New sulfur denitrator working great!

[2Wheelsonly]

Almost 6-7 months in and I finally cycled...started taking off once I started to dose po4 (have to dose a decent amount to keep it at 0.01-02).

I used a manifold off my return to push water into the unit and then I used a kamoer peristaltic pump to pull it out. This way I can keep it extremely low (1ml per min) if I wanted to without it clogging at all. I think folks that have issues early on like myself struggle to keep it low enough to cycle properly without clogging to a full stop.

Another thing that seemed to help is on my aquamaxx TS-2 the rod that attaches to the bottom plate had a weak seal and the pressure would force the rod up into the top of the unit but it meant the water wasn't cycling efficiently throughout the unit. I dismantled it and crazy glued the heck out of it for a perm fix.

Every 2 weeks I would jack up the drip rate by 10ml per min. At 65 ml per min I now am at 10 nitrates in the tank ( down from 50+ on my 350G ). It took FOREVER to get to this point....

 

[Jon_W79]

Almost 6-7 months in and I finally cycled...started taking off once I started to dose po4 (have to dose a decent amount to keep it at 0.01-02).

I used a manifold off my return to push water into the unit and then I used a kamoer peristaltic pump to pull it out. This way I can keep it extremely low (1ml per min) if I wanted to without it clogging at all. I think folks that have issues early on like myself struggle to keep it low enough to cycle properly without clogging to a full stop.

Another thing that seemed to help is on my aquamaxx TS-2 the rod that attaches to the bottom plate had a weak seal and the pressure would force the rod up into the top of the unit but it meant the water wasn't cycling efficiently throughout the unit. I dismantled it and crazy glued the heck out of it for a perm fix.

Every 2 weeks I would jack up the drip rate by 10ml per min. At 65 ml per min I now am at 10 nitrates in the tank ( down from 50+ on my 350G ). It took FOREVER to get to this point....

That's great. FWIW, I'm pretty sure you are indirectly adding ammonia by dosing phosphate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That's great. FWIW, I'm pretty sure you are indirectly adding ammonia by dosing phosphate.

How do you mean?

 

[JWREA123]

I think what I'm going to do is start all over with new sulfur that is actually made for an aquarium they finally got some back in stock .The stuff I purchased was stuff from Amazon I don't completely trust it so I ordered the stuff for Marine Depot for $150 I'm just going to restart y'all don't know how much I appreciate all the help thank you I have check and check for air leaks there is not any I did notice about a day after starting the sulfur reactor some of my corals and anemone acted strange and still are so I think I'm going to do a large water change this weekend and start all over

 

[Jon_W79]

How do you mean?

A while ago 2Wheelsonly said there wasn't a single strand of algae in his tank. That was at least partly because of the tangs. I think that the phosphate level was probably significantly limiting the algae growth. I think that because he added more phosphate, the algae grew faster, and it gave the tangs more to eat, and the tangs began producing more ammonia. I know that algae can consume ammonia (at least a lot of them can), but I still think that the ammonia level increased in his reef tank.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

My 7 month update, finally got my drip rate to 50ml/min and my tank is in a perfect place. Just tested my display at .2 nitrates down from 50+ and I am at the point where I am feeding more and dosing AA.

It took roughly 6 months for this thing to really kick in, just be patient folks! I wasn't at first...it took a LONG time for me.

 

[ReeferBud]

My 7 month update, finally got my drip rate to 50ml/min and my tank is in a perfect place. Just tested my display at .2 nitrates down from 50+ and I am at the point where I am feeding more and dosing AA.

It took roughly 6 months for this thing to really kick in, just be patient folks! I wasn't at first...it took a LONG time for me.

im glad it worked out for you.

I’ve been running my aquamaxx TS-3 for almost 4 years and it does a great job of keeping nitrates in check. It’s actually so good at reducing nitrates to zero that I dose KNO3 to keep NO3 at 3-5ppm.

The only issue I occasionally have is that the sulfur gets clogged or compacted and water doesn’t circulate effectivelly, and the pump pressure actually actually lifts the entire sulfur/calcium carbonate media off the bottom of the chamber. I then have to open the reactor to wash the media, which restarts the bacteria colonization process and send my tank into a bit of a nitrate roller coaster for a few weeks, which noticeably impacts the corals’ health.

 

[2Wheelsonly]

im glad it worked out for you.

