Well I've finally recieved my new sulphur denitrator.
I've been having a nitrate problem for the past 6-8 months and have now resorted to trying a sulphur denitrator in order to keep things under control. I do have 4 big fish but I don't over feed, infact I feed a lot less than I want too. If I feed bare minimum I can keep things under control, but not up to my standards. So my goal is to be able to feed generously and not be worried about Nitrate buildup.
I started talking to Brent Barr in November about building a calcium reactor that I could convert into a nitrate reactor and he was all for it. (almost all my tank equipment, including my sump was built by him) The biggest reason I wanted to use one of his reactors is because I can recirculate the sulphur chamber separately from the calcium chamber which will stop any dissolved calcium from precipitating back out in the sulphur chamber.
I decided that the biggest reactor was the one I wanted to test, this ofcourse may be a bit big, but it should allow for a whole lot of nitrate reduction, and this will be needed as my fish and corals grow even larger. My tank is a 180g, with a 60g sump.
More info on Brent's equipment can be found at his Barr Aquatics website, or on the Austin Oceans website. (they now build and sell all of his designs)
Equipment involved:
Barr Aquatic CR2200 (with water flow meter)
Caribsea LSM (sulphur media)
Gen-X CRM (calcium media)
Aqualifter pump
1/4" tubing
Initial pictures:
2 probe ports:
(ORP & pH)
Media:
Reactor full and ready for action:
I currently have the reactor running full bore on some water I removed from my tank in a water change. I plan to flush it with 'new' tank water in a couple days and then put it online.
Should be interesting...