jasonrusso
2500 Club Member
The difference between the odor and fatality is massive. You smell it LONG before it ever becomes dangerous
New sulfur denitrator working great!
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Belgian Anthias
Valuable Member
HS produced in a ( sulfur) denitrator should not become a problem. In such reactors the flow is limited. The effluent always has to be aerated.
In the case of problems with H2S, HS is produced due to mismanagement and not because elemental sulfur is used.
As explained, some HS is produced everywhere in the tank, but it is used up before being released as H2S, which you can smell.
One must not add any bacteria, they only add competition if they add anything. But you will sponsor the dealer. In an established aquarium the bacteria needed, such as T.d., are present everywhere. Of coarse, if one has the availability of conditioned BADES rolls, conditioning a new tank will take less a week.
Such filter columns can be made without adding sulfur, filling the rolls with a substrate suitable for the purpose. The main purpose of BADES colums is supporting the carrying capacity, not the denitrification capacity which adds nothing to the carying capacity, exempt preventing future growth, limiting the bio-load.
Exporting too much nitrate has side effects, as does removing too much phosphate or too much from any essential nutrient.
I try to keep the measurable nutrient reserve in such a balance nitrogen, besides organic carbon, is the main growth limiting factor and not phosphate.
I do NOT advise just to dump a bag of sulfur beads into the sump, one has to follow the basic rules for good results. if not one may expect the normal side effects.
Sulfur beads will be broken down into sulfur particles, that is why we use filter cloth for making the columns, but this is not the only reason, as explained in the article.
Belgian Anthias
Valuable Member
Not really correct as in a marine aquarium HS may reach a very high level before H2S is released.
Belgian Anthias
Valuable Member
H2S in seawater?
HS is the liquid form and H2 S is the volatile or gaseous form. The ratio is pH related. Except in pressure systems where mainly the liquid form occurs, up to pH4 only the gaseous form is present, at pH 7 (neutral) the ratio is about 50%, at pH8 hydrogen sulfide will occur for 90% in liquid form, at pH 8.2 this is about 95%. From pH 9 sulfur will be formed and from pH 10 the sulfur amount will increase and the liquid form, which is then - 98%, will decrease. ref: MB neveneffecten CMF de Haes 2017 In reactors, pressure build up may be possible.
HS is the liquid form and H2 S is the volatile or gaseous form. The ratio is pH related. Except in pressure systems where mainly the liquid form occurs, up to pH4 only the gaseous form is present, at pH 7 (neutral) the ratio is about 50%, at pH8 hydrogen sulfide will occur for 90% in liquid form, at pH 8.2 this is about 95%. From pH 9 sulfur will be formed and from pH 10 the sulfur amount will increase and the liquid form, which is then - 98%, will decrease. ref: MB neveneffecten CMF de Haes 2017 In reactors, pressure build up may be possible.
qba
New Member
Hi , I've set up my suplhur reactor 6 weeks ago, after 3 weeks no3 was 0 on the outlet from reactor , no3 in tank in that time was 23 , now after 6 weeks from start everything is same , nitrates are not going down , it's set up for 1 drop per second , I've slowed down to around 1 drop per 2 seconds a week ago ,still no change. Is there a chance I'm doing something wrong or because reactor is massive ( I've used 5L of suplhur and 3L of arm media ) and needs more time to lower nitrates ? Tank volume is around 750L
Thanks for any advice
Jacob
Thanks for any advice
Jacob
nldemo
Active Member
Hi Jacob, What is your effluent now? Is it still 0? You might be able to increase the drop rate. As long as effluent n03 is lower than tank water, you are good and it will eventually settle out.
My reactor always worked great but I am thinking of swapping over to a biopellet reactor personally. My issue was that the sulphur eventually gets dirty in the reactor and s tops working as well, which prompts a media replacement or cleaning. Well... I tried cleaning and it's a real PITA, and the media is getting hard to find. So despite the reactor working miracles I think biopellets might be the way to go...
