AquaMaxx Sulfur Denitrator TS-1

[nldemo]

Makes some sense, but they wouldn't be producing additional nitrates since they are simply converting ammonia and nitrite. I read somewhere else the issue may be that if they weren't there, the same processing would be happening in sand bed or rocks, where the nitrate can be processed easier rather than being released back into the water column. I can follow that logic, but it seems mostly speculation.

 

[nldemo]

Going to convert the w/d sump into a refuge when things come together

Did you ever make this conversion? I'm actually researching ways to make this happen myself. I hate my wet/dry sump.

 

[Fudsey]

Did you ever make this conversion? I'm actually researching ways to make this happen myself. I hate my wet/dry sump.

Nope, once I won the waterbox I never bothered with it. I have a reactor now.

 

[nldemo]

Nope, once I won the waterbox I never bothered with it. I have a reactor now.

Gotcha. Yea, I'd love a new sump but that would take some real surgery. Cutting up my stand, putting in new cabinet doors , re plumbing , and of course the sump itself. If you know of any good projects where a wet/dry was converted though, please let me know

 

[nldemo]

1) Air pockets that won't go away: this is simple hydraulics/siphon physics. Best way to avoid it is to take particular care to use as short a water line as possible, both inlet and outlet. Make sure these lines run above the reaction chamber. Especially when using a sump as there isn't much difference in height between the sump water and the reactor water. There should be no "dips" in the lines (no "U" shapes). If your water line has a dip in it, shorten the run so it forms an arc rather than a "U".

Any pics of your setup? I'm having a hard time imagining the difference between an Arc and a U

 

[stephanjupillat]

Aquamaxx ts-1 and ts-2 have been out of stock for at least 6 months and possibly discontinued so I ordered the aquamaxx t-1 calcium reactor. Same thing really. I’ve been running it for 3 months maybe now.

60 gal net with sump and my nitrates were pretty high climbing to 30 before. I needed to dose nopox at 6ml a day to get them to lower as I was getting pink slime in sump and the sulfur denitrator seemed the only next logical solution.

It works as it dropped my nitrates to about 7-10 and nopox dosing is now at 4.4ml a day. Want to get the nopox lower but I believe I have hit the max with this t-1 reactor.

After a month of adjusting the output everyday I gave up and bought a nonstop doser. The reactor can handle about 12ml or 13ml a minute and I get about 1 to 2 nitrates output. Any lower and the water turns cloudy, 0 nitrates, and slightly higher the water coming out is about 5ppm nitrate.

How are you guys calculating how much sulfur to use? I read I needed 1.5cups for 60 gal. Did that but don’t think it was enough. Now using 2.5cups roughly, which was a 2lb bag of prills. Doesn’t look like much in reactor. I could buy another 2lbs but do you think that would even make a difference? If I increase the water amount going in then there’s more oxygen in the water which I believe won’t matter how much sulfur I have in there.

13ml per minute is roughly 2 to 3 drops per second. Everyone on here is saying they are getting about that so I’m about where everyone is at. That’s roughly 5 gallons going through the reactor per day.

Are the people using the larger ts-2 and ts-3 reactors using a lot more flow?

I overfeed and am way overstocked but they are all smaller fish as tank is only 65gallons. I have a mixed reef tank and keep po4 around .05 to .1 and would like to run more water through this reactor to reduce nopox dosing but will adding more sulfur do that or am I stuck buying the next larger size?

Pic below is before adding peristaltic pump which is awesome. Seems the flow rate changes slightly over time so I calibrate it weekly or so which is easy through the app.

 

[kboogie]

I'm thinking of pulling the trigger on a TS-3 from Bulk Reef. I tried a Chaeto reactor and that failed miserably. I went from 42 PPM Nitrates to over 160 PPM because my chaeto melted. I'm working with 375 gallons of total system volume. This feels like the right way to go. Thoughts?

 

[stephanjupillat]

I'm building a 225gallon now and if I need to buy one I was thinking about this one, but in their dual chamber which they will custom make for you.

GEO NR612 Nitrate Reducing Sulfur Reactor | Geo's Reef

www.geosreef.com

GEO CR612X2 Calcium Reactor | Geo's Reef

www.geosreef.com

I use the smaller T1 and it works, but you need to also buy a separate constant peristaltic pump for any reactor you buy.

Do you carbon dose? If not I'd recommend starting that to get them down. I use nopox but a lot of people will just use vinegar. NoPox is mostly a combination of alcohol and vinegar. I dose 4.4ml for 60gal and it's pretty much my max as any higher and I get pink slime in sump. Though I dose a lot more bacteria now and could maybe up it a little.

