 5 = Up to 75 liters per hour of flow

That's quite a bit of media in there since 1.5 liters will treat up to 250 gallons of water. You may want to reduce the media in there once you hit zero nitrates in your tank and start getting the rotten smell no matter how high your flow is.

HTH,
djfrankie

What would 15lbs / 20 lbs be in liters for media?

I know 1gal is 3.78 Liter
and at least in europe ... 1 Liter = 2 lbs ... but that is europe .. where 1 lbs = 500 gram ... i believe a US lbs = about 450 gram ?

15 lbs / 2 = 7.5 Liter? 20 lbs /2 = 10 Liter of media?


Please correct me if i'm wrong .. i'm trying to figure out the content/liter/capacity of the reactor.



Thanks & take care,

marco

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12331670#post12331670 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wizsmaster
I don't get it? I'm not following you .. are you sure you're thinking of the right person?

What would 15lbs / 20 lbs be in liters for media?

I know 1gal is 3.78 Liter
and at least in europe ... 1 Liter = 2 lbs ... but that is europe .. where 1 lbs = 500 gram ... i believe a US lbs = about 450 gram ?

15 lbs / 2 = 7.5 Liter? 20 lbs /2 = 10 Liter of media?

Please correct me if i'm wrong .. i'm trying to figure out the content/liter/capacity of the reactor.

Thanks & take care,

marco

You've got PM.

I had understood you had 15 liters of media, but it's actually pounds.

Each liter is @ 2.2 lbs

So your 15 lbs of media come out to be approximately 6.8 liters of media.

So staying on the conservative side of things and flowing 3 liters per hour per liter of media you can safely arrive at 21 liters of water flow per hours through your reactor. This is equivalent to 1260 ml per minute.

500 gallon tank = @ 2000 liters
You will be turning your tank's water volume @ every 4 days at that rate.

Let me know if this is somewhat clear?

HTH,
djfrankie

 

[wizsmaster]

Got your PM. Thank You. I forgot.

Yes, that cleared it up. Thank You very much.
My systems volume will end up around 800-1,000 g not too long from here.

Right now I'm feeding it off a little AquaLifter ... still have the effluent restricted, but have some egg smell tonight. Will open up the valve a bit more - I just did a Nitrate test on the effluent ... came out inconclusive .. maybe due to the dying bacteria releasing nitrite off? I don't have a Nitrite test here at the house.

 

[rolyguy7]

TulsaReefer and saltydog64 thanks for the input. I dropped the rate down to about 1-2 drops per second. After an hour or so my nitrates on the effluent were at 10ppm. I let it run for another hour and tested. nitrates were at 0 ppm. So I upped the drip rate to about 4 drops per second. effluent is now back at 10ppm. I plan to let it run over night and see if it drops back to zero at this drip rate. If it does then I can crank it up a bit more right? So far it hasn't lowered my tanks nitrates but I'm sure it will once the drip rate is raised a little more while keeping the effluent at under 5ppm.

Thanks all...

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12331913#post12331913 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wizsmaster
Got your PM. Thank You. I forgot.

Yes, that cleared it up. Thank You very much.
My systems volume will end up around 800-1,000 g not too long from here.

Right now I'm feeding it off a little AquaLifter ... still have the effluent restricted, but have some egg smell tonight. Will open up the valve a bit more - I just did a Nitrate test on the effluent ... came out inconclusive .. maybe due to the dying bacteria releasing nitrite off? I don't have a Nitrite test here at the house.

Honestly,
I never bothered getting a nitrite kit since my unit cycled within 3 days. I basically just adjusted the flow upward every 3 days once I saw the effluent readings were zero.

It was easier than adjusting my calcium reactor

I also went with the pre-seeding media from Midwest.

Keep your eyes on the Alk since it will knock it down. I have to add 5 teaspoon of Seachem's reef builder every two weeks to bring it from 8 > 9.