I’ve been running my aquamaxx TS-3 for almost 4 years and it does a great job of keeping nitrates in check. It’s actually so good at reducing nitrates to zero that I dose KNO3 to keep NO3 at 3-5ppm.

The only issue I occasionally have is that the sulfur gets clogged or compacted and water doesn’t circulate effectivelly, and the pump pressure actually actually lifts the entire sulfur/calcium carbonate media off the bottom of the chamber. I then have to open the reactor to wash the media, which restarts the bacteria colonization process and send my tank into a bit of a nitrate roller coaster for a few weeks, which noticeably impacts the corals’ health.

Thanks! I found a flaw in the aquamaxx in that the flow tube connection to the bottom plate is fairly lose and causes the rod to rise a bit and the flow causes uneven pressure to cause the entire bed of sulphur to float up like you're saying. I super glued the tube to the plate and have not had issues since.

 

[ReeferBud]

Thanks. I’ll give this a try.

i did have the tube come out of the bottom plate one time after filling the reactor and had to start over... not fun...

 

[robbyg]

I had lost track of this thread. So just a quick update.
I abandoned my sulfur reactor about three months ago and moved to just using Chaetomorpha. This is the second time I have called it quits and do not think I will be going down this road again.

I am in no way trying to discourage others from using a reactor as they really do an excellent job of removing Nitrate and are probably one of the fastest ways of removing Nitrate. The problem that I once again faced was that when my Nitrate started to bottom out the reactor started to dump stuff back into the water. I suspect it was hydrogen sulfide but I have no way of testing that. There was no smell of rotten eggs and nothing happened fast but I did notice that the fish were definetly having problems and two of my Tangs died with what looked like some kind of mucous deficiency or drying and irritation on their skin. I noticed all the fish rubbing themselves on the rocks and slight fin deteration. No new fish had been added to the tank for months and it was not ich or velvet nor any other kind of problem I have seen before. It also had no effect on crabs or shrimp but it did cause some stress on my SPS corals.

I did water changes and that helped but then the problem came back rapidly. Once I turned off the reactor and did water changes plus ran carbon the problem went away.

I know some people will say that I should feed more often or do something to bring up the Nitrate levels, but I do not like this method as it is not only Nitrate and phosphate that go up but a bunch of other trace chemicals that rise up. It's just not worth it to keep the reactor running. I did try adjusting the drip rate faster and I did a media changes.

I had fantastic results with this reactor for about a year and maybe a Koraline 1502 is just a bit to much for 120 gallons of water but I have no idea how to gauge that. This is the second time that the reactor started to cause serious problems as Nitrate went down and it's just not worth it.

I think that these reactors are great devices for people with a heavy fish load and those that like to feed their fish a lot. That is just not the way that I have done things in the past and I really do not want to change the way I do things now.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

Using the reactor as an MBR ( moving bed reactor) prevents tunneling and clogging.
Using a BADESS, if the use of a reactor is needed always an MBR is used.

Managing the nutrient reserve, exporting nitrate does not solve a thing, the cause of the unbalance is not corrected. Nitrate does not kill, it is just a messenger. High availability of nitrogen ( ammonia) may if the availability is not in balance with the availability of other essentials during periods of high growth, increased temp, etc...,

Using reactors that are kept in an anoxic state to remove safely stored nitrogen is a much higher risk factor as Nitrate ever has been or will become.

 

[Belgian Anthias]

My 7 month update, finally got my drip rate to 50ml/min and my tank is in a perfect place. Just tested my display at .2 nitrates down from 50+ and I am at the point where I am feeding more and dosing AA.

It took roughly 6 months for this thing to really kick in, just be patient folks! I wasn't at first...it took a LONG time for me.

The reactor removes max 14.5mg nitrate daily at the moment ( 0.2ppm x 50ml/min) and only treats +- 72l daily.
A mixed reef tank may have a normal nitrate production of 1-2 ppm daily.

 

[ReeferBud]

I had lost track of this thread. So just a quick update.
I abandoned my sulfur reactor about three months ago and moved to just using Chaetomorpha. This is the second time I have called it quits and do not think I will be going down this road again.

