reefrubble
Premium Member
I thank you guys so much for all your help. I don't have a lot of $$ ,so I'm going to have to DIY the reactor. If anyone has any information ,and,or pics of a DIY nitrate reactor,it would help me tremendously. Ted
Nitrate Reactor ?
- Thread starter reefrubble
- Start date
wrassie86
Premium Member
Ted
I'm pretty sure i've seen some in the DIY forum.any CA reactor plans would probly work for sulfer.Heck i think ive seen them made from the $20 whole house water filters that walmart sells.I know the 2nd stage on my CA reactor is.along with a airfilter for my skimmer
.also theres plans for a coil reactor not sure how well it worked tho.
wrassie86
Premium Member
heres plans for a coil unit with alot of good info.taken from king vinnies sight.theresd some other plans there also.
http://archimedes.galilei.com/raiar/denitrif.html
http://archimedes.galilei.com/raiar/denitrif.html
Last edited:
chtan
Premium Member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7520684#post7520684 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by wrassie86
well said.alot better than i did
One thing i've never understood is why the sulpher reactors were all the rage when they first came out i think early last year, with a big price tag.And units like the Aquamedic have been around for years and work just as well if not better.maybe it was daily feeding that the old units required or if you dont use Deniballs.I dont know.But what i do know is a few years ago when i first went to a BB tank i had really bad nitrate problems.40-60.it took about about 2 weeks for the reactor to cycle.then bye bye nitrates.took just around a month to be at 0.
And thanks again for the past help Chtan
You are welcome ... 8 years ago, I became a fan of Aqua Medic products precisely because of their denitrator. Like you, I was impressed that I could achieve 0 nitrate in about a month .... and soon I was buying all kinds of Aqua medic stuff ....
actually, the deniballs have always been an integral part of the Aquamedic denitrator ... its just that it was never well explained due to slow adoption of denitrators then ... the adding of the denimar or denitrifying powder (then in tablet form) was always an optional thing ....
what frustrated many users was the fact that there was no dosing pump and whenever you T-off from your main pump the dripping sometime stopped leading to a build up of hydrogen sulphate gas that left a pungent smell ... with the dosing pump this problem is some what eliminated (unless your dosing pump fails).
Sulphur reactors have also been around for quite some time .... maybe 6 to 7 years ... its just that they did not catch on until 3 years back .... that is why aqua medic also has these reactors too.
Reefrubble - You could DIY 2 simple tubes of about one and a half feet each .... fill one cylinder with sulphur beads and another with aragonite (with a small air line to feed CO2 in the aragonite tube ... and then flow the water thru the sulphur then run it in series with the aragonite unit .....
That is one of the Aqua Medic units .... is not too difficult to DIY .... of course you have to work out the flow yourself and in order to run it properly you shd have a controller to monitor and control the outflow.
reefrubble
Premium Member
Bill Wann, What size pump are you using on your reactor,and what size is your reaction chamber? Ted
Bill Wann
In Memoriam
My tube is 10 iches diameter and 40 inches tall , I use an eheim 1260 pump.
Iam not sure why everyone says to hook you sulphur denitrifer up to a calcium reactor , Its does nothing , There is not alot of acid or co2 produced from the unit .Its just a waste of time . I run mine independant of each other and it works great . my ph is always around 8.3-8.4 and I have zeron nitrates even with an insaine bioload . on of my goldrim tangs is over 13 inches and it eats like a pig .
If you need some help designing one let me know .
Iam not sure why everyone says to hook you sulphur denitrifer up to a calcium reactor , Its does nothing , There is not alot of acid or co2 produced from the unit .Its just a waste of time . I run mine independant of each other and it works great . my ph is always around 8.3-8.4 and I have zeron nitrates even with an insaine bioload . on of my goldrim tangs is over 13 inches and it eats like a pig .
If you need some help designing one let me know .
reefrubble
Premium Member
Thanks Bill, I need all the help you are willing to give. My system is a nano compared to yours ,but I have a very bioload . A friend had to break down his tank,and he gave me his Moorish Idal,and I feed 4 to 5 times a day. My tank is a 225 gal.sump is 110 gal,but only about 75% full. My skimmer is 13" in Dia. ,5' tall with 3 sedra 9,ooos . I do WCs every two weeks ,approximately 80 gal at a time. My SPSs look good ,but I'm having an algae problem. I just started running a phosphate reactor ,but only using a very small amount of Phoslock. My nitrates were undetectable before the Idal,but not now. I also run the large filter socks,and change them every day. Help , Ted
reefrubble
Premium Member
Bill, I can't tell how ,and where all the plumbing goes from your pic. I also love your calcium reactor,well your entire system for that matter. Ted
reefrubble
Premium Member
I want a calcium reactor like bill's,only the jet stream II size. I don't need a monster the size of his. I also need a sulphur reactor like his,but just a bit smaller than his. I need to save some money,or sell one of my kidneys. Bill's DIY stuff is out of this world. They not only look good ,but they get the job done. Ereefic Bill should be able to help you . I talked with him,and he really knows his stuff. Ted
reefrubble
Premium Member
Is you reactor a sulphur reactor ,like Bill's. He said his didn't take long to start working. Ted
Bill Wann
In Memoriam
Eric
If your nitrates are too high it wont cycle down and you will read nitates on the out put . Do you have an orp meter tan can read negitive? If so you orp reading should be close to negitive 300 .
This is when it stsrts working . Try reducing you flow to very little a drop a minut . You have to let the bacteria grow befor you can increase th eflow rate . And if you are using the crushed coral I would get rid of it and fill it all the way up with sulphur .
Bill
If your nitrates are too high it wont cycle down and you will read nitates on the out put . Do you have an orp meter tan can read negitive? If so you orp reading should be close to negitive 300 .
This is when it stsrts working . Try reducing you flow to very little a drop a minut . You have to let the bacteria grow befor you can increase th eflow rate . And if you are using the crushed coral I would get rid of it and fill it all the way up with sulphur .
Bill
Ereefic
In Memoriam
Bill, Nitrates in the tank are about 50ppm. I'm guessing that is too high? I do not have an orp meter, so can't check that. pH of the effluent is 7.5-7.6 and the calcium out of the unit is higher than the tank. Don't know if the pH means anything or not.
I'll slow the drip rate down, i've been dripping at 1 per/sec since it started. I was advised to leave it there until the nitrates drop.
Don't have any more sulfer now, but if/when it kicks in, i'll consider that down the road.
I'll slow the drip rate down, i've been dripping at 1 per/sec since it started. I was advised to leave it there until the nitrates drop.
Don't have any more sulfer now, but if/when it kicks in, i'll consider that down the road.
reefrubble
Premium Member
My nitrates are not reading very high,but that is because the algae is eating it up. I can't wait to get a sulphur reactor. I also need to get a larger calcium reactor ,but I want to get the nitrate problem under control first. Ted
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