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  #76  
Old 11/11/2007, 03:53 PM
hahnmeister hahnmeister is offline
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Is your design 'upflow' or 'downflow'?
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  #77  
Old 11/11/2007, 04:50 PM
asch803 asch803 is offline
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i am runnung the sulfur reactor (through MTC Pro-cal) and also running 3 phosban reactors (2 w/ the crappy white phosphate remover and 1 w/ RowaPhos). My phosphates are up now since all 3 need to be recharged, this time all with Rowaphos. And hopefully the reactor will kick in and start reducing my nitrates, it's exactly 3 weeks since i set it up and they are still very high. Should i be seeing some results yet?
  #78  
Old 11/11/2007, 06:54 PM
Psyire Psyire is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by hahnmeister
Is your design 'upflow' or 'downflow'?
Upflow
  #79  
Old 11/11/2007, 06:55 PM
Psyire Psyire is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by asch803
i am runnung the sulfur reactor (through MTC Pro-cal) and also running 3 phosban reactors (2 w/ the crappy white phosphate remover and 1 w/ RowaPhos). My phosphates are up now since all 3 need to be recharged, this time all with Rowaphos. And hopefully the reactor will kick in and start reducing my nitrates, it's exactly 3 weeks since i set it up and they are still very high. Should i be seeing some results yet?
You should start seeing some reduction I would think. If you didn't seed the reactor with any anerobic bacteria it does take some time to propagate. Can you post pictures of your setup? What is your current drip rate?
  #80  
Old 11/11/2007, 08:58 PM
mavgi mavgi is offline
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asch803

did you measure from the effluent the nitrate (after 3 week you should see lower nitrate when you measure from the effluent compare to the tank) if you have same result you need to slow the drip 1/sec. till you see the nitrate from the effluent reduce to 0.00 ppm and after that you can start to increase to 3/sec.
i run on my 120 3 phosban reactor today and the effluent show 0.00ppm my tank stay at 5 ppm .
  #81  
Old 11/12/2007, 10:18 AM
asch803 asch803 is offline
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I did test the water from the effluent of the calc reactor last Sunday and will try to test it tonight. I think that I may have increased the flow too soon (it was about 2 to 3 drops per second, so i've slowed it to about 1 drop/second). I'm going to order some rowaphos later this week for the 3 phos-ban reactors and those should hopefully bring my phosphates back down to close to zero. I could post pics of the setup, but i'm terrible at that so i'll just describe it's very simple: i have the MTC Pro-cal reactor with sulphur in the large chamber and "ARM" in the smaller chamber with the effluent dripping into the sump (now at approx 1 drip/second) and no Co2 connected at all. The 3 phosban reactors are in my sump and once they get new charges of Rowaphos, they should reduce phosphate to zero or very close. I'll add an add'l post tonight with the nitrate reading coming from the effluent of the calc reactor. THANKS!
  #82  
Old 11/12/2007, 06:31 PM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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What do you guys think about using this sulfur media it says 99.9% pure and only cost $3.61/lb.

http://www.skylighter.com/mall/chemi...ID=40735078521
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  #83  
Old 11/12/2007, 06:59 PM
Steven M Steven M is offline
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Quote:
Originally posted by xinumaster
What do you guys think about using this sulfur media it says 99.9% pure and only cost $3.61/lb.

http://www.skylighter.com/mall/chemi...ID=40735078521
That sulphur is a power.
  #84  
Old 11/12/2007, 07:06 PM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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It is still a sulfur [S] #16 in the Periodic Table but just in powder form. Currently Psyire uses sulfur that is in powder form too.
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Last edited by xinumaster; 11/12/2007 at 07:13 PM.
  #85  
Old 11/12/2007, 07:39 PM
Psyire Psyire is offline
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I wouldn't say that my sulphur is a powder, but instead little oval chips. I don't think an actual powder would work too well and you'd probably end up with a lot of it in your tank water.
  #86  
Old 11/12/2007, 11:54 PM
mavgi mavgi is offline
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asch803

check the # of the nitrate now and wait at least one week to compare it (again from the effluent) the change not made quick you need to be patient with it and when you see it's go down to 0.00ppm then you can stert to compare the tank nitrate to see how it's reduce (in the tank) and this take time to (at least 1 month) also it's depend how much media you have if it's not enough it will be hard for the reactor to reduce the nitrate to 0 ppm .