I am in no way trying to discourage others from using a reactor as they really do an excellent job of removing Nitrate and are probably one of the fastest ways of removing Nitrate. The problem that I once again faced was that when my Nitrate started to bottom out the reactor started to dump stuff back into the water. I suspect it was hydrogen sulfide but I have no way of testing that. There was no smell of rotten eggs and nothing happened fast but I did notice that the fish were definetly having problems and two of my Tangs died with what looked like some kind of mucous deficiency or drying and irritation on their skin. I noticed all the fish rubbing themselves on the rocks and slight fin deteration. No new fish had been added to the tank for months and it was not ich or velvet nor any other kind of problem I have seen before. It also had no effect on crabs or shrimp but it did cause some stress on my SPS corals.

I did water changes and that helped but then the problem came back rapidly. Once I turned off the reactor and did water changes plus ran carbon the problem went away.

I know some people will say that I should feed more often or do something to bring up the Nitrate levels, but I do not like this method as it is not only Nitrate and phosphate that go up but a bunch of other trace chemicals that rise up. It's just not worth it to keep the reactor running. I did try adjusting the drip rate faster and I did a media changes.

I had fantastic results with this reactor for about a year and maybe a Koraline 1502 is just a bit to much for 120 gallons of water but I have no idea how to gauge that. This is the second time that the reactor started to cause serious problems as Nitrate went down and it's just not worth it.

I think that these reactors are great devices for people with a heavy fish load and those that like to feed their fish a lot. That is just not the way that I have done things in the past and I really do not want to change the way I do things now.

thanks for sharing the update and your experience. My personal view is that there’s many ways to do things in this hobby, not necessarily a right or wrong way (ok, some are actually wrong, and the goal is to try things out until we find what works and brings us success.

for me, I’ve tried every method under the sun for nutrient control over the years... dsb, refugium, miracle mud, carbon dosing (vodka and bio pellets) and finally a sulfur denitrator. I’m having success but who knows, maybe there’s an even better way I’ll try and find in the future.

I agree with your point that the SD is good for heavy bioloads (I’d say I’m on the heavy side) since the reactor needs NO3 present to maintain the bacteria colony and do it’s thing.

 

[Jase4224]

My 7 month update, finally got my drip rate to 50ml/min and my tank is in a perfect place. Just tested my display at .2 nitrates down from 50+ and I am at the point where I am feeding more and dosing AA.

It took roughly 6 months for this thing to really kick in, just be patient folks! I wasn't at first...it took a LONG time for me.

That’s so weird it took that long. Mine took less than a week. I was using the Caribsea sulphur mixed with coarse aragonite.

I’ve since taken mine offline due to it bringing alk down and pushing calcium up which was a real pain to correct all the time, now I use chaeto and find it just as effective without the hassle.

Do you have aragonite in your reactor?

 

[Jase4224]

thanks for sharing the update and your experience. My personal view is that there’s many ways to do things in this hobby, not necessarily a right or wrong way (ok, some are actually wrong, and the goal is to try things out until we find what works and brings us success.

for me, I’ve tried every method under the sun for nutrient control over the years... dsb, refugium, miracle mud, carbon dosing (vodka and bio pellets) and finally a sulfur denitrator. I’m having success but who knows, maybe there’s an even better way I’ll try and find in the future.

I agree with your point that the SD is good for heavy bioloads (I’d say I’m on the heavy side) since the reactor needs NO3 present to maintain the bacteria colony and do it’s thing.

I had the same problem with the media lifting in the reactor, I fixed this issue with a layer of coarse sponge on top.

 

[robbyg]

I’ve since taken mine offline due to it bringing alk down and pushing calcium up which was a real pain to correct all the time, now I use chaeto and find it just as effective without the hassle.

I also had an ever increasing drop in Alkalinity near the end. It was always an issue but it started to drop faster as time passed. It was kind of hard to keep recalculating out the dosing of an unbalanced two part regiment to deal with it.

 

[robbyg]

thanks for sharing the update and your experience. My personal view is that there’s many ways to do things in this hobby, not necessarily a right or wrong way (ok, some are actually wrong, and the goal is to try things out until we find what works and brings us success.

for me, I’ve tried every method under the sun for nutrient control over the years... dsb, refugium, miracle mud, carbon dosing (vodka and bio pellets) and finally a sulfur denitrator. I’m having success but who knows, maybe there’s an even better way I’ll try and find in the future.

