DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[Belgian Anthias]

SD does not remove phosphate? IT does! De-nitrification can produce orthophosphate and de-nitrification takes place everywhere in the aqua. Much of the phosphate liberated by bacteria will bind with calcium carbonate, calcium, magnesium, strontium and iron, depending of PH.
A SD must have the same amount of Calcium media as there is Sulfur. This calcium will bind more phosfate than there is produced by the bacteria in the reactor, so it removes also phosphate from the aqua. That is why is advised to change the ARM every year and not only fill up.
To avoid this a phosfate remover on iron base can be placed between de sulfer reactor and the ARM. Iron based media has a lot more potential at lower PH.
A SD does remove phosphate depending amount of media and PH

 

[Belgian Anthias]

advice SD

advice SD

I have a 40g mixed reef tank that im slowly converting into a SPS dominated tank. Right now the tank is quite heavily stocked. Im running a carbon and gfo reactor so my phosphates are at 0 however my nitrate is at 5ppm.

I was thinking of using a phosban 150 reactor and converting it for sulfur. How much sulfur would you guys recommend.

Also since its a small tank compared to the tanks ive been reading in this thread do you guys recommend using this sulfur or using biopellets.

Thanks for helpin a newbie out!

I would advice 1/2 gal sulfur. This can work, once established, with an en-fluent of +- 2.5 gal/h; Start to begin with only a few drops/min

I think the phosban 150 is to small. The less sulfur you use , the more difficult to regulate the en-fluent.

 

[4ddiction]

So you are saying i should make my own PVC reactor to house 1/2gal of sulfur? And how much ARM should i run?

 

[Nanook]

SD does not remove phosphate? IT does! De-nitrification can produce orthophosphate and de-nitrification takes place everywhere in the aqua. Much of the phosphate liberated by bacteria will bind with calcium carbonate, calcium, magnesium, strontium and iron, depending of PH.
A SD must have the same amount of Calcium media as there is Sulfur. This calcium will bind more phosfate than there is produced by the bacteria in the reactor, so it removes also phosphate from the aqua. That is why is advised to change the ARM every year and not only fill up.
To avoid this a phosfate remover on iron base can be placed between de sulfer reactor and the ARM. Iron based media has a lot more potential at lower PH.
A SD does remove phosphate depending amount of media and PH

This wasn't my experience and I've never read this before, but I am always willing to learn.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Cange ARM

Cange ARM

SD does not remove phosphate? IT does! De-nitrification can produce orthophosphate and de-nitrification takes place everywhere in the aqua. Much of the phosphate liberated by bacteria will bind with calcium carbonate, calcium, magnesium, strontium and iron, depending of PH.
A SD must have the same amount of Calcium media as there is Sulfur. This calcium will bind more phosfate than there is produced by the bacteria in the reactor, so it removes also phosphate from the aqua. That is why is advised to change the ARM every year and not only fill up.
To avoid this a phosphate remover on iron base can be placed between de sulfer reactor and the ARM. Iron based media has a lot more potential at lower PH.
A SD does remove phosphate depending amount of media and PH

An other reason for changing the ARM instead of filling up is the removal of sulfate produced by the bacteria feeding on the sulfur. Test has shown that most of the sulfate stays behind in the calcium reactor
I only use fluidized reactors to eliminate the possibility of clogging and use a SD in combination with a Phosphate remover, in this case DIAKAT( http://www.filtergranulat.de/index.php?language=en&cat=c36_Filtergranulat-Filtergranulat.html& ) Before the SD I have a fluidized sand filter to complete the nitrification cycle and to consume oxygen before the water enters the SD. This improves the working of the SD. De-gassing occurs after the calcium reactor to keep the PH low for better dissolving calcium-carbonate end stabilizing the PH afterwards by adding air.
I use tap-water to prepare the seawater I use and let the prepared water flow true my filter system before adding to my aqua system resulting in 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates and silicates. No ion-exchanger or osmoses needed. My filter system also provides enough calcium ( I use a mix of calcium-carbonate and coccolites as ARM)

 

[herring_fish]

So your Sulfur de-nitrification unit does use a Phosphate remover?
(or are you saying that one should use it only IF they have extra Phosphate issues.)
How much do you use?
Where do you put it?
Is it fluidized as well?
"¦.and"¦
How often do you change it?

 

[Belgian Anthias]

So your Sulfur de-nitrification unit does use a Phosphate remover?
(or are you saying that one should use it only IF they have extra Phosphate issues.)
How much do you use?
Where do you put it?
Is it fluidized as well?
"¦.and"¦
How often do you change it?

The ARM will bind orthophosphate but not enough to clean the system. So I use Diakat to remove the phosphates and silicates In my case it is fluidized but I have a system capacity of +- 6000l ( +- 1600 Gal). It is not necessary. I have put it between the sulfur and the calcium because its absorbing capacity is a lot better at lower PH. I suspect this is the same for all iron based phosphate removers. I change when phosphate can be measured again in the en-fluent using a hanna phosphate tester.

 

[herring_fish]

About how long does it normally last in your system?

 

[Dave & Monica]

I did not observe the sulfur reactor addressed phosphate either. By no means a chemist here, but can say from doing - that I had phosphate issues still after the NO3 reactor was up, cycled, and running 0 out of the effluent for a month or two. After attacking PO4, and once I did - finally beat all the algae issues that lead me to build the NO3 reactor in the first place. Don't get me wrong. The No3 Sulfur reactor really works, but from my issue of algae in the display (of an overstocked tank), was fixed by a two prong approach of NO3 and PO4 reduction. First though I should say a hobbies needs to address the other methods first (such as water flow, light bulbs, what and how often for feedings, etc...) to deal with algae before jumping to these advanced methods of NO3 (this thread) or for PO4 (thread below). For PO4, I used lanthanum chloride to knock down phosphates to a manageable level, then maintain with GFO. I strongly feel Sulfur did not adequately deal with PO4 -

DIADIAKAT seem to be a name brand of GFO. GFO is a good way to maintain low PO4.

