DIY Sulfur Denitrator

well i have mine built and ready to start using friday.will try and get some pic's up when i have it all setup. as for the midwest aquatics sulphur media. i will be using around 3/4 of a pound. for my dt and refuge figure around 45 gallon's along with 8 .lb's of carib sea- course arm media. it call's for .59 lb's of sulpur media wich is about 9 .oz.-.lb feel free to let me know if this seem's right.

thamk's pat
 
That's it 2 years later and I am finally building one. Anything I should do different from the regular design. I have about 600 gallons volume.
 
I have a 300 display 150 150 sump. Actual water is around 480. So I should use about 2.8 liters Sulfur and around 3.25 Seam Chem and a gallon of Carib Sea no Nitrate Sulfur/Aragonite blend. I have a couple questions before I place my order.

I remember way back someone mention to use Calcium reactor media to help. I currently don't have a Calcium reacotr just a new kalk that I am hooking up this week. Do you guys have any recommendations on this, and if so what brand of media and how much I should use?

Should I go with 4 or 6 pipe? I want to use a spare maxi 120 I already have.
 
i have had mine cyling since saturday afternoon. discovered that i had a feedline problem so i placed a rio 180 gph on the feed line tuesday night. well everything is working finally and reactor is cycled output is 0 on nitrates, around 75 - 80 input with nitrate's time to start watching my ph and alk
 
So for about 480- 500 gallons. This is what I will need to get. I do have a couple questions below.

I will need 3 liters Sea Chem Matrix.

1 gallon of Carib Sea No- Nitrate sulfur/aragonite

1 gallon of Carib Sea ARM Extra Course(COMES IN A GALLON NOT SURE HOW MUCH TO USE???)

I put a pad the sulfur, pad the Matrix, pad the ARM Extra Course media????

It sound like it will be pretty full.

Thanks guys for any help. Much appreciated. And hats of to DJ Frank..............
 
Does that sound right guys? I am going to build mine tonight.

I am going to order everything from petsolutions except the ARM I think I will just order that from bulk reef supply since I need some carbon..

FYI you can get a 200 gallon salt box reef crystals for $47 with free shipping on orders over $99
 
hello,

I have Midwest Sulphur Denitrifier and I m cycling unit. This is my 6th day and My nitrate and nitrite at output of denitrator is too high.(nitrite=100ppm, nitrite=above10ppm). My tank nitrite is 0.5 and nitrate is 30-40ppm.

Is is normal and how long will it takes to get 0.(I use 1 drop per second)
 
erics3000 said:
Does that sound right guys? I am going to build mine tonight.

I am going to order everything from petsolutions except the ARM I think I will just order that from bulk reef supply since I need some carbon..


Don't worry about the amount of ARM you use. It simply is to act as a buffer as the sulphur can lower your pH and precipitate out your Ca.
The worse that can happen is that if you don't use enough, you will have to add/replace some more ARM in about a year. If you use too much, the ARM will appear to last forever.
That said...I do occassionally add some Kalwasser to my refill water to keep my Ca up and my pH/alk high.
Good luck with your unit...........marc :dance:
Click to expand...
 
redbaronred said:
hello,

I have Midwest Sulphur Denitrifier and I m cycling unit. This is my 6th day and My nitrate and nitrite at output of denitrator is too high.(nitrite=100ppm, nitrite=above10ppm). My tank nitrite is 0.5 and nitrate is 30-40ppm.

Is is normal and how long will it takes to get 0.(I use 1 drop per second)
Click to expand...

HI>>>>>
you might want to go back to beginning of the thread and re-read about cycling.
The higher your nitrates, and the bigger the tank, the longer it will take to cycle to zero and the longer it will take to show a drop in your tank's level.
Remember that the bacteria grow in relation to the amount of sulphur,input of nitrates, and the recir flow. This takes time. If I remember correctly, my unit (see page 17 of the thread) took a little over 3 weeks to cycle to zero and almost 2 months to show a tank level of close to zero (or so) -- and I only have a 65 gal tank. (a lot of the members here have tanks with hundreds of gals!) It is also important to remember that some corals actually utilize some of the nitrates as a food source so "zero" is not always necessary.
Good Luck..............marc
 
mjpinsky said:
HI>>>>>
you might want to go back to beginning of the thread and re-read about cycling.
The higher your nitrates, and the bigger the tank, the longer it will take to cycle to zero and the longer it will take to show a drop in your tank's level.
Remember that the bacteria grow in relation to the amount of sulphur,input of nitrates, and the recir flow. This takes time. If I remember correctly, my unit (see page 17 of the thread) took a little over 3 weeks to cycle to zero and almost 2 months to show a tank level of close to zero (or so) -- and I only have a 65 gal tank. (a lot of the members here have tanks with hundreds of gals!) It is also important to remember that some corals actually utilize some of the nitrates as a food source so "zero" is not always necessary.
Good Luck..............marc
Click to expand...
Marc,

