DIY Sulfur Denitrator
- Thread starter djfrankie
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I think it is time for me to make one mine is to small can't get down below 10 I have 385 gallon total how much sulfur should I use? right now I have the Korallin BioDenitrator S-1502
skippyreef
New member
COuld I ise Uniseals on this? I think it will make it easier for me. I am ordering some extruded acrylic from US plastics for the project. My total water volume is around 340 gallons so how much sulfur? Nitrates are at 10ppm right now
djfrankie
In Memoriam
richierich2000 and skippyreef:
Check out page 14 for some guidelines regarding amount of sulfur to use, flow rates and iniital settings.
Demeter:
There's lot of people on this thread who have made denitrators out of acrylic and posted really good pics. Check it out!
HTH,
djfrankie
Check out page 14 for some guidelines regarding amount of sulfur to use, flow rates and iniital settings.
Demeter:
There's lot of people on this thread who have made denitrators out of acrylic and posted really good pics. Check it out!
HTH,
djfrankie
skippyreef
New member
Thaks Bro for the direct 
Steven M
New member
Your mail box is full. Check out this link
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1331129
ReefingBuddha
New member
Well your all's advice as worked well for me so I thought I would finally throw my hat into the ring.
Here's my reactor, made from a old Deltec Calcium Reactor. Can't tell you how many liters of Suplhur media it is but its 5kg worth.
My nitrates were between 75-100ppm a little over a month ago in my 336g tank and 550g system. Reason for this is that I had just purchased the tank 5 months ago and the previous owner didn't do a water change in 2 years. I can only assume that the LR was leaching nitrates.
I started using AZ-NO3 which dropped my nitrates down to 25ppm but started to climb again almost immediately after stopping the treatment. Starting out the reactor at 1DPS (thanks to all the advice read here and else where) and now up to a steady stream. My nitrates have dropped down to 5ppm and are still dropping.
BTW I run the effluent through a .75L acrylic reactor with ARM and Magnesium chips. Know it probably should be bigger but seems to be working well for now.
Anyways, thanks for all the advice. A very efficient way of dealing with this problem.
Now all I need to do is figure out how to balance out the reactor once I reach 0.
Here's my reactor, made from a old Deltec Calcium Reactor. Can't tell you how many liters of Suplhur media it is but its 5kg worth.
My nitrates were between 75-100ppm a little over a month ago in my 336g tank and 550g system. Reason for this is that I had just purchased the tank 5 months ago and the previous owner didn't do a water change in 2 years. I can only assume that the LR was leaching nitrates.
I started using AZ-NO3 which dropped my nitrates down to 25ppm but started to climb again almost immediately after stopping the treatment. Starting out the reactor at 1DPS (thanks to all the advice read here and else where) and now up to a steady stream. My nitrates have dropped down to 5ppm and are still dropping.
BTW I run the effluent through a .75L acrylic reactor with ARM and Magnesium chips. Know it probably should be bigger but seems to be working well for now.
Anyways, thanks for all the advice. A very efficient way of dealing with this problem.
Now all I need to do is figure out how to balance out the reactor once I reach 0.
ReefingBuddha
New member
nitrate go way up in your reactor or in your display? Do the nitrates stay up after a few days at the same drip rate?
Solitaryensis
New member
Couple questions guys. My nitrates are testing at about 75-100 PPM. I have tried most solutions and after little to no positive results, I have been looking into a denitrator. Do you think its "worth" it on a 40 gallon and what, if any, are downsides of converting a small phosban reactor into a denitrator. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Here's my opinion for what it's worth.
Midwest Aquatics http://www.midwestaquatic.com/products.htm
Use's 3lb's of sulfur for a reactor that's good for up to 250 gal
" " 5lbs "" "----------------------------------------up to 500gal
Your reactor:
1/2 gal. sulfur (4lbs) up to 300+ gal.
4 litter's of Matrix (8 lbs. 7 oz.) ?? gal. but sounds like a lot.
I believe that the Matrix is cycling a lot faster than the Sulfur, & is the problem with your reactor. JMO, but I think you are using too much of the Matrix. most of the reactor's ( diy ~ commercial) are just using the sulfur & the ARM media only. unless you have a HUGE volume of water ( Public Aquarium ) I would consider removing the Matrix, or cut it down drastically below the sulfur amount.
I have been following this thread for some time now, & I see that you are having a lot of issues with cycling your reactor.
I am no expert on these reactors, but I know what has worked for me with my smaller one. The principals of them are all the same, just different amounts of media per volume of water, per size of reactor.
Food for thought :rolleye1:
Just My $.02
Steve
:smokin:
skippyreef
New member
Getting ready to build mine next week after the Uniseals arrive. I bought the flanges for the top from MRC to save having to fabricate them myself which would have taken me a while to do. The tubing is 24 inches tall *6"OD. The tank is 270 gallons with 112 gallon sump. I estimate after live rock is subtracted and the sump is considered I have roughly 350 gallons of water. Nitrates tested somewhere between 10-25ppm on a salifert kit tonight.
As far as a pump I am considering an Eheim. I think that with the height of the reactor I should be able avoid a second pass chamber. I am thinking of getting the media from Premium Aquatics for this project I just need to know how much to get. If I am thinking correctly I need something like 3.5 gallons for my tank and the rest of the chamber I can fill with large CA reactor media correct. What are you guys using for the pad between the sulur and the Reactor media?
As far as a pump I am considering an Eheim. I think that with the height of the reactor I should be able avoid a second pass chamber. I am thinking of getting the media from Premium Aquatics for this project I just need to know how much to get. If I am thinking correctly I need something like 3.5 gallons for my tank and the rest of the chamber I can fill with large CA reactor media correct. What are you guys using for the pad between the sulur and the Reactor media?
Operational Question...
Operational Question...
How does the acid production affect the process? I am wondering if it would be better to have the Carbonate media only in the effluent, rather than inside the recirculating unit.
Does the acid production make the unit turn sour faster, or do the bacteria "work" better in the lower pH environment? Would the unit process Nitrate slower or faster at lower pH?
This may have been covered before, I just want to be sure I fully understand the proccess to build a great reactor
Operational Question...
How does the acid production affect the process? I am wondering if it would be better to have the Carbonate media only in the effluent, rather than inside the recirculating unit.
Does the acid production make the unit turn sour faster, or do the bacteria "work" better in the lower pH environment? Would the unit process Nitrate slower or faster at lower pH?
This may have been covered before, I just want to be sure I fully understand the proccess to build a great reactor
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