DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[saltydog64]

"I take 3/4 of the water out of the bucket, leaving just enough so the feed pump is still covered, add tank water to bucket and add....."

siskiou, Ok but here is what I think you should do, if you have not already done this and that is don't make more water changes for now.....

How do I say this without causing a stink (no pun intented)...The nitrites are a very important part of the process how or why ?? because what we are doing with sulfur denitrafication is reversing the normal process's we have going on in our tanks. Now those folks who hook up to their tanks right from the start probably don't have detectable Nitrite in there tank because it is oxidized by the aerobic bacteria before it can be detected, thank goodness. Now in a SR DURING cycling there are very limited anaerobic bacteria present so Nitrite is passed thru, in your case, to the bucket, as these bacteria multiply they require a sourse of O2 which they aquire from the Nitrate(NO3) and Nitrite(NO2). Now in the process the final end result will be NO a "harmless gas" and decreasing Nitrate ultimately in our tanks.

So in your case when you discard you "toxic water" you are removing a sourse of "O2" required by the developing Anaerobic bacteria....Now all that is a very over-simplfication of what's going on because we have added Sulfur to the equation, but none the less, basically that's it in a nut shell.

Now to speed up the whole process if we can remove or reduce the FREE O2 then we can force the anaerobic bacteria to survive by going after the O2 in the Nitrate/Nitrite..... that's done for example by shutting down the feed water for say 24 hours resulting in (hydrogen sulfide, the rotten egg smell) a reduced O2 enviroment and the bacteria present going after the componds we are trying get rid of, the rotten egg smell, as long we DONOT exceed 24 hours, will dissipate and you will have decreasing Nitrates. Now that is exactly what i have in the last days and now my NO2 and NO3 are ZERO :mixed: :mixed:

 

[EnderG60]

Just got mine running on a bucket this weekend.

Turned the drip down to 1/sec this morning, bucket nitrates and effluent both reading 20 at the moment.

I kinda forgot to rinse off my ARM though so my bucket is all cloudy now

I used 1/3of the media in the 3.5lb bag for my tank(70g system with nitrates of 20-30) the rest will be used in an other reactor for FO tank of 150g with nitrates of 40-60.


And now we wait....

 

[adnup]

Update:

The same day as my last post my wife smelled the sulfur so I increased to 4dps and so far so good.

NO3 down to 5ppm from 25ppm starting
PH 8.2
Alk up to 11dkh (was adding to much baking soda)

I'm happy with the results so far...:smokin:

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12165957#post12165957 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by adnup
Update:

The same day as my last post my wife smelled the sulfur so I increased to 4dps and so far so good.

NO3 down to 5ppm from 25ppm starting
PH 8.2
Alk up to 11dkh (was adding to much baking soda)

I'm happy with the results so far...:smokin:

adnup.............excellant as that is how the H2S should be handled, by gently increasing the flow rate and resetting (to slow down again) after all obvious smell is gone:bum:

 

[Red_Six]

Here is my version for a 58 gallon tank. I basically followed the design of the Midwest Aquatic denitrator. My unit is 1/5th the size and only runs ½ lb of sulfur, which I figure is sized for up to a 75 gallon tank. The pump I used is a maxi jet 400. I had to adjust my drip rate accordingly for the smaller size. I ran the unit wide open for 24 hours to establish the bacteria. Then I set the unit to drip 1 drop every 5 seconds for the next 72 hours. I then set to 3 drops every 5 seconds. After another day my reactor effluent was already reading 2.5ppm.

A few times along the way I experienced a bad sulfur smell from the reactor and had to increase the flow. Last month I cleaned the unit and put it back in service with only half the original sulfur media.

Here is how my nitrate levels have changed since the addition of the nitrate reactor.

04/25/07 50 ppm
05/01/07 25-50 ppm
05/16/07 10-25 ppm
05/27/07 2-5 ppm
09/05/2007 â€"œ present - Undetectable

Robert

 

[melev]

Robert, that little guy is adorable. You did a really nice job, and obviously it works great.

So the ballvalve closest to the front of the picture draws water in from the tank, and the ball valve in the back is the drip back into the tank, but how does the center ball valve work? Is the internal pressure enough to force out any air collecting at the top?

 

[djfrankie]

Pretty nice!

I also like how you use the skimmer down at the sump.

djfrankie

 

[zeblisik]

ah...!

i dont have enough time to read (or make) all this......

would anyone like to make me one!? =)
no, really.....

 

[Red_Six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12171937#post12171937 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by melev
Robert, that little guy is adorable. You did a really nice job, and obviously it works great.

