AquaMaxx Sulfur Denitrator TS-1

[sczlars]

I measured about 1.25 Liter of sulfur media for my approx 120 gallons of water, as per the recommendation of Parker's Reef on youtube, where he talks about all this. My ts-1 is not quite halfway full of sulfur media.

 

[kboogie]

Sounds like I’m going to be pulling a bunch of sulfur out of my reactor soon.

 

[kboogie]

I measured about 1.25 Liter of sulfur media for my approx 120 gallons of water, as per the recommendation of Parker's Reef on youtube, where he talks about all this. My ts-1 is not quite halfway full of sulfur media.

Given I have 350 gallons of system volume I would need 5.2 liters and I have 5.6 liters. I should be OK. I do need to switch out the Matrix for Reef Reactor LG.

 

[sczlars]

wouldn't that calculate to about 3.5 liters of sulfur media? Depending on how much nitrate you have still, once it bottoms out you'll likely want to take some of that out. My tank tested NO3 at 2.5 yesterday, and I'm wondering if I should now soon take out half of the sulfur, so it doesn't completely zero the tank.

 

[kboogie]

wouldn't that calculate to about 3.5 liters of sulfur media? Depending on how much nitrate you have still, once it bottoms out you'll likely want to take some of that out. My tank tested NO3 at 2.5 yesterday, and I'm wondering if I should now soon take out half of the sulfur, so it doesn't completely zero the tank.

You are right. I screwed up the conversions. I should have kept it simple.

 

[kboogie]

I just tested my effluent and it is coming out around 5ppm (I'm using my API kit to save on my Hanna tests). I'm currently running 40ml per minute (I increased it late in the afternoon following a zero NO3 reading at 30ml per minute).

I ordered a 4L bucket of Seachem Reactor LG (aragonite) and will replace my 4L of Matrix with that over the weekend.

I'm assuming the majority of the bacteria lives on the sulfur.

 

[kboogie]

After running for two days at 40ml per minute my effluent NO3 reading is at 0 ppm. I just increased my flow rate to 60ml per minute and we will see what this looks like tomorrow.

I also think I have a bacterial bloom caused by the reactor. I'll see if it goes away. I am due to replace the bulbs in my UV sterilizers. I run two 36W sterilizers.

 

[sczlars]

Sounds reasonable. I tried to come in for a soft landing with mine. What I'm finding is I'm wishing now that I had better control over the flow to fine tune things, as I'm just gravity feeding it right now, which is subject to various blockages, etc. Nitrates rose a bit, so I slowed things down, now they have fallen again. I'd love to have one "set and forget" flow that balances itself.

 

[kboogie]

I just had a really weird test that I think is a false result. My DT NO3 tested at 46.7, my lowest test since November, a nice 7ppm reduction from before my reactor kicked in. My effluent tested at 59.7 which is higher than my DT. For background, I do my daily test with an API test kick and my weekly tests with my Hanna Checker. The API suggests effluent NO3 between 20 and 40 closer to 20 which makes sense given it is one day after upping my flow from 40ml to 60ml per minute.

Now for my question, is it remotely possible for my effluent to have a higher NO3 reading than my DT?

 

[Sean Clark]

I just had a really weird test that I think is a false result. My DT NO3 tested at 46.7, my lowest test since November, a nice 7ppm reduction from before my reactor kicked in. My effluent tested at 59.7 which is higher than my DT. For background, I do my daily test with an API test kick and my weekly tests with my Hanna Checker. The API suggests effluent NO3 between 20 and 40 closer to 20 which makes sense given it is one day after upping my flow from 40ml to 60ml per minute.

Now for my question, is it remotely possible for my effluent to have a higher NO3 reading than my DT?

Test your effluent for nitrites. If any are present they will mess up your nitrate test results.

 

[kboogie]

Test your effluent for nitrites. If any are present they will mess up your nitrate test results.

I just tested my nitrite. You were correct! My effluent has NO2 between 0.75 and 1.0ppm. I'm assuming that means the bacteria is unable to completely remove the oxygen from the NO3 molecules?

 

[sczlars]

Yes, I saw that too. Just keep tracking the DT for now.

 

[kboogie]

I tested my effluent today and I still have NO2 :-(. I was hoping the bacteria would have caught up with the increase in flow after two days. Let see how things look tomorrow morning. If I’m not seeing a change I may have to decrease flow from 60ml per minute to 40 ml per minute where the NO2 and NO3 reading were zero.

 

[kboogie]

I tested my effluent again today. I still have nitrites. They are about 0.5 ppm. I’ll see how things look tomorrow. I’m surprised the bacteria hasn’t caught up with the flow.

 

[Sean Clark]

I tested my effluent again today. I still have nitrites. They are about 0.5 ppm. I’ll see how things look tomorrow. I’m surprised the bacteria hasn’t caught up with the flow.

If you measure your orp in the reactor and keep it around -250 by increasing or decreaseing the flow that seams to be the sweet spot where the bacteria really take off. It will also eliminate any sulfur dioxide from developing.

 

[kboogie]

If you measure your orp in the reactor and keep it around -250 by increasing or decreaseing the flow that seams to be the sweet spot where the bacteria really take off. It will also eliminate any sulfur dioxide from developing.

I should get an Apex and ORP probe. I currently don't have one.

 

[kboogie]

Good news! I tested my effluent today and finally have no more NO2 and my NO3 is almost zero! My flow is currently at about 70 ml per minute. I don't smell rotten eggs but I do smell something similar to ozone or bleach. Thoughts on what that could be?

 

[Sean Clark]

I should get an Apex and ORP probe. I currently don't have one.

You could use an Apex but keep in mind that Apex will not measure a negative voltage required to measure negative orp so additional steps are required to use it that way. I have a post about how to resolve this.
A Milwaukee orp monitor or controller will fulfill the task but not supply a log which is helpful.

Good news! I tested my effluent today and finally have no more NO2 and my NO3 is almost zero! My flow is currently at about 70 ml per minute. I don't smell rotten eggs but I do smell something similar to ozone or bleach. Thoughts on what that could be?

At 70ml/min you will never have hydrogen sulfate unless something is very wrong; so that is normal. The ozone or bleach smell is new to me. I wouldn't put those two smells together.
I can't say that I have ever smelled my effluent so I will put that up to lack of experience on my part.

 

[kboogie]

You could use an Apex but keep in mind that Apex will not measure a negative voltage required to measure negative orp so additional steps are required to use it that way. I have a post about how to resolve this.
A Milwaukee orp monitor or controller will fulfill the task but not supply a log which is helpful.


At 70ml/min you will never have hydrogen sulfate unless something is very wrong; so that is normal. The ozone or bleach smell is new to me. I wouldn't put those two smells together.
I can't say that I have ever smelled my effluent so I will put that up to lack of experience on my part.

I use my home automation platform to control my aquarium so I haven't been in a rush to get an Apex. I am still searching for a pH, ORP, and Salinity monitoring product I could connect to my home automation platform.

 

[kboogie]

I wanted to share an update on my progress. I let it run all week at 70ml/min and waited multiple days at zero NO2 and NO3 before increasing my flow to 80ml/min. I created the chart below to show the impact of my TS-3. I'm happy with the results!