DIY Sulfur Denitrator

Thanks dj . I've been watching them. I dose llimewater and use a calcium reactor. Nonetheless, alkailinity dropped from 12dkh to 10.6dkh over a few weeks. I am now supplementing extra baking soda. Ph lost half a point too,from 8.25 -8.35 dailly low and high to 8,20-8.30 .

Any pointers on steps to take when the desired nitrate level has been reached. I'm going to try to figure out how to balance feeding etc. with reactor out put to stay in the 5ppm to 1-ppm range. More coral feedings etc with the reactor running .
 
ok guys. I am losing this battle against my dropping alk. Do you think I can open the reactor and cut the media into half and restart the cycle? Right now my effluent ph is 7.0 and alk is 6.7 ph is at 8.0. Ca is really high.
Any suggestions how to stabilize the alk. Help appreciated.

I have a 75 gallon tank with 1.5 liters of media. It was great to lower my nitrates from >50 to 0 but now I am thinking of lowering the media to half.
 
TMZ and Mooyguy,

You can remove some of the media and store it for later use in a sealed container.

One option that also works is to turn off the recirculating pump. This makes the reactor less efficient.

Good luck!

djfrankie
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14493847#post14493847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by djfrankie
TMZ and Mooyguy,

You can remove some of the media and store it for later use in a sealed container.

One option that also works is to turn off the recirculating pump. This makes the reactor less efficient.

Good luck!

djfrankie
Click to expand...
:) Thanks for the idea. Hadn't though about turning off the ricurculating pump. I have a large well fed bioload so perhaps I won't have to shut it down; just manage the alkalinity and ph issues.I'll continue to address those with limewater dosing and extra baking soda.
 
ok. I turned off my recirculating pump this morning. Will keep checking my alk to see how things workout. Thanks for the idea.
 
Since I am a fowlr keeper, are there any other things to watch for with the element levels?

Also, is there a page that kind of brings it all together? I know things change and improve on threads like this....I'm doing the vodka thing right now and am not getting anywheres close to 80, let alone 0.
 
Alkalinity and ph are the only critical ones of which I am aware, particularly for corals. It will build up some sulfate over time, but there is a large amount of that in seawater already so a small addition should not have much of an effect.

I'd be sure to have good aeration via a bubbly skimmer ,etc since the bacterral activity can deplete some 02.

I use some vodka too. It seems to do very well on PO4 but not much to NO3. The sulfur denitrator on the other hand will not do anything for PO4.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14496273#post14496273 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by danorth
Since I am a fowlr keeper, are there any other things to watch for with the element levels?

Also, is there a page that kind of brings it all together? I know things change and improve on threads like this....I'm doing the vodka thing right now and am not getting anywheres close to 80, let alone 0.
Click to expand...

There is the Reefkeeping article you can check out. It's in the January 2009 edition.

The only concern I would have with a FOWLR system would be the coraline algae on the rocks do need Alk, that's if you have any now. Also, some organism need, at least NSW, Alk levels to build their bodies in lack of a better word.

You can also run the eflluent over GFO to get rid of the sulfur build up in your tank.

HTH,
djfrankie
 
The nitrites & nitrates finally hit zero after a week. Just increased my rate up to about 1.5 drips per sec. Hopefully I can increase it again in a few days.

Does anyone have a suggestion at what point I should return the effluent back to the tank? Still dripping into a bucket at this point.
 
I think it's fine to put it into the sump when it's at 0 or even at more than that as long as the effluent is less than the tank water going in.Check the effluent frequently now you may be able to get to a higher drip rate faster than you might think. Also be sure to keep degassing it. Once you get to a higher effluent flow it will push the nitrogen out with it and less degassing will be necessary in my experience.
 
I was just concerned with putting nitrites back into the tank. I do not want to make any fish ill. Wasn't really worried about the nitrate level.

Any recommendations what an allowable concentration in the tank is? After increasing the rate, it is back up to .1ppm. Figure I'll check it again in the morning.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14499999#post14499999 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Lonnie
I was just concerned with putting nitrites back into the tank. I do not want to make any fish ill. Wasn't really worried about the nitrate level.