I agree with your point that the SD is good for heavy bioloads (I’d say I’m on the heavy side) since the reactor needs NO3 present to maintain the bacteria colony and do it’s thing.

Good luck, I think your tank is exactly the kind that works best with this Nitrate eating beast. I wish I had a larger group of reefing buddies. In the old days I could have lent out my reactor to another reefer who was having high Nitrates and needed a quick fix. BTW I was able to wash out the Beads, I then let the dry out in a pan outside for three days and they looked almost like new, just slightly smaller in size. I then stored them in an air tight bag. If needed I now have enough LSM left to load the reactor twice.

 

[Jon_W79]

I had lost track of this thread. So just a quick update.
I abandoned my sulfur reactor about three months ago and moved to just using Chaetomorpha. This is the second time I have called it quits and do not think I will be going down this road again.

I am in no way trying to discourage others from using a reactor as they really do an excellent job of removing Nitrate and are probably one of the fastest ways of removing Nitrate. The problem that I once again faced was that when my Nitrate started to bottom out the reactor started to dump stuff back into the water. I suspect it was hydrogen sulfide but I have no way of testing that. There was no smell of rotten eggs and nothing happened fast but I did notice that the fish were definetly having problems and two of my Tangs died with what looked like some kind of mucous deficiency or drying and irritation on their skin. I noticed all the fish rubbing themselves on the rocks and slight fin deteration. No new fish had been added to the tank for months and it was not ich or velvet nor any other kind of problem I have seen before. It also had no effect on crabs or shrimp but it did cause some stress on my SPS corals.

I did water changes and that helped but then the problem came back rapidly. Once I turned off the reactor and did water changes plus ran carbon the problem went away.

I know some people will say that I should feed more often or do something to bring up the Nitrate levels, but I do not like this method as it is not only Nitrate and phosphate that go up but a bunch of other trace chemicals that rise up. It's just not worth it to keep the reactor running. I did try adjusting the drip rate faster and I did a media changes.

I had fantastic results with this reactor for about a year and maybe a Koraline 1502 is just a bit to much for 120 gallons of water but I have no idea how to gauge that. This is the second time that the reactor started to cause serious problems as Nitrate went down and it's just not worth it.

I think that these reactors are great devices for people with a heavy fish load and those that like to feed their fish a lot. That is just not the way that I have done things in the past and I really do not want to change the way I do things now.

I think that after a year of running the sulfur denitrator something(s) caused the Nitrate to get too low(maybe the effluent flow somehow got too high). IMO, I think you could have probably slowly reduced the effluent flow to raise nitrate(I have significantly reduced flow before with no noticeable problems). I run my sulfur denitrator on my reef tank with 0 Nitrate in the effluent. If you run 0 Nitrate in the effluent I think it is fine to run a large SD on a medium or small tank. I believe it is important to keep the effluent flow fairly consistent, but I don't think it's too critical in most cases.

 

[robbyg]

I think that after a year of running the sulfur denitrator something(s) caused the Nitrate to get too low(maybe the effluent flow somehow got too high). IMO, I think you could have probably slowly reduced the effluent flow to raise nitrate(I have significantly reduced flow before with no noticeable problems). I run my sulfur denitrator on my reef tank with 0 Nitrate in the effluent. If you run 0 Nitrate in the effluent I think it is fine to run a large SD on a medium or small tank. I believe it is important to keep the effluent flow fairly consistent, but I don't think it's too critical in most cases.

I actually tried that. Reducing the flow started to make the reactor produce a noticeable smell in the effluent. I immediately increased the rate and let it dump out most of the water into the drain. Once the smell was gone I put the outlet back in the sump.

I just gave a summary report in that post but trust me I tried everything I could think of and it made no difference. All I can say is that something really bad happens with these reactors when they are heavily colonized and the food source starts to disappear.
I am pretty sure heavy feeding would have solved the problem but IMHO that is just going to create other problems in the long term.

 

[Dennis Cartier]

As you noticed, slowing the effluent will just generate hydrogen sulfide as the bacteria resort to using sulfate instead of nitrate.

When these reactors get nitrate down to low levels, reducing the quantity of sulfur media to tune it to your nitrate generation can help to avoid the situation you were experiencing.

Also running the effluent through GFO will help to remove hydrogen sulfide by converting it back into elemental sulfur.

I don't run one currently, but did in the past.

Dennis