DIY Sulfur Denitrator

[kcress]

Mine has been hovering at 1ppm of nitrites coming out for several days.

The nitrates out are 40ppm which I am pretty happy with since the input is 1.6ppt (Note the t)

I wonder if the nitrite will actually stay that high until the nitrates in reduce.

Kind of interesting since the nitrites then turn into nitrates again in my tank.

 

[kcress]

After the latest test nitrite has tanked at undetectable and nitrates out has dropped further still to ~7ppm.

Turning up the flow.

BTW on this 165gal tank I am only using about 1 liter of sulfur.

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12751618#post12751618 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Black71gp
well tested today.. still 0 nitrate out of reactor YEA!!!!!!!!! first time its been dripping this fast and 0 out!!! so i upped the flow a little more nice steady drops now....!!! a few more days and might be a nice stream coming out of there.. YEA!!!

Black71gp..................Yea is right............I knew you where on the right track and see perseverance does pay off as shown by your results.......:lol: :lol:

I also am on the edge of a break thru with mine, as this am! I finally got ZERO Nitrites and ZERO Nitrates and I'm in the middle off increasing the FR.............We'll see Monday....

Dick

 

[Black71gp]

yea party for us!!!!

 

[pecan2phat]

Is it normal for my effluent No3 to be at 100 ppm during the break in period while my bulk water is only at 40 ppm? Reactor was started on 6/8/08 at 1 dps then on 6/14/08 turned down to 1 dp2s (half the flow).

 

[wizsmaster]

pecan2phat ... have you tested your NITRITES in the effluent?

 

[pecan2phat]

Not yet wizsmaster, need to pick up a No2 test kit since I never had use for one.
Will having or not having No2 in the effluent make a difference?

Thanks.

 

[wizsmaster]

If you have nitrite in the effluent, the unit is not done cycling, and will give you false N03 readings AFAIK.

I'd leave the reactor turned down around 1 DPS until you clear 0 nitrate

 

[reef_only]

my tank NO3 is down to <5ppm from 25+ppm after 1 week of running sulfur reactor, this is good; however, my tank got cloudy that came from the reactor. I disconnected and have run my reactor with RO water for 1+ day to wash the media but still see some what cloudy, the water was very cloudy for the first few hours of flushing and getting better (less cloudy) but still see cloudy(white milky color) even after more than 1 day of flushing (100s gallons of water running through). I used LSM sulfur and CaribSea A.R.M. Aragonite Reactor Media from marinedepot. Any idea why?

 

[kcress]

Nope, no cloud here. You know that white spider webby stuff. I wonder if that's what's coming out.


My output is down to 80ppm. I'm stoked as that is 95% turn down from the input. I am running at 5.4L/hr or 1.4gal/hr.

Mine is set up with only about a liter of sulfur and 2 liters of matrix mixed. I see this is chicken's philosophy too. Maybe that makes a difference?

 

[Black71gp]

still rocking on mine.. gas build up is INSAINE!!!!!!!!! flow is past a nice steady stream.. almost full open.. and still 0ppm coming out of the reactor!!!

 

[reef_only]

while spider webby is kind of sticky stuff and is not what the white/cloudy stuff I see from my reactor effluent, when I first flush the chammber it is much more white than spider webby stuff, it's kind of light milky white. My reactor chammber has both sulfur with ARM on top and both of these medias are fully occupied in the reactor column.

 

[saltydog64]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12766602#post12766602 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by reef_only
my tank NO3 is down to <5ppm from 25+ppm after 1 week of running sulfur reactor, this is good; however, my tank got cloudy that came from the reactor. I disconnected and have run my reactor with RO water for 1+ day to wash the media but still see some what cloudy, the water was very cloudy for the first few hours of flushing and getting better (less cloudy) but still see cloudy(white milky color) even after more than 1 day of flushing (100s gallons of water running through). I used LSM sulfur and CaribSea A.R.M. Aragonite Reactor Media from marinedepot. Any idea why?

reef_only...................just a quick thought....before setting up your unit have you added or used a carbon source such Volka or added any sugar to your tank ????

 

[reef_only]

No I've never used volka nor sugar in my tank. I've been having activated carbon in sump but it doesn't eliminate the cloudy. It's just like my sulfur media is made from flour and got dissovling over time when water running through.

I didn't rinse the medias before placing into the reactor but I didn't see cloudy thing until few days after placing in service, if rinsing is the problem it would be clean after it runs for a week especially after flushing with RO water for more than a day.

 

[wizsmaster]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12767018#post12767018 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Black71gp
still rocking on mine.. gas build up is INSAINE!!!!!!!!! flow is past a nice steady stream.. almost full open.. and still 0ppm coming out of the reactor!!!

awesome - glad it's finally working out for you.
Have you measured just how much you're flowing at this point?

Wonder why you have this much gas buildup .. i barely have any ... i have not had to de-gas my unit. I do open the valve very slow about every 2 weeks to check, but get fluid every time. no gas.

 

[reef_only]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12767018#post12767018 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Black71gp
still rocking on mine.. gas build up is INSAINE!!!!!!!!! flow is past a nice steady stream.. almost full open.. and still 0ppm coming out of the reactor!!!

Good to hear it's now working for you. So what was the main cause of the problem you had for not having low NO3 at effluent at high dripping rate?

 

[amashun]

Yeah, i'm 0 now:rollface:

 

[Black71gp]

I had to shut of my recirc pump last night because the gas build up is so bad.. I have not measured flow yet... the big problem was not enough sulfur media.. I hope with the recirc pump off that I can still keep a high flow rate at 0ppm... cause when i leave for work in the morning i degas.. theni get home and the pump is almost cavitating because there is like 1.5 inches of gas down the 6" chamber....and it almost down to the pump inlet.... hope this keeps working.

 

[wizsmaster]

what size pump are you using?

 

[EnderG60]

your getting alot of gas because of all the nitrate its reacting with. Once your nitrates are down to zero the gas buildup should slow down quite a bit.

At first mine would build about 6-8" a week of gas in a 4" tube, now its barely 1" every 2 weeks.

Dont turn your recirc pump off untill you get the rotten egg smell at full flow, which means there isnt enough nitrate to feed all the sulphur.

If your having that much trouble with the degassing, go get a solonoid valve and a timer and set it to open for 5 minutes 2 or more times a day.