DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[mjpinsky]

MY MISHAP THIS DATE

MY MISHAP THIS DATE

Today was tank cleaning day........

I had noticed that there did not seen to be any output from my cannister filter. So I figured it must have gotten clogged and needed a good cleaning. Actually, it turns out that the motor had died -- I do not know how long ago (last cleaned about 1 1/2 - 2 months ago). When I openned the top ---
BAM!!! a face full of rotten egg smell that almost made me hurl (I was glad I was over the sink). The downstairs STUNK -- had to open all the windows!

Could the sulfur from the denitrator effluent that is was easily dissipated in the tank water (and further broken down by my skimmer) have build up in the dead filter (it turns out that my filter input is very near my reactor's output hose and could have been sucking up the sulfur) and, in a sense turned it into a denitrator? Anerobic bacteria in a closed container eating sulfur impregnated water --> H2S buldup.

I can't think of anything else that could have caused the terrible odor and also the black staining on the filter baskets.

What do you all think? ................................... marc

p.s. : Big Brown is still working fine.

 

[tmz]

Could have been some dust from the ractor. However, 1 or two months of stagnant water particualrly in a canister filter with plenty of organic material would go to HS2 quite well without the sulfur.

Remember the process for HS2 formation occurs in truly anoxic conditions when a food source is available. When organic material o is available and there is no oxygen or nitrate , they will turn to sulfate(SO4) for oxygen and produce the hydrogen sulfide as a by product. They don't need sulfur to do this. The sulfate is always there as a natural part of salt water At about 2700ppm it is the 3rd most prevalent ion in salt water after chloride at 19000 ppm , sodium 10,550ppm . Fourth is magnesium at 1280ppm. These 4 make up 96% of the elements in seawater . Everything else including calcium, carbonate/bicarbonate and all the minor and trace elements make up the remaining 4%. So sulfate is quite plenitful.

Likely your canister would have done the same thing without your sulfur reactor on line,in my opinion. This is why folks are cautioned to avoid turning on a canister filter after a lengthy power outage without cleaning it out first.

 

[mjpinsky]

yucky smell....

yucky smell....

Tom;
Thanks for the input. Good to know "Big Brown" was not the cause of my grief. ............... marc
p.s.: Good Grief! I did not realize how expensive new canister filters are going for. I'm glad I got 10 years out of my old one.

 

[tmz]

You are welcome.

 

[tmz]

MJPinsky. Your reactor at some point may produce H2S when you are at 0 or near 0 nitrates in there. This happened to me even with high flow. To protect against dumping toxins it into your tank you can run your sulfur denitrator effluent through some gfo(granulated ferric oxide). It should reduce the sulfide to harmless elemental sulfur. The reactor will still smell and should be cleaned out and recylcled at that point.

 

[khoivo1]

let us see your completed reactor picture.,,i gotta love this thread,,

 

[surferboi2113]

okay sorry i have a question. i literaly spent hours upon end researching these DIY nitrifier templates and i still dont get a few things. please help.

1. i see where the water goes in from, but if the main chamber is pressurized wouldn't this push water out instead of in.

2. why is the inlet from the main tank water below the outlet of the powerhead?? does this not push water out?

thanks guys. sorry for the noob questions. just been wanting to build one of these for a while but i just dont fully understand the mechanics of it. thanks

 

[surferboi2113]

okay sorry i have a question. i literally spent hours upon end researching these DIY nitrifier templates and i still don't get a few things. please help.

1. i see where the water goes in from, but if the main chamber is pressurized wouldn't this push water out instead of in.

2. why is the inlet from the main tank water below the outlet of the powerhead?? does this not push water out?

thanks guys. sorry for the newbie questions. just been wanting to build one of these for a while but i just dont fully understand the mechanics of it. thanks

 

[buffalo123]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15109379#post15109379 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buffalo123
Now down to around 12

Finally 0 time to turn it up more, not too much problem

 

[tmz]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15220849#post15220849 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by surferboi2113
okay sorry i have a question. i literally spent hours upon end researching these DIY nitrifier templates and i still don't get a few things. please help.

1. i see where the water goes in from, but if the main chamber is pressurized wouldn't this push water out instead of in.

2. why is the inlet from the main tank water below the outlet of the powerhead?? does this not push water out?

thanks guys. sorry for the newbie questions. just been wanting to build one of these for a while but i just dont fully understand the mechanics of it. thanks

I'll try to answer and perhaps others will chime in. I built mine back in December. Asked some of the same questions but my recollection is a little foggy:

Q #1: You need to use a feed pump for water supply. I used a small powerhead positioned in a tank above the input. The pump and gravity feed the water. and the circulation action helps to draw it in and overcome the pressure.

Q# 2 Can't remember the reason exactly. It works this way. Gives a little room at the top of the denitrifier for gas buildup which would otherwise block it.

 

[reefslugs]

Just ran into this thread today. I've been reading it for hours. I have been battling with nitrates for a year now, with my new tank. I'm running a big refugium. I've up graded my skimmer to a Deltec P0702. I've removed some of my fish. Nothing seems to help.

After reading on this thread, I think I'm going to attempt to make one of these reactors. My question is, I have a MRC add on second chamber calcium reactor laying around. It's 21 inches high and 6 inches wide. Will this be big enough for my tank? Or is it too big, too small? My tank is a Oceanic 200g with a 65g sump.

