hooking up a sulfur denitrator to a calcium reactor?
- Thread starter fejer
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Pamocanthus
New member
Fejer,
you can feed your calc reactor after a sulfur denitrator. I use this system at home and seems to be very effective i;e my nitrates are ALWAYS undetectable. I am sure that there are many ways to do it, I'll just explain mine. I hard plumbed a manifold that feeds three MRC reactors; chamber one contains GFO media, chamber two activated carbon and chamber three sulfur media. I found that putting the sulfur last was an easy way to keep the pressures and flow rates through chambers one and two higher, due to the fact that sulfur media needs very slow flow rates. All three chambers are independently controlled by valves on the feed and effluent manifolds. So, after chamber three enters the effluent manifold it is isolated from the other two and feeds the feed line of my MRC dual chamber calc reactor. It is VERY easy to control flow rates due to the fact that most if not all calc reactors have a needle valve on their effluent to finely tune the flow rates. I have found that the combination of both both ball valves and the needle valve makes the flow rate for both the nitrate reactor and calc reactor a piece of cake. Now you will still need a co2 bottle for your calc reactor. I have not noticed any savings of co2 by feeding it from the sulfur reactor so I dont see this as a benefit. The benefits, to me, are that you are able to take one pump (your original calc reactor feed pump) out of your system, it is very easy to stabilize both sulfur chamber and calc reactor and keep them both very affective, you will have somewhere for the lowered ph effluent from your sulfur reactor to go, and it seems that the calc reactor media/chambers take the odor away from the sulfur reactor. When my sulfur reactor is running well it stinks...bad!!! It makes the entire living room smell like rotten eggs...sulfur... It can get bad. So in my experience feeding the calc reactor from the sulfur chamber will work and will work very well... The only draw back that I have found thus far is that every now and again my calc reactor gets airlocked by the gasses released from the sulfur chamber. I dont know all the chemistry or mechanics of it all, all I know is that from time to time it happens. This is solved simply opening up the needle valve all the way and purging the calc chambers, its a piece of cake.
As stated before I am not a chemist, nor do I know exactly how these things all work, all I know is that for my system it works very very well. I have also noticed that since I started running this on my system my kh has been really high. I have had reading before or 26!!! which was tested and retested by two different test kits by two leading brands to confirm its accuracy. Now it seems as though my KH hovers around 16 consistently, once again I have no idea why it just does. I see no affect on my corals and fish from this, both look great are all very healthy and bright and my corals all have amazing polyp extension.
I hope this helped
you can feed your calc reactor after a sulfur denitrator. I use this system at home and seems to be very effective i;e my nitrates are ALWAYS undetectable. I am sure that there are many ways to do it, I'll just explain mine. I hard plumbed a manifold that feeds three MRC reactors; chamber one contains GFO media, chamber two activated carbon and chamber three sulfur media. I found that putting the sulfur last was an easy way to keep the pressures and flow rates through chambers one and two higher, due to the fact that sulfur media needs very slow flow rates. All three chambers are independently controlled by valves on the feed and effluent manifolds. So, after chamber three enters the effluent manifold it is isolated from the other two and feeds the feed line of my MRC dual chamber calc reactor. It is VERY easy to control flow rates due to the fact that most if not all calc reactors have a needle valve on their effluent to finely tune the flow rates. I have found that the combination of both both ball valves and the needle valve makes the flow rate for both the nitrate reactor and calc reactor a piece of cake. Now you will still need a co2 bottle for your calc reactor. I have not noticed any savings of co2 by feeding it from the sulfur reactor so I dont see this as a benefit. The benefits, to me, are that you are able to take one pump (your original calc reactor feed pump) out of your system, it is very easy to stabilize both sulfur chamber and calc reactor and keep them both very affective, you will have somewhere for the lowered ph effluent from your sulfur reactor to go, and it seems that the calc reactor media/chambers take the odor away from the sulfur reactor. When my sulfur reactor is running well it stinks...bad!!! It makes the entire living room smell like rotten eggs...sulfur... It can get bad. So in my experience feeding the calc reactor from the sulfur chamber will work and will work very well... The only draw back that I have found thus far is that every now and again my calc reactor gets airlocked by the gasses released from the sulfur chamber. I dont know all the chemistry or mechanics of it all, all I know is that from time to time it happens. This is solved simply opening up the needle valve all the way and purging the calc chambers, its a piece of cake.
As stated before I am not a chemist, nor do I know exactly how these things all work, all I know is that for my system it works very very well. I have also noticed that since I started running this on my system my kh has been really high. I have had reading before or 26!!! which was tested and retested by two different test kits by two leading brands to confirm its accuracy. Now it seems as though my KH hovers around 16 consistently, once again I have no idea why it just does. I see no affect on my corals and fish from this, both look great are all very healthy and bright and my corals all have amazing polyp extension.
I hope this helped
When my sulfur reactor is running well it stinks...bad!!! It makes the entire living room smell like rotten eggs...sulfur... It can get bad. So in my experience feeding the calc reactor from the su
Be careful. That smell is hydrogen sulfide and it's very toxic to your tank and to you.
