Sulfur denitrater won't cycle

[reefslugs]

I see I'm not the only one haveing problems. Back to my problem. Yesterday I receaved the bacteria that Midwest sent. So I added it last night. He said I should start seeing things happen in about two day or give him a call back. So I will update you all this weekend with the results.

 

[tmz]

In my experience nitrite(NO2) is high during cycling and will remain so if the flow is not slowed at least until bacterial growth catches up. This nitrite may give false high nitrate readings on certain test kits. My understanding is that the NO3 is not fully reduced to N when there are insufficient bacteria to use up all of the availabe oxygen from the higher flow and NO3.

 

[reefslugs]

Well I've got good news. Tonight I decided to see what was going on in the reactor. I tested for nitrites and it shows zero. Crossing my fingures I tested for nitrates and it also shows zero. I bumped up the drip from one drip per second to three drips per second. I am so excided, it's finally working. I know this is a chemistry forum, but would you like for me to keep up dating what the nitrates are doing in my tank, now that I've got the reactor working?

 

[Nanook]

:thumbsup: Glad you are getting the hang of it.

 

[vegaskid11]

Glad you got it cycled. Just test no3 daily for a while and increase flow as neccessary. Does your midwest unit have a degassing valve? You will need to degas the unit daily until your flow is much higher. Once I reached a steady stream of water I think the gas started flowing out with the effluent.

 

[Dalmerjd]

I don't suppose you have any extra of that bacteria you got from Midwest, eh?

 

[rbnice1]

Just to add my 2 cents. I have the same reactor. I am running about 2-3 inches of LSM in it on a 200 gallon system and just over 1 drip per second. It has pulled my trates from 15 to under 5 over a few months. I never added anything.

 

[Reefski's]

i have a 1500 gallon system. my nitrates are about 50 ppm now. PO4 is 0.07 ppm.

i have a large fluidized bed reactor i can hook to a drip line connected to my overflow on the way to the sump. would this work? my cannister is 6X20" i think.

the middle line is the one i could use. the reactors are seen partially under the sink.
how much media for this sized system should i use. where to buy the media?

 

[ayrton]

Hi guys,
I have a Korallin sulphur denitrator S4002 for my 550 gls FOWLR tank with nitrates off chart. The reactor has been on line for eight weeks now at 1 drip per second but has 100% nitrites coming out of the effluent and my tank has no nitrite! I use Salifert for testing nitrites ans nitrates and my effluent doesn't smell like rotten eggs! What should I do? It's a question of time and I have to wait until the reactor will cycle? :sad2::furious:

Lorenzo

 

[ayrton]

Any help, please?

 

[Reefski's]

ya, any advice?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sorry, I don't have any advice aside from that given through this thread already. Slowing down the flow may be a reasonable action to try.

 

[vegaskid11]

Make sure your reactor is fully fluidized and also ensure there are no air leaks from either a venturi or crack or somthing else. If fresh air is getting drawn into the mixing chamber it may inhibit the anaerobic bacteria from colonizing.

I say this cause when I restarted my reactor I had a small air leak in my orp probe holder (lid of reactor) and I think it effected the initial cycle.

For reefski, many reactor types can be made into a S denitrator. I used an old coralife calcium reactor.

 

[vegaskid11]

Also, don't afraid to go less than 1 drop per second. A drop every 2-3 seconds until it cycles is fine.

 

[tmz]

I agree: slow it down; make sure the powerhead/pump and tubing if any recirculating water in the reactor is functioning well; check for air leaks.

How much sulfur are you using? Maybe you need more media.

 

[steved350]

I fought the same issues for almost 3 months with my Sulphur denitrator and finally just gave up on the Sulphur Pearls. I switched to the LSM from Marine Depot. I could not believe the difference that it made in the cycle time. I went from 40ppm nitrates to 0 nitrates in 5 days. I will never go back to the other media.

 

[tmz]

FWIW, I also used LSM media with success, about a liter and a half for 550gallons.I also mixed in some Seachem matrix media for extra surface area.. Some also used bacterial supplements to seed theirs. I never found that necessary.Many argued the pearls were superior. They certainly cost more.

 

[ayrton]

Make sure your reactor is fully fluidized and also ensure there are no air leaks from either a venturi or crack or somthing else. If fresh air is getting drawn into the mixing chamber it may inhibit the anaerobic bacteria from colonizing.

I say this cause when I restarted my reactor I had a small air leak in my orp probe holder (lid of reactor) and I think it effected the initial cycle.

Thanks Vegaskid11 for your advices; infact I have noticed air accumulating at the of top of the reactor from water getting soaked up by the sulfur and calcium granules, so everyday I need to suction out the air from the top valve. it's easy to open the vent valve at the top which allows the air to escape and the pump to pull in more water from the sump but I'not sure if this is normal / typical nor am I sure where the air / gas is coming from.
I know that the best way to see how it is progressing is to test the effluent for nitrites,it will go up to 100ppm then drop to zero,then the nitrates will come down to zero. But my nitrites don't drop!
I' don't know if is it "air" or nitrogen gas building up in the reactor?
The denitrator has been dripping slowly for about 7 weeks with the effluent drip rate of 1 drop every 2 seconds. In tha last week I've up it to a 1 drop per second.
My inlet is in my sump connected to a small 150 gls/h pump.

 

[Dalmerjd]

I ran a H & S denitrator for about 9 weeks before giving in. I was using LSM and ARM in a 50/50 ratio. My system nitrates is typically 5-10ppm and was hoping to reduce it down to 2-3ppm ish.
After the first 4 days of runnig at 1 drip per second(dps) I measured nitrates...off the chart high...wow! I then after doing some more reading did a nitrite test...off the chart high...oh dear!
Over the next two weeks I reduced the effluent flow to 1 drip per 3 seconds. No change at all. I verified the pump was working and there were no blockage and fired it up again. Another week at 1 dps...same results. I increased the flow to 3 dps for the next week, again no change in the test results.
At this point it had been running for a little over a month. I called some people with more knowledge than myself for some guidance. I was told I messed up by fresh water rinsing the LSM. Doing this will destroy the seeded bacteria the media had when I bought it....ooops. I though I was being thorough rinsing the fines out. Guess I messed up. I was also told it will take 7 weeks to reseed the bare media. Ok, I'm at least 4 weeks in at this point, why not give it more time.
I set the flow at 1 dps and walked away for the next 4-5 weeks. I should mention at this point, my effluent has been directed to the drain and not back into the tank. My thought here was that I did not want the nitrites to be going back into the system. My system is about 600g so no major impact was noticed.
So, at this point, over two months of run time, I did the tests again.....
Both nitrite and nitrate were off the chart high.....stupid reactor!!!!!!!!!!! AAARRRGH!
Out it came. I got on Midwests site and ordered new media and some bacteria to boot. It is supposed to be here this week. I will try again.
The reason I decided to buy different media was because a friend used the midwest media. After four days his tests were zero accross the board.
Maybe I will have better results. Oh ya, the test kits I used were all Salifert and varied from half used to brand new in age. In total I used four different kits. I also used API a couple times just to be sure.
These things I know for sure:
The test kits were not the problem.
The recirculating pump was working fine.
There was no air entering the reactor.
There were no leaks in the reactor.(I did bench test before and after to verify)
The effluent flow rate has no impact.(from 1 d/3s to 3dps)
The stupid thing did not work as expected.
Once I running again I will post again.

 

[Nanook]

I guess I have been very lucky with tuning these. I found a couple great articles and never looked back. Perhaps I will hire myself out as a Sulphur Denitrator Consultant