DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12617850#post12617850 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef_only
My newly DIY denitrator. My tank has been 25-30ppm NO3 which was brought down from 75ppm range through heavily water change (100G water change each time). There are only 4 fish in my tank. Hope this denitrator (my first DIY reactor) would bring it further down w/o much of water change.

I circulated overnight to clean the media. Now it is set at 1 dps to a bottle. I used 2.5L of sulfur media and 1L of ARM. Not too bad for $60 total cost if it works

It's a pretty good deal if you ask me. Consider the money / time saved in water changes to bring nitrate levels down to reasonable levels.

On the downside you'll be testiing for nitrates more often and bringing up alk on a regular basis.

Good luck!

djfrankie

 

[skippyreef]

Is there any advantage to using the midwest aquatics media v.s the carribsea?

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12620574#post12620574 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skippyreef
Is there any advantage to using the midwest aquatics media v.s the carribsea?

I used the midwest media and it's worked out really well. It comes already pre-seeded with NBC#9.

Others will chime in reagarding the Caribsea media which seems good and inexpensive.

djfrankie

 

[Steve 926]

The Midwest Sulfur media can be cleaned & re used, & will not melt or channel. Some of the people using the LSM, have reported these issue's with it.


Steve




:smokin:

 

[ReefingBuddha]

I used my Aqua medic sulfur media (5L) for about 3 weeks and have since taken my reactor offline and emptied the reactor. The reactor brought my tank down to 0 in that time even though the media never got a slime over it. The media is still damp and is in the reactor.

Can I reuse the media in the reactor if I rinse it first? Does it go bad?

 

[Steve 926]

Why Not !

If it has not melted, & will rinse with no problems, go for it !

Steve



:smokin:

 

[ReefingBuddha]

cool

Thanks Steve!

 

[Steve 926]

Use Ro/DI water to rinse it in. Tap water may kill off the seed bacteria, & cause it to cycle longer the next time .

Steve

:smokin:

 

[reef_only]

After one day of setting 1dps:
- NO3 from effluent shows 50ppm, which is double of NO3 of tank water 25ppm.
- PH at effluent is 7.7 vs. tank PH of 8.3.

I assume this is normal and can't wait to see if drops down to 0ppm from effluent and then the whole tank too. I had never seen my tank water below 20ppm since I owned the test kit

Looking ahead, there is something I'm not clear, the cycle process and final effluent rate depend on the level of tank NO3, is it right? if it is then the higher tank NO3 level the slower of effluent rate? and assuming the NO3 level will be going down during the denitrating, do we need to adjust the effluent rate accordingly? If the tank water never gets to 0ppm (due to loading/leaching.....) then the denitrator can be up and running and if the tank NO3 drops to 0ppm means we have to shut down the denitrator and wait for NO3 to rise again before hooking up the denitrator again?

 

[cb747]

Im going to build two of these. One is for a friend. Im plagued with high nitrates and have been following this thread for awhile. How much sulfur would you recomend for 200 gallons of water? Ill be using aragonite in a seperate container. How much of that would you recomend as well? Thanks for the help!
Chris

 

[Steve 926]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12624700#post12624700 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by cb747
Im going to build two of these. One is for a friend. Im plagued with high nitrates and have been following this thread for awhile. How much sulfur would you recomend for 200 gallons of water? Ill be using aragonite in a seperate container. How much of that would you recomend as well? Thanks for the help!
Chris

Check out pg 38.

(200 x 1.5 ) Divide by 250 = 1.2 Lt. = ( 40.576 oz.)

Steve

:smokin:

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12612728#post12612728 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by asmodeus
hey there Frankie good to hear that this thread has good crazy with good reports. Just back for a few weeks from AFghanistan, heading back on the 7th of june. started the build on my new tank 60x24x24. will let you know when I start up my reactor again.

take care Mike

Mike..........First......welcome home and a GREAT BIG thank you for all you do !!!!!

we will be following your build.... so we look forward to your updates.

Be safe and catch ya on the rebound:rollface: :rollface:

Dick

 

[saltydog64]

dj..........thanks for your recent update. I look forward to your new observations and your restart....if and when you do restart the SR.

A couple of ????, first I think you mentioned you shut off the mj, something about it causing H2S, how did you confirm that and how do you think recirc. causes H2S ????.

Do you run or did you run your effluent thru or over any media to catch or convert H2S ???

As always thanks for all your time INVESTED on this subject :rollface: :rollface:

Dick

 

[skippyreef]

so fr 2.1 liters I would need the 5lbs of MW

 

[Steve 926]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12625284#post12625284 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by skippyreef
so fr 2.1 liters I would need the 5lbs of MW [/QU


2.1 Lt = 71 oz. / 16 = 4.43 lbs.

5 lbs will do it.

Steve

:smokin:

 

[skippyreef]

thanks guys. Tommorow I am picking up the bases for the reactors I am building and hopefully will have them done next week

 

[cb747]

Thanks Steve! I found out something of interest. Seems CPVC is outlawed in California and NY..........

 

[siskiou]

My tank has been close to 0 for a few weeks now (I've taken out a lot of the sulfur after it initially came down to 0). The way it's now, the denitrator is just keeping up with the tank nitrates, and the pH and Alk aren't going down quite as fast as they were with the larger amount of sulfur.
Still have to buffer every few days to keep the pH and Alk from dropping too low.

 

[khoivo1]

question please
my feed pump stop working that i didn't know of,,,by the time i know then all water inside reactor smell very bad,,,what should i do now,,,nitrate is 0 now,,, thanks

 

[djfrankie]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12625266#post12625266 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by saltydog64
dj..........thanks for your recent update. I look forward to your new observations and your restart....if and when you do restart the SR.

A couple of ????, first I think you mentioned you shut off the mj, something about it causing H2S, how did you confirm that and how do you think recirc. causes H2S ????.

Do you run or did you run your effluent thru or over any media to catch or convert H2S ???

As always thanks for all your time INVESTED on this subject :rollface: :rollface:

Dick

Hey Dick,

I ran my effluent right into my sump which contains only Chaeto in there and it was loving it. I never got around to dripping it into GFO as I have suggested in the past. I wanted to experiment if there would be any ill effects, but none to report so far.

I turned off the recirculation pump in order the make the unit less efficient and at the same saving some power (every little counts nowadays). My nitrates have been zero for quite a while and I was getting H2S smell all the time at the 150 ml/min effluent drip. It was more like an experiment for me since I had never tried it this way, but it worked. Sulfide smell went away and my nitrates were maintained at zero.

For me at this point, it's more of an on going experiment that helps me and others fine tune and decide what works or not.

It's always a pleasure to be able to help and I only report on what I know truly works when it comes to sulfur reactors.

djfrankie