DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[prostaff]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15497667#post15497667 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmz
You can run effluent per hour 3x to 5x the amount of sulfur. So for 13 liters you could max out at 65 liters( 16.6 gallons) per hour. Your feed pump needs to be able to push this through. 16.6 is well within the range of most small powerheads.

A maxi jet 12 which is around 200gph worked well on 3 liters for me. You may need something larger for 13. The mag seven sounds about right.

TMZ,
Are you suggesting using the mag 7 as a feed pump? I was asking about using the mag 7 as the recirculation pump. Was wondering if the flow would be too turbulent causing the sulphur to disintegrate and clog the outlets

 

[tmz]

No, I was thinking of it as a recirculation pump. A small powerhead should handle feed for you. I was thinking a mag 7 goes about 700gph vs a maxi jet 1200 at about 200gph and you will be using about 4x as much media. I don't know if it would be too turbulent. You are using an 8inch tube which has a lot more area than most. Larger pvc on the recirualtion piping should also make it less of a jet of water.

 

[prostaff]

Ok. Thanks. That was my thought as well. I am using 3/4in pvc reduced to 1/2in at the pump input and output.

 

[ongmat]

i received 2lbs of denitrator media from midwest aquatics, it calls HIGH PURITY SULFUER PEARL...it donot look like the one i seen in 2nd or 3rd page of this thread ( white split pea), it look exactly like TIPOU has in his, at bottom champer.(about 3mm yellow round pellet).
does any body experience this media before? does it work?

 

[chipnamanda]

I have had a two chamber DIY denitrator running for 1 week. It is on a 220 gl system, in the week the nitrates have not gone down coming out of the chamber. I originally had an underpowered maxijet 400 running the recirc. I have upgradded that to the 900 and am using the caribsea LSM (approx 5lbs) the midwest brand was on backorder. Does the caribsea take longer to activate or is their something else that I am missing? My nirite is reading approx .1.

 

[tmz]

I used the lsm with fine results . Have you been running it for a week with the 900? I used a 1200 fwiw. if your week includes exposing the media to any air , such as when you changed the recirculation pump the cycle will be set back by the O2 introduced, If not keep the effluent slow and wait it out. It will produce NO2 before using NO3.

 

[chipnamanda]

The 900 has been in use for only 3 days, I was able to change it without draining the system so no O2 should have entered the unit. My NO2 test kit was not working originally(it was very old) I bought a new one when I got the pump it has gone from reading .25 down to .1 in a few days, so it looks like the NO2 is cycling.

 

[Keith.B.Nimble]

Has anyone built one of these and used Deniballs with bio balls instead? I want to build one for my 165 gallon freshwater tank. If so how much deniballs did you use?

Thanks
Keith

 

[ongmat]

keith, those only work in coil type denitrator and not affective as this

 

[Keith.B.Nimble]

ongmat

I don't understand what you mean.

The aqua-medic NR 1000 is exactly the same as this DIY in principal.
http://www.aqua-medic.com/nitrate_reductor.shtml
The only big difference that I can see is the amount of area that the canisters hold.
The NR 1000 is 7x7x22 (rounding up) so the area, not taking into consideration wall thicknesses is 1078sq inches.
The diy is 4" PVC 24 inches long.
Formula for the area of a circle is A=3.14 X radius squared. In our case it would be 3.14 X 4 = 12.56 then you would need to multiply that times the length which is 24 inches so 12.56 X 24 = 301.44 sq inches.
So this DIY one is roughly 1/3 the size of the NR 1000, however the NR 1000 is rated for up to a 250 gallon tank I only have a 165 gallon tank.

Now I do agree 100% that a sulfur reactor is WAY more efficient however as I noted in my post I have a fresh water tank and using sulfur would not be a good idea in my setup.

 

[Rhodan]

I'm not sure if this has been asked, huge thread to search through, but I have had my sulfur denitrator setup for over 12 weeks now but I'm still not seeing a decrease in my nitrates.

Back ground on my design: 4in PVC pipe with 3/4 filled with sulfur pellets and 1/4 filled with ARM. I have MJ recir pump, but my only different is the feed. My sump is in my basement with the main display tank on the 1st floor. So I have tapped into the gravity feed into the sump to feed into the denitrator with a slow drip effluent coming out (1 drip ever 2 secs)..

..So back to my question, could the gravity feed into my denitrator be my issue why mine is not working? I would think that after 12 weeks I should be seeing some kind of results with my nitrates dropping.

 

[tmz]

1 drip every 2 seconds wont make much of a dent in a 180 gal system. You can work your effluent flow up to 3x to 5x the sulfur volume per hour. So if you have a gallon of sulfur in there you could produce say 3-5 gallons per hour of 0 nitrate water once your unit is cycled to this level. That's like doing a 50% water change per day in terms of nitrate removal.

 

[buffalo123]

Question: Would Kalwasser added to top off water be a good idea when using a nitrate reactor?

I add calcium chloride and baking soda about once per week;

 

[tmz]

Kalkwasser will not interact with the nitrate reactor activity except for ph and akalinitgy.. The reactor when reducing nitrate will lower ph and akalinity a bit. Kalkwasser dosing can counter both of these effects as well as addiong caclium.

 

[jhildebrand]

The Seachem Matrix does what exactly in a sulphur reactor? What ratio to sulphur and how is it supposed to be positioned in the reactor?

I have an empty dual chamber reverse flow reactor fed by a mini jet. Direct feed, no recirc pump.

This is for a 1000 gal system and my thought was to run Midwest Aquatic sulphur beads with the Matrix if needed and feed my calcium reactor with the effluent. Any thoughts on this setup? Flaws? Thanks in advance.

 

[H20ENG]

Matrix is simply a high surface area for bacterial colonization. You only need a little sulphur for food, but lots of media for bugs

 

[jhildebrand]

Matrix kept separate from the sulphur beads? Okay for effluent to feed calcium reactor?

 

[tmz]

I keep matrix media not to be confused with seachem matrix carbon in the the reactor with the sulfur . Just a layer on top or mixed in.

I don't run the effluent to the calcium reactor,because effluent flow and it's ph vary, and ;I'd rather control the calcium reactor independently and more precisely.

 

[jtemple42000]

Okay, I just got mine up and running. Built exactly as the update on page 4 of the original thread.

It has been running for about 24 hours with LSM and matrix. I tested the water in the reactor and it actually has a higher Nitrate level than the sump water? Does this sound normal? Does it just need to cycle longer?

I have not read of anyone having higher numbers from the reactor than the sump....

 

[laverda]

Matrix kept separate from the sulphur beads? Okay for effluent to feed calcium reactor?

The effluent flow is to slow for a calcium reactor.