useskaforevil
New member
i'm attempting to fix my high nitrate problem with sugar, but if that doesent work (or if i just feel like tinkering) i'm lookign to build one of these. who thinks they have the simplest succesful design?
Sulfur DeNITRIFIER DIY!!!
- Thread starter uncleant
- Start date
Madman133
New member
Its works pretty effectively but no ones knows the long temr effects on your reef. I am also not sure what happens if you suddenly stop dosing it. I would think it might cause a huge spike but theres a good chance im wrong(as usual lol). Thats why I decided to shy away from that method and go for this instead. Theres a huge 20+ page thread on in here about it(reef discussion) I was reading through it accouple of weeks ago and I just saw it on the first page again today I believe. Title of it is somethign about sugar 101 or something like that.
Edit:
Here it is:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=898931
TulsaReefer
New member
It's possible it could be just about anything, and without seeing it in person it's hard to know what it might be. My experience has been that a gray/white film buildup on the sulfur or anything in the area (typically downstream) of the sulfur is pretty common. I had this happen a couple times, until my nitrate got low enough now it hasn't happened in about 5 months. I'm not sure about the description of what sanabit is seeing, but I've had bacterial growth on the outflow tube of my unit, as well as on the sponge that the water was dripping onto once or twice. Just rinsed it off and went on, no problems really.
IBASSFSH
New member
Reactor
Reactor
I have given up on my set up. I have made one of these in an attempt to get this to work. Its a link on the DIY forum and there is a photo a little over half way down the page. It was very easy to make also. It is the one pictured in djfrankie's post that modifies the first model. I have tried to give this reactor the benefit of the doubt, but I am not terribly patient. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1288082&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
At least now I have bottom to top up flow. I will keep you all updated. I started it tonight at 9:00p.m of course on 2/20/08. Tested nitrates prior to unplugging R/O unit still sitting at approx 15- 20 on the card. That made my decision easier.
Reactor
I have given up on my set up. I have made one of these in an attempt to get this to work. Its a link on the DIY forum and there is a photo a little over half way down the page. It was very easy to make also. It is the one pictured in djfrankie's post that modifies the first model. I have tried to give this reactor the benefit of the doubt, but I am not terribly patient. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1288082&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
At least now I have bottom to top up flow. I will keep you all updated. I started it tonight at 9:00p.m of course on 2/20/08. Tested nitrates prior to unplugging R/O unit still sitting at approx 15- 20 on the card. That made my decision easier.
IBASSFSH, I applaud you for being diligent and patient. One thing that may accelerate your process may be to use the sulfur from Midwest. I received a large system from them last week and I had 0 nitrates out of the effluent in 3 days. However I am not positive if my accelerated process is due to the bacteria being seeded in the sulfur or the recirculating pump on the unit increasing contact. I personally think it's the bacteria being seeded. I'm not sure if anyone else can speak to using their sulfur with this DIY setup.
IBASSFSH
New member
New test results
New test results
Here are some rather interesting test results for the first 23 hours. First shot is nitrate (on the left) and Nitrite (on the right) out of the Flow through PVC reactor from this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1288082&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
WOW!! Look at those colors!! Way more than anything I got out of the R/O unit.
This is basically the same shot, but has tank water nitrates (on the far left):
Here are pics of my reactor that I had built. I wish I could have found round clear PVC pipe here, well I did not really look that hard. Again with the patience thing.
My base is a little different than the one pictured in the above link, due to not being able to find a 4" test flange for the bottom.
I am pleased with this though, because the shower drain piece sits down right where the reducer and pipe come together. It also makes a clean little area for the return pipe to blow back into.
If I was to do it all over I would have gone this way from the start. I think the R/O unit will work as to the testimony of others, but I would make the sulphur beads go nearly to the top of the media chamber in the first unit. This way more water goes through the sulphur beads. I don't think that the water really flowed down low enough to work properly in my set up (beads half way up)
I also used the media out of the R/O unit in the new PVC unit I made. Both the sulphur and the calcium media. I hope this helps somebody on their journey to a nitrate free tank. Including my own!! :rollface:
New test results
Here are some rather interesting test results for the first 23 hours. First shot is nitrate (on the left) and Nitrite (on the right) out of the Flow through PVC reactor from this thread:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1288082&perpage=25&pagenumber=4
WOW!! Look at those colors!! Way more than anything I got out of the R/O unit.
This is basically the same shot, but has tank water nitrates (on the far left):
Here are pics of my reactor that I had built. I wish I could have found round clear PVC pipe here, well I did not really look that hard. Again with the patience thing.
My base is a little different than the one pictured in the above link, due to not being able to find a 4" test flange for the bottom.
I am pleased with this though, because the shower drain piece sits down right where the reducer and pipe come together. It also makes a clean little area for the return pipe to blow back into.
If I was to do it all over I would have gone this way from the start. I think the R/O unit will work as to the testimony of others, but I would make the sulphur beads go nearly to the top of the media chamber in the first unit. This way more water goes through the sulphur beads. I don't think that the water really flowed down low enough to work properly in my set up (beads half way up)
I also used the media out of the R/O unit in the new PVC unit I made. Both the sulphur and the calcium media. I hope this helps somebody on their journey to a nitrate free tank. Including my own!! :rollface:
Last edited:
IBASSFSH
New member
I am letting it go back to the tank. I figure one drop a second will not hurt 350 gallons of water before it cycles down. I am counting on the maturity of the tank to correct this with the live sand and all of the live rock I have. I read your post prior to suggesting it drips into the 5 gallon bucket. That would be the safest thing, but I opted to go this way. This water will also get skimmed for the most part before going back to the main display tank.
LobsterOfJustice
Recovering Detritophobe
I think the way to go if doing the RO canisters is to use the upflow type chamber (DI) so water actually flows through the media rather than over it.
IBASSFSH
New member
Logic would make me thank that also, but the originator of this thread or close to it did not use them and had good results. I opted to not use the DI chamber with the fear of it clogging up as one other person dealt with. I may still try it again with that unit a different way. I just kept reading about how good the up flow and circulating type reactor does. I got tired of waiting.
sanababit
Active member
ibass, i see your reactor working, good job, i will probably upgrade my denitrifier like yours in the near future, remember to keep an eye on it since mine started producing a white bacterial film which doesnt affect the reaction, it just clogges the outflow which in turn might produce hydrogen sulfide.