Thank you for reply. I made a stupit mistake at the begining. My eheim pump (as you know it has good reputation about silence) didnt work but I supposed it is working fine because I had drop at output of denitrifier. after 1 month, I realized my eheim was not working. So I decided to chance it with aquabee 1000 but I didint rinse sulphur with fresh water. This is my almost 1 week and nitrite and nitrate is very high. This is giving harm to my corals. so I put output to bucket and inject 25 ml vodka inside of denitrifier( I read it helps to cycling). I wonder this cycling process normal or I have to rinse sulphur
 
Eric,
You don't need the Seachem Matrix. I used Carib Sea LSM and Arm (Coarse). It's in a 8lbs is in a gal. If you have a large system and your nitrate is very high. I would do 50% sulfur and 50% ARM leave about 3-4" space between the ARM and the top. I would reduced the sulfur when you have the nitrate at bay. Beware to watch your ALK. the sulfur will make it down.


erics3000 said:
So for about 480- 500 gallons. This is what I will need to get. I do have a couple questions below.

I will need 3 liters Sea Chem Matrix.

1 gallon of Carib Sea No- Nitrate sulfur/aragonite

1 gallon of Carib Sea ARM Extra Course(COMES IN A GALLON NOT SURE HOW MUCH TO USE???)

I put a pad the sulfur, pad the Matrix, pad the ARM Extra Course media????

It sound like it will be pretty full.

Thanks guys for any help. Much appreciated. And hats of to DJ Frank..............
Click to expand...
 
redbaronred,
which media are you using. I have a local reefer that was using the sulfur pearl from Midwest. He was having problem w/ his until I told him to try out Carib Sea LSM. That what I'm using on my son tank and it cycle within a wk. He bought an extra box that I have let over from ordering too much. He changed it out w/ the LSM and had good result within a wk.

redbaronred said:
Also Midwest is worst custumer service I have ever seen.
Click to expand...
 
thi7b said:
redbaronred,
which media are you using. I have a local reefer that was using the sulfur pearl from Midwest. He was having problem w/ his until I told him to try out Carib Sea LSM. That what I'm using on my son tank and it cycle within a wk. He bought an extra box that I have let over from ordering too much. He changed it out w/ the LSM and had good result within a wk.
Click to expand...

I m using midwest LSM, today I close all valve and leave pump is working. After 10 hrs I measure NO2 and NO3 and it says "0". after it I let it work. in several hours output NO2 level go crazy again. I dont understand whats hapenning
 
thi7b said:
Eric,
You don't need the Seachem Matrix. I used Carib Sea LSM and Arm (Coarse). It's in a 8lbs is in a gal. If you have a large system and your nitrate is very high. I would do 50% sulfur and 50% ARM leave about 3-4" space between the ARM and the top. I would reduced the sulfur when you have the nitrate at bay. Beware to watch your ALK. the sulfur will make it down.
Click to expand...


Sounds good. Thanks. I already placed my order and will update my progress soon.
 
Reducing sulfur?

Reducing sulfur?

thi7b said:
Eric,
I would reduced the sulfur when you have the nitrate at bay. Beware to watch your ALK. the sulfur will make it down.
Click to expand...

Why do you advise to reduce the sulfur when the nitrate is at bay?
I advice to use about 1% sulfur ( 1 gal for a 100 gal system) all the time giving the possebility to play with the enfluent when needed to optain the desired nitrate level (between 2 and 5 times the amount of sulfur, max. 10X ).
Having high nitrate load needing a denitrator means that there is a high source of ammonia. To be shure the bio chaine is not interrupted I advise that, when a denitrator is neccesary, an old fasion bio filter or trickle filter should be used also. I use a fluidizized bed filter. In this case use minimum 2x the amount sulfur of ARM and good areation.
Calcium and magnesium will also bind phosfate, that is why we have to change the media regulary and not only add to compleet the disolved media.

Belgian Anthias
 
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