the first thing is to read from the reactor 0. ppm and after that (before increasing the drop) you want to see how the reactor effect on the tank nitrate and if you see the nitrate in the tank drop then you can increase the drop.

for the future you always need to test the effluent because if the nitrate will go up again you need agian to reduce the drop...and so on .

xinumaster :

you can see in the picture the left side media it's the Carib Sea
the right side it's the H&S media , both media work but when the grain small the reactor will clog all the time and it will be hard to control on the drip when you use bigger grain it's easy to control on the drip (will be more steady) i suggest to go just with the big grain media if you want good and steady result.


  #87  
Old 11/13/2007, 02:43 AM
Psyire Psyire is offline
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mavgi, where do you buy the H&S media from?
  #88  
Old 11/13/2007, 02:46 AM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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Will it matter if the sulfur media is sanwitched between a form and then ARM media? Will it still clog the effluent?
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Last edited by xinumaster; 11/13/2007 at 03:22 AM.
  #89  
Old 11/13/2007, 09:54 AM
mavgi mavgi is offline
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Psyire :

i got the media from fins reef but there is a better deal in aquarium specialty for $100 you get 5kg of media . here it's the link maybe fins reef have the same deal but i didn't saw it in the website :

http://www.aquariumspecialty.com/cat...ee33326c128714

IMO you need at least 3 kg and if you can even to put in your reactor 5 kg it will be better (the reactor will handle easyer on the nitrate)

xinumaster :

again both media will work (the carib sea cost about $20 for 1 kg)
but the problem it's the density when the media look more like sandwich the density higher and when it's start to melt the flow thru it hard and the drip not steady you need all the time to adjust the drip and the reactor not work properly..

more then that for big tank like your , you need full media in one reactor if you want good result (no less then 3KG ) and even you mix the media again when it will start to work the media will melt and clog again.

i don't know if you have reactor but you can make one big from R/O housing and mod it as a reactor . also if you have good calc reactor (big one) then you don't need a second one for the arm media unless your calc reactor can't keep the ALK in the tank steady (the sulphur media will reduce most the alk in the tank )

Last edited by mavgi; 11/13/2007 at 10:10 AM.
  #90  
Old 11/13/2007, 12:34 PM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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Hi mavgi,

Okay, I might just have to go a head and get the bead type sulfur then . premiumaquatics is selling a 3.5lb for $55.89 http://reefcentral.com/gallery/data/...ca-reactor.jpg

I'll be using my old geo calcium reactor and convert that to a sulfur denitrator. The chamber on this reactor is about 6" dia and about 24" high. How many pounds of sulfur and arm or gen-x media should fit in this reactor?

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  #91  
Old 11/13/2007, 10:51 PM
mavgi mavgi is offline
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3.5lb =1.58KG and you will need at least 2.5-3kg so it's still a better deal to get the 5kg at $100 . also i am not sure but i think premium aquatics have the carib sea media not like the H&S media...

i don't know if you keep coral in your system or not but if yes you will need calc reactor because the sulphur will reduce the alk very quick and it's can cause problem with coral (in mine it's reduce from 10DKH to 5DKH when my reactor was off)

anyway in this unit you can put without problem 2.5-3kg and then to add on it the arm media but keep 2" from the top clear form media . the besic it's like calc reactor first fill the unit with the water and let it flow free from the effluent till the bubble (air) will gone after that turn the recirculating and adjust the effluent 1 drip/sec.
  #92  
Old 11/14/2007, 09:57 AM
asch803 asch803 is offline
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Last night I tested my nitrates coming from the effluent and they are still very high. i'm using the tetra nitrate test and the color is still pretty red (it will be yellow at zero). This Sunday will be 4 weeks since it's been set up, so i am a little baffled. The few possible problems i can come up with are that i had the drip rate too high up until about a week ago (it's now one drip per second)...the other problem may be that my phosphates are too high - i need new charges of rowaphos in my 3 phosban reactors. hopefully once i change those, the phosphates will drop and then in turn the nitrates will also drop. Any other thoughts or possibilities?

thanks!