qba
New Member
Hi , yes it's still 0 ,.I've changed the flow now for a drop per second again , I'm using filters from alkatronic so water going into reactor is clear without any unwanted dirt
nldemo
Active Member
can you link your filters? i have two sponges in front of my reactor and it still gets mucky.Hi , yes it's still 0 ,.I've changed the flow now for a drop per second again , I'm using filters from alkatronic so water going into reactor is clear without any unwanted dirt
nldemo
Active Member
as for the 0 effluent, try cranking up the rate. I was able to run my reactor at max rate and it was remaining at 0.Hi , yes it's still 0 ,.I've changed the flow now for a drop per second again , I'm using filters from alkatronic so water going into reactor is clear without any unwanted dirt
qba
New Member
I'm from UK but you easy find them anywhere in good shops ,
Alkatronic Replacement Micro Filter – Marine Aquatics
marineaquatics.co.uk
jasonrusso
2500 Club Member
Crank it up. 1 drop isn't going to get it done. I actually stopped trying to keep the effluent at 0 (after it cycled of course). As long as the effluent is less than the tank, it is working. Eventually it will dilute down.Hi , yes it's still 0 ,.I've changed the flow now for a drop per second again , I'm using filters from alkatronic so water going into reactor is clear without any unwanted dirt
I second the cleaning. Mine wasn't recirculating properly so I dumped it all into a bucket. I just kept flooding the bucket and trying to pour off the water without losing too much media. It did make it work correctly again. I think it had been online for like 3 or 4 years so it's not too much of a PITA, I guess.
I have this filter on my inlet. I don't think it's the water coming in that clogs it, rather than bacteria die off when the nitrates fluctuate.
Attachments
I am running 2 and I dont have the hang of it yet. They run great, nitrates go down, they plug, I clean them and nitrates go up until they get going again.
I feed mine through a 5 micron sed filter.
I am thinking of changing the ratio of Matrix to sulfur from 30% 70 % to maybe 60% 40%.
I feed mine through a 5 micron sed filter.
I am thinking of changing the ratio of Matrix to sulfur from 30% 70 % to maybe 60% 40%.
jasonrusso
2500 Club Member
I have only sulfur in the reactor and I have the effluent go through a Phosban 550 filled with ARM. The ARM looks exactly the same as it did when I put it online.
nldemo
Active Member
Interesting, thanks. I have the Tom's feed pump running with mine in front of the actual reactor prefilter. Still doesn't get the job done - mine looks just like Jason's pic. Funny phenom happens where the media gets so clumped together it lifts up to the top when you turn it back on.I'm from UK but you easy find them anywhere in good shops ,
Alkatronic Replacement Micro Filter – Marine Aquatics
nldemo
Active Member
this is exactly my annoyance with it. I used to run more sulphur than i need (really, it just works really well until it doesn't) and now i'm running close to that 60/40 you mentioned. I'm just tired of the plug and clean routine. I think a bioreactor with dissolving pellets sounds like a more graceful solution.
My TS-2 does the media piston thing. The other I made from PVC and you cant see inside.
Arego
Well-Known Member
I use a mj 900 or 1200 little pump feeding an aquamaxx TS2. The pump sits in a filter sock and I replace the prefilter fleece every couple months that is built into the unit.. I never get clogging issues, I've turned it off and on for various reasons and no clumps nothing. Using sulfur prills and a ton of loose aragonite arm media, probably 30% sulfur and 70% arm.
It's been running over a year.
It's been running over a year.
SecondCityCorals
Active Member
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Yeah just increase your effluent output. Slowly. You want to balance it so your effluent reads 1ppm nitrate and then back off from there.
Belgian Anthias
Valuable Member
For BADES the flow should be around
for 750 l you should use +- 7.5 l sulfur and +- the same amount of calcium carbonate substrate. This is the basic 1% rule. ref: MB MAAO
One can only remove what is entered. How much nitrate do you expect to remove having a flow of only 1 drop/ 2sec (20 drops/ml)
How much is your daily nitrate overproduction? if it is 0.1 ppm daily 75 mg nitrate must be removed daily to keep the level steady, a bit more if the level must decent.
Having a level of +- 20ppm targeting 0 nitrate effluent only +- 4 liter must be removed daily. ( targetting a 0 nitrate effluent is NOT recomended, this to prevent to much sulphate reduction)
but to be able to decent the level to 2 ppm the flow must increase to at least 40liter daily to be able to remove the same daily amount of nitrate overproduction.
For Using BADES the flow should be able to follow the nitrate level. Trying to keep the reactor anoxic this is not possible. Using BADES we do not try to keep the reactor anoxic. For BADES to work fine it is NOT needed.
qba
New Member
Hi, my nitrates are around 25 at the moment , searching info about sulphur reactors I've found an info if I want to go down from 25 o around 2-3 , it should be set up for around 1-2 drops per second ,that's why I've set it up like that
I can change it anytime if needed , I have 0 nitrates from reactor outlet , I've never had any issues with my nitrates in 12 years in this hobby , I had an ich in my tank and Ive been feeding my fish a lot of different types of food for around 3 weeks , ich is gone but I have a nitrates spike from 1 to 23 , from that time they are on the same level
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