When the reactor runs out of O2 and NO3 ,sulfate reducing bacteria take over and produce hydrogen sulfide gas as a by product. Increasing the flow through the sulfur reactor and/or reducing the amount of sulfur media might help get it in balance with the supply of O2 and NO3 the tank is supplying on an ongoing basis after initial levels are reduced. Running the reactor effluent through some gfo helps accelerate the oxidation of the hydrogen sulfide which reduces the toxicity. In a typical tank hydrogen sulfid gas can remain for a few hours to a day before it is oxidized.
Be careful. That smell is hydrogen sulfide and it's very toxic to your tank and to you.
When the reactor runs out of O2 and NO3 ,sulfate reducing bacteria take over and produce hydrogen sulfide gas as a by product. Increasing the flow through the sulfur reactor and/or reducing the amount of sulfur media might help get it in balance with the supply of O2 and NO3 the tank is supplying on an ongoing basis after initial levels are reduced. Running the reactor effluent through some gfo helps accelerate the oxidation of the hydrogen sulfide which reduces the toxicity. In a typical tank hydrogen sulfid gas can remain for a few hours to a day before it is oxidized.
Pamocanthus
New member
Tom,
Yes thank you very much for the warnings, I am a newbie to posting this stuff so I forgot to mention a few things. When the smell gets bad ie I can smell it outside of my stand, I usually turn the reactor off after a nitrate test which usually reads zero, like you said the chamber has ran out of no3. As per the fish and human health effects does anyone know what these are? Symptoms etc? As i stated before this system works very well for my tank, but I would love to hear some advise / feedback
Thanks again Tom
Yes thank you very much for the warnings, I am a newbie to posting this stuff so I forgot to mention a few things. When the smell gets bad ie I can smell it outside of my stand, I usually turn the reactor off after a nitrate test which usually reads zero, like you said the chamber has ran out of no3. As per the fish and human health effects does anyone know what these are? Symptoms etc? As i stated before this system works very well for my tank, but I would love to hear some advise / feedback
Thanks again Tom
Pamocanthus
New member
Woa!!! I just read up on all of the health warnings for hydrogen sulfide !! That is nasty stuff!! I am not an alarmist but I am going to shut down my reactor until I get a detector to see if the levels are harmful or my family and I. I'll keep you all posted
Thanks again Tom
Thanks again Tom
This is from the NY State Department of Health:
http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/chemicals/hydrogen_sulfide/
http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/chemicals/hydrogen_sulfide/
Pamocanthus
New member
Tom,
Thanks for that link, that's pretty much the same that I gathered from wiki; it's flammable, it's poisonous. I guess my only question would be if you cam slightly smell it how dangerous of a level is it? I put a call into te head of my state ( vt) department of health to get their opinion. Thanks for all you shared knowledge !
Thanks for that link, that's pretty much the same that I gathered from wiki; it's flammable, it's poisonous. I guess my only question would be if you cam slightly smell it how dangerous of a level is it? I put a call into te head of my state ( vt) department of health to get their opinion. Thanks for all you shared knowledge !
Pamocanthus
New member
Tom,
Ps.... Sounds like you have a lot of knowledge and a great system... What is your preference for halide bulbs for your mixed reef ? I have a mixed reef that is Lps dominant but the sps seem to be gaining ground!! I have a current putter orbit 250 hqi hood that I supplement with four t5's. I just bought new bulbs and they'll be in later this week. What seems to work for you as a good mix of color and growth ?
Thanks again
Ps.... Sounds like you have a lot of knowledge and a great system... What is your preference for halide bulbs for your mixed reef ? I have a mixed reef that is Lps dominant but the sps seem to be gaining ground!! I have a current putter orbit 250 hqi hood that I supplement with four t5's. I just bought new bulbs and they'll be in later this week. What seems to work for you as a good mix of color and growth ?
Thanks again
I use mogul( single ended ) hamilton 250watt 14k bullbs with vho actinic supplementation on the 24 inch deep sps dominant tanks: Ithin 400s might be even better here. On the lps tank hamilton mogul 175watt 20 k with vho actinic supplementation on the 24 inch deep tank.
After 15 mos of use the halides go downstairs for a few more months use on the frag tanks.
I also use a few power brite current blue leds for a bit of extra color on the displays.
On the leather and mushroom 65 gallon, I use an old 2x 96w 50/50 power compact fixture..
For chaeto and the seahorse tank I use Home Depot spiral flourescent 18w spotlights(65 w equivalent).
After 15 mos of use the halides go downstairs for a few more months use on the frag tanks.
I also use a few power brite current blue leds for a bit of extra color on the displays.
On the leather and mushroom 65 gallon, I use an old 2x 96w 50/50 power compact fixture..
For chaeto and the seahorse tank I use Home Depot spiral flourescent 18w spotlights(65 w equivalent).
if your reactor is producing the rotten egg smell it means you are not running enough water through it. Take it off your calc reactor and turn the flow up!
Ive been running a sulphur reactor for 4 years now and the only times it ever smells is when it gets clogged and the flow drops to low.
Ive been running a sulphur reactor for 4 years now and the only times it ever smells is when it gets clogged and the flow drops to low.
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