Also is there any bad things about using a nitrate reactor? Will it smell my house up?

 

[mjpinsky]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15228293#post15228293 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reefslugs
Just ran into this thread today. I've been reading it for hours. I have been battling with nitrates for a year now, with my new tank. I'm running a big refugium. I've up graded my skimmer to a Deltec P0702. I've removed some of my fish. Nothing seems to help.

After reading on this thread, I think I'm going to attempt to make one of these reactors. My question is, I have a MRC add on second chamber calcium reactor laying around. It's 21 inches high and 6 inches wide. Will this be big enough for my tank? Or is it too big, too small? My tank is a Oceanic 200g with a 65g sump.

Also is there any bad things about using a nitrate reactor? Will it smell my house up?

OK.....here is my input....

High nitrates can also come from absorbed nitrates from your live rock and substrate, not only from the fish and coral, and feedings. My nitrates started at close to 300 and now they stay leveled at about 10 (my tank never got down to 0).

There is only one downside to using a denitrator (other than the cost and time to build one). That is that the effluent (output) is of a low pH even with the addition of crushed coral/aragonite/or CRM to the top of the reactor. This can be offset by adding some Kalwasser/buffer to the tank weekly. This will keep your alkalininity up.

Your present unit should work OK.... for the size tank you have, you will probably need about 3L of sulfur. Whatever room is left over fill it with CRM. Good Luck with building your unit.

Follow the thread from the beginning and you will have a full primar on its construction and use. .................................. MARC

 

[tmz]

Don't know how big your calcium reactor is but you will need room for a liter or 2 of sulfur. You'll also have to figure a way to degas it daily for the first week.
Mine brought nitrates down in a 550 g system from around 80ppm to 0 in 6 weeks with 3 liters of sulfur. I did not use aragonite as as filler. I do dose kalk and had to dose a little baked baking soda(sodium carbonate) during the initial application since it will deplete some alkalinity when nitrates are high and it is processing them out. When they hit 0 in the reactor there is a danger of producing hydrogen sulfide. Increasing the effluent flow helps. When the tank hits 0 , if hydrogen sulfide is being produced it will smell and is toxic.. You can either take the reactor off line at this point or adjust the amount of sulfur in it to reduce bacterial activity until you get it in sync with nitrate production in your tank.

BTW nitrate does not absorb into rock and substrate like phosphate does. It may be that detritus and waste material has built up in these areas and the decay is producing nitrate.

A good cleaning and blowing out the rock with a turkey baster may help along with some wet skimming and running some granulated activated carbon.

I found the diy denitrater easy and the results very pleasing with the diy model.

Good Luck.

 

[williah]

So I'm taking my machine off line today to check and clean it.

I've had it up for a few weeks, and despite it starting to kick in a couple of times (nitrates coming down in the effluent) when the drip rate was 1 drop/sec, when ever I sped it up even a little (less than 2 drops/sec) it wouldn't catch up. It didn't seem to be converting the nitrate and the effluent would be almost the same as the tank's. Sometimes it seemed as if the nitrate of the effluent was actually a little higher than the tank. I would let it sit at said rate for days, but no change.

At one point I had no drip out, I just circulated the water in the reactor for a few hours-a day, and it kicked in again (nitrates from 50-60 down to 20), but as soon as I started dripping out it stopped dropping and went back up to the tank's Nitrate level.

I'm going to open it tomorrow and see.

I have one question for those more knowledgable.
Last time I took it off line, I didn't clean the sulfur out for a while. I drained a lot of the water that had rotten egg smell, but I just shoved the unit in a spare shower and left it for weeks. I cleaned it out well when I started it up this time, but could the sulfur sitting in the skunk water with Sulfate and sulfide go through a reaction and become innert? I don't believe so, from what I've read about the reactions, but I thought I'd throw the question out there.

I'm guessing that my sulfur amount is just too low, and I'll have to add fresh sulfur to the reactor and get it cycling again.

All comments welcomed.

 

[tmz]

I don't know about the sulfur beocming inert, but I don't think it would. I'd rinse it in tank water before use and try more sulfur. I used 3 liters on 550 gallons. Is your recirculating pump working well?

 

[williah]

Yes, the pumps are working fine, thanks. Very strange reaction.
I'm going to add more sulfur and see.

 

[williah]

So I ordered more sulfur Friday, to see if I just need more to get it going .

I opened & cleaned mine today. Has ANYONE every opened this device up and not gotten that rotten egg smell?

I ran the machine for weeks, the effluent out was never less than 20, meaning there was plenty of "food", so why the rotten egg smell?

Anyway, I cleaned it out and am waiting for more sulfur to start again. In the mean time I'm going to check all the connections.

Let's see.

 

[buffalo123]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15221475#post15221475 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by buffalo123
Finally 0 time to turn it up more, not too much problem

Display now at 0 nitrates
Will likely increase feeding, hair algae disappearing and coralline algae increasing

 

[buffalo123]

So Far no rotten smell, my denitrator has no recirculating pump and took about 2 months to get to 0 nitrates.

 

[brian10956]

Were are the plans and instructions

Were are the plans and instructions

I had printed and built the sulfur denitrator from plans posted by djfrankie my wife dumped them and I cant find the link to reprint. I have it completely built I have no idea how to use it can some one please help and send me the link.