Any recommendations what an allowable concentration in the tank is? After increasing the rate, it is back up to .1ppm. Figure I'll check it again in the morning.
Click to expand...

Lonnie.....

Sorry about the late reply.......by now since your last post, your NO2 and NO3 should be or could be close to Zero again.....hopefully they are.

I can only guess about your ?? on Nitrite...IMO (I assume your Nitrite reading is out of thr SR ...:mixed: ) only zero in a tank is safe BUT coming out of SR @ 0.1 ppm probably is not a problem as the tank bacteria should oxidize it before you could detect it in the tank water.....just my 2 cents
 
I wouldn't worry about nitrite. It is not toxic to marine fish unless it hits extremely high levels in the hundreds of ppms. Your test kit only goes to 1.. The abundance of chloride in salt water neutralizes the effect it has in fresh water. Nitrite will however skew your nitrate reading with many test kits. A bit of nitrite will make a nitrate test read quite high in nitrate.
 
So far everything seems OK.

The .1 nitrite was from the reactor. My tank reading was barely detectable.

Was at 0 drips for 3 days, then 1 drip/sec for about 3 days, then 1.5 for a day, then 2.
It really came alive his weekend (1 week).

I increased drip rate a few times over the weekend.
Started to measure flow instead of counting drops. Went to 12, then 18, then 24ml/min. Increased it to 32ml/min this morning, going to 40ml in a few minutes.

Nitrates are 0 & nitrites are less than .1
Small increases in volume seems to balance back out in about 12 hrs, so I check & reset twice a day. Started flowing into the tank yesterday & all is good. I figure I'll just keep increasing slowly until I start to see a trace of nitrates in the discharge.

Thanks for the feedback.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14497356#post14497356 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by djfrankie
There is the Reefkeeping article you can check out. It's in the January 2009 edition.

The only concern I would have with a FOWLR system would be the coraline algae on the rocks do need Alk, that's if you have any now. Also, some organism need, at least NSW, Alk levels to build their bodies in lack of a better word.

You can also run the eflluent over GFO to get rid of the sulfur build up in your tank.

HTH,
djfrankie
Click to expand...
:) For clarification. Running the effluent over gfo will it is thought breakdown hydrogen sulfide(toxic) to elemental sulfur(not toxic). So doing so affords a level of protection in the event of hydrogen sulfide formulation in the reactor when no nitrate or oxygen is present. The gfo will not,however, affect the levels of sulfate the reactor will discharge. Since there are already 2700ppm of sufate in sea water ,the addition from the reactor is not expected to be a major concern but I suppose it could become one over a long period of time without water changes. Here's a link:

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-12/rhf/index.php
 
Dj frankie i had a unit on my tank for a 4 weeks (thanks to you) it will not degas and my tank water smells of sulfer ,is there something i can do THANKS Russ
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14520278#post14520278 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tatooruss
Dj frankie i had a unit on my tank for a 4 weeks (thanks to you) it will not degas and my tank water smells of sulfer ,is there something i can do THANKS Russ
Click to expand...

Russ............

Please... more info on tank.............post some current test results to start with.....

You say it "smells like sulfur" do you mean the "rotten egg" smell???. Do you have a Phos/Carbon reactor?? if so get some GFO and C in there ASAP......this should HELP reduce "sulfur compound(s)"....I'm only guessing here as you don't offer enough info for further thought(s)....
 
TattoRuss built me mine. I just put it online last night.
I have a 210 gallon with 100 gallon sump. Im hoping this thing works its magic! It amazes me that these work the way they do....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

AquaticReefTV
DIY Cable management time lapse
Replies
1
Views
531
S|\/|S
S
AZBigJohn
New Build... I'm back
Replies
15
Views
449
Dustin07
D
A
Fleece filter bypass problems (Innovitech X filter)
Replies
1
Views
43
Vinny Kreyling
Vinny Kreyling
E
Need some help with two clowns swimming unusually as I’m doing a fish cycle.
2
Replies
24
Views
563
kfisc
kfisc
T
Octo Various 10 Pump
Replies
1
Views
83
Tanksanyway
T
Back
Top