Dosing bacterial really helps when you carbon dose. I dose 5ml a day of this. Could probably easily double that but nitrates are about 10.

PNS ProBio™

By removing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, consuming organic waste products, providing a nutritious food source for filter-feeders and acting as a powerful probiotic, PNS ProBio™ is a highly beneficial addition to your aquarium's microbial community. This product is especially useful for feeding...

www.algaebarn.com

I was also dosing MB7 2ml a day which brought down nitrates also but I decided to try to try biodigest weekly. Dosed 3 vials to get bacteria going and will do 1 vial every week after water change. Gotta give it a few weeks to see if it works better than MB7.

Bacteria dosing really works and there are discussions about it on here. Sulfur denitrator is great but takes a while to get going, and it consumes a lot of alkalinity so be prepared to dose more alk. Don't let it get clogged. I placed the filter on the T1 unit into the sump so the peristaltic pump draws water from it, then it goes into the reactor. So move the filter on the T3 reactor into the sump if you buy that one. Or have the pump on the exit instead? haven't tried that but should also work. My way puts water pressure into the reactor so if there are any leaks you'll know it. Having negative pressure inside the reactor and you won't know where the air is coming in from. Just my 2 cents...

 

[kboogie]

Can I use this for sulfur it says it is between 99% ad 99.9% purity.

https://a.co/d/hsVjyUz

 

[stephanjupillat]

i used

Pure Sulfur Prills for Plants, Crops & Fish Tanks (99.5% Purity)

Pure Sulfur prills contain 100% sulfur (the purest source) and contains no fillers or additives. The result: higher quality plants, crops, and flowers with more vigorous growth and increased yields.

purechemco.com

 

[stephanjupillat]

So below are 2 pictures of mine. One when originally turned on and the 2nd just now at 8 months running. For those of you who have had these reactors running, is this color normal? It's just a gray, dark green color. There was sunlight hitting it for a while but I don't think it's that as it's all the way around, and I shaded it when I started noticing a green shade of color on the side pointing to the sun. I had it running at 12-14ml per minute initially but it seems that even now at 30-40ml a min the water coming out still smells like sulfur. Seems to be working really great though. DT no3 is 7. Reactor output around 1.

I did leave the dosing pump off for 3 days by accident about a month ago. Ran 3 gallons of saltwater at high speed through it as the output probably would have killed everything in the tank. It stunk really bad. I think that's when I really noticed the color change.

Think I need to clean it but wanted to make sure this color is normal.

thanks!

 

[jasonrusso]

So below are 2 pictures of mine. One when originally turned on and the 2nd just now at 8 months running. For those of you who have had these reactors running, is this color normal? It's just a gray, dark green color. There was sunlight hitting it for a while but I don't think it's that as it's all the way around, and I shaded it when I started noticing a green shade of color on the side pointing to the sun. I had it running at 12-14ml per minute initially but it seems that even now at 30-40ml a min the water coming out still smells like sulfur. Seems to be working really great though. DT no3 is 7. Reactor output around 1.

I did leave the dosing pump off for 3 days by accident about a month ago. Ran 3 gallons of saltwater at high speed through it as the output probably would have killed everything in the tank. It stunk really bad. I think that's when I really noticed the color change.

Think I need to clean it but wanted to make sure this color is normal.

thanks!

Both of mine are like a reddish color. That's weird. It's it working? What are the nitrates out of it?

 

[Sean Clark]

So below are 2 pictures of mine. One when originally turned on and the 2nd just now at 8 months running. For those of you who have had these reactors running, is this color normal? It's just a gray, dark green color. There was sunlight hitting it for a while but I don't think it's that as it's all the way around, and I shaded it when I started noticing a green shade of color on the side pointing to the sun. I had it running at 12-14ml per minute initially but it seems that even now at 30-40ml a min the water coming out still smells like sulfur. Seems to be working really great though. DT no3 is 7. Reactor output around 1.

I did leave the dosing pump off for 3 days by accident about a month ago. Ran 3 gallons of saltwater at high speed through it as the output probably would have killed everything in the tank. It stunk really bad. I think that's when I really noticed the color change.

Think I need to clean it but wanted to make sure this color is normal.

thanks!

Totaly normal. The dark stuff is a bacterial mulm or film that develops over time. I wrap mine up to prevent light from entering and this is basicly eliminated.

 

[stephanjupillat]

Both of mine are like a reddish color. That's weird. It's it working? What are the nitrates out of it?

Really well actually. Dt is 7 and output on reactor is around 1.

 

[stephanjupillat]

Totaly normal. The dark stuff is a bacterial mulm or film that develops over time. I wrap mine up to prevent light from entering and this is basicly eliminated.