Andy
  #93  
Old 11/14/2007, 07:39 PM
cthetoy cthetoy is offline
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Im considering building my own but will be using Seachem Matrix instead of Calcium Carbonate because the way a sulphur denitrator works is by anaerobic bacteria that feeds of sulphur. Seachem Matrix is a good media to host the bacteria so I might use 1/3 sulphur and 2/3 Seachem Matrix. The Matrix is larger in size than the Seachem Denitrate thus less clogging in the long run. Ill run the Calcium Carbonate in a 2nd reactor. Here is a great site that explains how to maintain a denitrator correctly

http://www.njreefers.org/joomla/inde...&topic=4537.15
  #94  
Old 11/15/2007, 01:53 AM
Psyire Psyire is offline
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cthetoy, interesting read. Thanks for the link except now I'm thinking about doing something similar with the Matrix media. Couldn't hurt?
  #95  
Old 12/12/2007, 05:03 PM
mquinn mquinn is offline
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I found a source of the smaller chip it is about $11/ 5 lbs - it is 90% Sulfur - 10% bentoite clay. Wish is were the large ball (have had very good luck with Midwetaquatic on a smaller tank with the old small chip media for over a year now). I have recently gotten a slowdown in flow. I contacted Midwest twice and have not gotten a response. If this above media would work it would be about $25 / 5kg. - I think about 2 gal. (or just less).
  #96  
Old 12/12/2007, 05:52 PM
mquinn mquinn is offline
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Opps - that is bentonite clay - my brain is not functioning.
  #97  
Old 12/12/2007, 06:01 PM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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Here is one a sulfur prills cost only $12.95 for 2.5lbs and it is 99.9% pure. It looks the same as the Carib Sea.

http://www.hydroponicsoutlet.com/Pro...uctCode=704055
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  #98  
Old 12/12/2007, 10:38 PM
mquinn mquinn is offline
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It appears that the sulfur source I found is 99.9 pure also - but in order to create the pellets (as it is normally a powder or crystal) - the bentonite is the structure glue.... It is all in the marketing.... I wonder how many of these other souces are the same. (If you ask for the MSDS sheet it will tell you )
  #99  
Old 12/13/2007, 02:05 AM
sanababit sanababit is offline
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wow guys, 300 dlls for and h&s denitrifier, 100 dlls for media, 200 dlls for a reactor to make a denitrifier, just do what i did, go online and get a phosban reactor for 40 dlls (if its a big tank like 150 get 2 of them), get the no-no3 media from carib sea for 19.99, a little mj pump, some 1/4 tubing and a 1/4" jaco ball valve, thats it, for less than 80 dlls you can make yourself a sulphur based denitrifier.

very easy to make, fill up the reactor with the no-no3 media, hook up the 1/4" tubing, put the ball valve on the outflow, hook up the pump into the inlet of reactor and start it up, ime first send the outflow to a bucket because u will get some nitrite and nitrate for the first 7 days, after that send it to your sump and thats it, let it work its magic.

my tank has gone from 20ppm to 10 ppm in 3 weeks, i feed heavely btw, and since a post is worthless without photos, here they are.

the results dont lie

so here is my story, forget on those expensive toys, make your own, you will have more money for frags, salt, fish, water, electric bill, fish food, gloves, powerheads, vortech pump, bigger tank, reefkeeper, controlers, ATO, etc. etc. etc.

happy holidays

sana
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  #100  
Old 01/10/2008, 01:51 PM
xinumaster xinumaster is offline
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Here is mine.

2 weeks after installing at 1 drip/sec:

Tank NO3 = +100ppm
sulfur denitrator effluent NO3= 0ppm.

I wonder how long it will take to process and lower a 500g system to atleast 50ppm.


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Last edited by xinumaster; 01/10/2008 at 02:00 PM.
 

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