Good luck

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1474839&highlight=lanthanum+chloride

 

[btjack2]

what does it mean when you open de-gassing valve and water shoots out?

 

[Dave & Monica]

It means the chamber does not have gas, and a good thing. Gas buildup can impact the circulating pump depending on the location. For me, after the reactor cycled and the slow drip turned into a stream, I never had gas build up again.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Gas, a lot off gas

Gas, a lot off gas

It means the chamber does not have gas, and a good thing. Gas buildup can impact the circulating pump depending on the location. For me, after the reactor cycled and the slow drip turned into a stream, I never had gas build up again.

De-nitration produces gas, if you have a big loaded system, a lot of gas; that is what it's all about.If there is no gas, no de-nitrification. In small systems the daily quantity of gas can be very small and not noticeable. it's gone before you know it.

 

[canucvn]

Thanks!!

It took a few attempts but I think I got it figured out now. The bending is hard to do. Once you heat the acrylic it will not bond and if it does it will shatter into pieces after a few hours. Because of this I had to make sure not to applying any heat to the surfaces you want to bond... from that point it's pretty much just bond and tweak…

The left side is for the Ca media and the right side is for the S. It's a basic loop with the MJ on top. The 1/4" closer to the pump is where the effluent leaves the reactor and the other side is the inlet from the tank....

I'm the "Acrylic guy" in the local club so that's why I built this myself.

BK

I also have a one as this, but after a period of about 2-4 days using the water inside the compartment Ca is lowered, you can help me?

 

[garbled]

I built a reactor about 4-5 months ago, and it's been absolutely great. From ~150ppm nitrates in a 1000g system, to zero, in about 4 months. Some notes from my experience:

1) I used a dual stage calcium reactor to build it. Easier than a total DIY, but more costly.

2) The constant fiddling of the output drove me nuts, so eventually I just hooked up an ORP probe to my apex, and got a solenoid valve for the input stream. Now it's totally automatic. Yay!

3) I originally used an aqualifter as the feed pump. Not a good idea. Every 2 weeks or so, pressure would build up inside the reactor, and the aqualifer couldn't overcome it. Then the whole thing would sieze up and start producing HS. When I switched the feed to branching off one of the main pumps, the problems went away instantly.

4) I have just under a gallon of sulfur media in the reactor. Looking at the levels, in about 5 months, I've lost about an inch of the media in a 4" diameter tube.

 

[tmz]

2) The constant fiddling of the output drove me nuts, so eventually I just hooked up an ORP probe to my apex, and got a solenoid valve for the input stream. Now it's totally automatic. Yay!

How does that work exactly? ORP level in the tank triggers shut off to the reactor? Does it drop significantly as low range nitrate is removed? If so what ORP level turns it on and off? level?Does the reactor go anoxic then with no input flow?

 

[Nanook]

I think he hooked the ORP probe up to the denitrator to keep it around -170 mV. This is the range you want it to be for effective denitrification to take place.

 

[Nanook]

If the ORP becomes too positive, you slow the effluent down. If it becomes too negative, you speed the effluent up.

 

[garbled]

Basically yes, rather than attempting to fiddle the flow rate with a bleeder valve, I put a simple on/off solenoid from automatictopoff.com on the feed line, and then adjusted the bleeder valve on the output to about half way (very fast drip). Originally I had it set where if the ORP was about -130, it would shut off the feed for 3 minutes, and then re-open until ORP hit -130 again. Every week or so I would look at the graphs on my apex, and either reduce the shutoff time, or open the output valve a little more. What this does is lets X amount of oxygenated water into the reactor, and then lets the bacteria work on it for a set amount of time. The ORP typically goes from -130 to about -200, and then time is up, and it repeats the process.

The 3 minute shutoff time is to compensate for the fact that you can't program the APEX to respond to ph levels above 10 (I run the ORP probe as a pH probe).

Currently the bleeder valve is 90% open, and the shutoff time is at 1 minute. I've had zero HS producing events in the past few months since setting up this system.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

ORP and Nitrate?

ORP and Nitrate?

2) The constant fiddling of the output drove me nuts, so eventually I just hooked up an ORP probe to my apex, and got a solenoid valve for the input stream. Now it's totally automatic. Yay!

Why was your output constant fiddling?Is there a problem with input pressure? Normally this does not occurs.
What I do not understand is the combination with ORP, PH and Nitrate. In the reactor the quantity of nitrate influences the PH output. The more nitrate removed, the lower the PH. But what influence it has on the ORP I do not understand?

 

[Isayso]

Hi all
I have been so caught in this fantastic thread that I built one...

...

it has been running for 3 days
it is set at 70 DPM and not changes has happened ..
but today what I found is a little curious ....
I tested the water coming out of the SD every 6 hours,
and just now my nitrates are higher ...is this normal? higher than the tank water
from a 60 now is out of the chart color..
is it normal
as media I used 1/2 gal of LMS at the bottom ( nothing else is avaible at the time I have to order it)
some Matrix media
and carib sea coarse media on the top
I know it will take time but didnt expect that higher nitrates were coming out
any info
Thanks