Good to know thanks. Just looks really unhealthy color but it’s working. Although my dosing pump died this morning and no backup. Replacement coming Wednesday so it’ll be 3 days or so with no fresh water.

 

[Sean Clark]

Good to know thanks. Just looks really unhealthy color but it’s working. Although my dosing pump died this morning and no backup. Replacement coming Wednesday so it’ll be 3 days or so with no fresh water.

If your nitrates are low then it may be fine. The higher they are the faster hydrogen sulfate will be produced. I would run it into a separate container when you get the replacement pump until it no longer smells or the ORP is around -250 or higher just to be safe.

 

[kboogie]

I got my TS 3 setup yesterday. I it a rough install. I'm going to clean it up when the long-term pump arrives. I'm currently using a a BRS 1.1L/h dosing pump I had laying around. I replaced the internal tube so it is like new. I'm currently getting about three drops or so a second out of it. Here is an image of my setup and tests after 12 hours.

I used 15 pounds or roughly 6 liters of sulfur and 4 liters of Seachem Matrix.

From left to right you have the display tank, the effluent, and a reference sample of RODI from my filter.



I'm thinking about getting some Microbacter7 or Microbacter Clean to seed it. What are your thoughts?

 

[stephanjupillat]

I got my TS 3 setup yesterday. I it a rough install. I'm going to clean it up when the long-term pump arrives. I'm currently using a a BRS 1.1L/h dosing pump I had laying around. I replaced the internal tube so it is like new. I'm currently getting about three drops or so a second out of it. Here is an image of my setup and tests after 12 hours.

I used 15 pounds or roughly 6 liters of sulfur and 4 liters of Seachem Matrix.

From left to right you have the display tank, the effluent, and a reference sample of RODI from my filter.



I'm thinking about getting some Microbacter7 or Microbacter Clean to seed it. What are your thoughts?shouldn’t need . Run full speed for a couple days to seed it. Then slow it down to a couple drops per second. Test for nitrite, not nitrate. Once nitrate is 0 then you can start testing for nitrate difference. It may take a week or two.

I got my TS 3 setup yesterday. I it a rough install. I'm going to clean it up when the long-term pump arrives. I'm currently using a a BRS 1.1L/h dosing pump I had laying around. I replaced the internal tube so it is like new. I'm currently getting about three drops or so a second out of it. Here is an image of my setup and tests after 12 hours.

I used 15 pounds or roughly 6 liters of sulfur and 4 liters of Seachem Matrix.

From left to right you have the display tank, the effluent, and a reference sample of RODI from my filter.



I'm thinking about getting some Microbacter7 or Microbacter Clean to seed it. What are your thoughts?

Shouldn’t need to seed it. Run full speed for a couple days to seed it. Then slow it down to a couple drops per second. Test for nitrite, not nitrate. Once nitrate is 0 then you can start testing for nitrate difference. It may take a week or two for 0 nitrites. If it gets cloudy, bacteria bloom, or water existing smells like sulfur, increase doser. Watch out for alk drop when nitrates start getting consumed

 

[kboogie]

Shouldn’t need to seed it. Run full speed for a couple days to seed it. Then slow it down to a couple drops per second. Test for nitrite, not nitrate. Once nitrate is 0 then you can start testing for nitrate difference. It may take a week or two for 0 nitrites. If it gets cloudy, bacteria bloom, or water existing smells like sulfur, increase doser. Watch out for alk drop when nitrates start getting consumed

I’m still not seeing any changes in my effluent. Zero Nitrite, Nitrates same level as the display. Drip is about one to three drops per second. I’m an impatient person. I’m wondering if I so should attempt to seed with a product that contains heterotrophic bacteria such as Microbacter Clean? I’m not looking for overnight results but I am looking for indications of progress. Time is money, so I’m happy to spend cash to increase success and decrease the time needed for results. Any thoughts on which products to add and if I should add them directly to the reactor?

 

[Sean Clark]

I’m still not seeing any changes in my effluent. Zero Nitrite, Nitrates same level as the display. Drip is about one to three drops per second. I’m an impatient person. I’m wondering if I so should attempt to seed with a product that contains heterotrophic bacteria such as Microbacter Clean? I’m not looking for overnight results but I am looking for indications of progress. Time is money, so I’m happy to spend cash to increase success and decrease the time needed for results. Any thoughts on which products to add and if I should add them directly to the reactor?

Slow your drip down and let it sit for a week before increasing. 1 drop per second to start. After a week 2 drops per second.

I wouldn't feed it anything. You will just suffer die off when you are not supplying additional nitrates.