So the ballvalve closest to the front of the picture draws water in from the tank, and the ball valve in the back is the drip back into the tank, but how does the center ball valve work? Is the internal pressure enough to force out any air collecting at the top?

The center valve is for releasing trapped gas. The reactor is gravity fed and the valve works off of head pressure. The pump just circulates the water inside the reactor and has no effect on the incoming or outgoing pressure. Either the discharge valve or the gassing valve will flow as long as the initial siphon is not lost from the intake line.

 

[EnderG60]

the pump should have some suction to it so it doesnt have to be gracity fed, and I would HIGHLY recommend having the in and out be either both in the sump or both in the tank.....slow flooding can happen...ask me how I know.

 

[melev]

Thanks for the replies.

 

[Red_Six]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12175428#post12175428 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EnderG60
the pump should have some suction to it so it doesnt have to be gracity fed, and I would HIGHLY recommend having the in and out be either both in the sump or both in the tank.....slow flooding can happen...ask me how I know.

That is a very good point. My discharge line is secure. 10 months without a problem.

 

[IowaReef]

Flooding Denitrator

Flooding Denitrator

I sufferd a few floods trying to get the gravity fed system tuned just right. Not good political capital with the wife...

 

[Steve 926]

A few times along the way I experienced a bad sulfur smell from the reactor and had to increase the flow. Last month I cleaned the unit and put it back in service with only half the original sulfur media.

Hello Robert.

Are you still using 1/2 lb of the sulfur media after cleaning the reactor, or have you reduced it to 1/4 lb of the media.

Why did it need to be cleaned out, & how did you go about doing it.

When you first started it did you use a seperate container to seed it , or did you just place it directly into your system, & continue as you posted previously.

Thanks for a reply.

I have built a smaller version of the denitrator also & now I awaiting the media from midwest. they recommended 2 lbs. of the sulfur for 50 gal. I am glad to see your good results with less media than they recommended.

Steve

:smokin:

 

[Red_Six]

Steve

I am now using closer to ¼ pound of sulfur media. I decided to use less because my nitrates have been low for a very long time and I have since added mangrove plants to my sump. I needed to clean the unit because it completely plugged up after 9 months of use. In the past if it plugged I would just open the discharge valve wide and back flush the line with a turkey baster. This time it was clogged pretty bad and I notice the sulfur was starting to look dirty. I would describe it as being covered in black soot. For those that have no way of seeing inside their reactor, I would suggest you break it down and clean the sulfur and replace the calcium every 6 to 9 months.

One note of caution, if you do get plugged and need to back flush, have a bucket handy to dispose of the initial effluent. It will have a very high sulfur odor and likely a thick milky appearance and I imagine it is not good for your tank.

Once I broke the unit down I disposed of the old calcium media and I placed the dirty sulfur media in a bucket with fresh RO/DI water. I swirled it around and rinsed and then repeated this several times. The sulfur came out looking brand new after a few rinses. I then treated the unit as new, installed it in my tank and went through the initial break in period of wide open followed by reduced flow that gradually increases.

Here is another great thread that helped me get started.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=752497&perpage=25&pagenumber=8

Robert

 

[Steve 926]

Thanks For The Reply Robert :thumbsup:

Should have the sulfur media from Midwest this week.
I'm using an MJ 600, I may replace it with an MJ 400, or add a ball valve. I was considering adding a second unit with just the ARM media. we'll see how it goe's

Steve

:smokin:

 

[Schplitter]

Man this is a heck of a theard!!

I must have missed it some place but did anyone say what they use to glue the maxijets to the pvc or cpvc?

Thanks,

BK

 

[siskiou]

Well, yesterday I was about ready to admit defeat and open up the unit, but decided to give it one more day.

Tested just now, and nitrites and nitrates are at 0!
So, it probably was heating it to 80.5F that finally did it.
This is great!

So, now I increase the drops per second? To 2 per second, or more?
And I'll add the RO canister with the ARM today, too, so I get an accurate idea of the output then.
Do I leave the valve where it is, or should it be switched to the output of the ARM container?

 

[32flavors]

CONGRATS siskiou!!!! I've been opening this thread every time I get a notification in hopes there would be an update from you. Very encouraging!!!

Question for others... having a tank with SPS I try to keep my tank right at 78--should I plan on immersing reactor in a bucket heated to 80 initially..... permanently?

Those of you with success with your reactors, what temp does your tank run?

THANKS!!

 

[siskiou]

Good question!
The tank that mine will go on to is at 79F, normally.