Good luck and keep us updated!

djfrankie

 

[wizsmaster]

I just opened the effluent valve up all the way. After 5 minutes the hydrogen sulfide smell seemed almost gone.

Am I glad I'm running a prefilter on my Aqua Lifter ... the filter is NASTY!!! I hope everyone else runs prefilters on their feed pumps as well. I'd hate for all of that detritus to end up in the sulfur bed.

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12331998#post12331998 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rolyguy7
TulsaReefer and saltydog64 thanks for the input. I dropped the rate down to about 1-2 drops per second. After an hour or so my nitrates on the effluent were at 10ppm. I let it run for another hour and tested. nitrates were at 0 ppm. So I upped the drip rate to about 4 drops per second. effluent is now back at 10ppm. I plan to let it run over night and see if it drops back to zero at this drip rate. If it does then I can crank it up a bit more right? So far it hasn't lowered my tanks nitrates but I'm sure it will once the drip rate is raised a little more while keeping the effluent at under 5ppm.

Thanks all...

Everytime you do and adjustment you have to let the reactor catch up. Give it about 3 days and then check your effluent. If it's
zero then adjust again.

You won't notice a drastic change in your tank's nitrates until after your reactor has finished cycling and you're running a higher flow through it.

Check page 14 of this thread for some guidelines that will help you set it up.

I know no one wants to go through 30 pages, but believe me it's worthwhile and I promise you'll know everything you need to know by the time you get to this post

For the most part everyone here has stuck to the original subject and I really appreciate that.

Good luck!

djfrankie

 

[rolyguy7]

djfrankie, I've gone through the entire thread and had some questions since my diy denitrator wasn't behaving as everyone else's. I was mearly trying to find out if I was doing something wrong. I don't see how that would be considered not sticking to the original subject.

Either way thanks for the input. I'll go back to page 14 and see if there's something I missed from when I read it the first time around.

Thanks...

 

[Horace]

Save your money folks. NO3 do not hurt your tank, despite alot of what you hear otherwise. PO4 is what you have to worry about. If you have an algae problem, attack your PO4 instead of NO3.

 

[wizsmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12335126#post12335126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Save your money folks. NO3 do not hurt your tank, despite alot of what you hear otherwise. PO4 is what you have to worry about. If you have an algae problem, attack your PO4 instead of NO3.

really?

 

[TulsaReefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12335126#post12335126 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Horace
Save your money folks. NO3 do not hurt your tank, despite alot of what you hear otherwise. PO4 is what you have to worry about. If you have an algae problem, attack your PO4 instead of NO3.

In Internet terms, your comment is considered "trolling", i.e. looking to raise comments / cause a debate and drag the thread here off topic. As such, I think most people will probably not bother to comment on your statement on this thread. But if you want to debate the topic of the effects of nitrate levels in reef aquariums, feel free to head over to the chemistry forum and start the debate up there, I'll be happy to join into the debate there, as probably will others as well.

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12335714#post12335714 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TulsaReefer
In Internet terms, your comment is considered "trolling", i.e. looking to raise comments / cause a debate and drag the thread here off topic. As such, I think most people will probably not bother to comment on your statement on this thread. But if you want to debate the topic of the effects of nitrate levels in reef aquariums, feel free to head over to the chemistry forum and start the debate up there, I'll be happy to join into the debate there, as probably will others as well.

TulsaReefer..............I couldn't have said better:lol: :lol: You are the man.............

 

[Black71gp]

how long did it take to get down to the final 0 mine droped to 1 or so.. coming out of the reactor with 1dps and a bit of gass have to bleed off twice a day.. its been at 1 for 4 days now..

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12334887#post12334887 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by rolyguy7
I don't see how that would be considered not sticking to the original subject.

Either way thanks for the input. I'll go back to page 14 and see if there's something I missed from when I read it the first time around.

Thanks...

We're here to help as much as we can.

The comment I made was simply thanking everyone for sticking to the original thread, that's all. It was not directed towards you in any way, shape or form.

You're welcome,

djfrankie