Diy nitrate reactor

MICU murse · Apr 30, 2018

So I built a nitrate reactor using sea chem denitrate and I currently am running about 2 drips per second through it. It’s relatively new so I don’t think the anerobic bacteria has had time to take hold because it matches my tank parameters. I was wondering if in the pvc I am feeding the reactor with I could use sulfur. I’ve got leftover sulfur from a sulfur denitrator I built and never used and figured if sulfur strips the O2 out of the water then it would maximize the effectiveness of the media in terms of nitrate removal. I could be overlooking something obvious that would prohibit this from being an effective strategy but I can’t think of any limiting factor. I do recognize that this would lower my alkalinity to some degree as well as my pH as a consequence. Anybody else tried this or have any insight. It’s a standard media reactor, doesn’t recirculate or anything. Just fed off a t on my return pump controlled with a ball valve.

Clownmaniowa · May 1, 2018

Pics or video? Interesting

Thomas B · May 3, 2018

I have been using de-nitrate or the other one for years. I have it on both of my systems. I run one in a home made pvc setup and the other is in a two little fishes reactor. If you dial them down to the appropriate gph, they will strip your nitrates from your tank without the sulfur. I have to dose nitrates daily to keep the sps happy. In my 75 gallon I have three chromis, a kole tang, lawnmower blenny, mandarin, maroon clown, and a wrasse. I feed them quite heavily. I always had problems in prior tanks with nitrates but not using the de nitrate.

MICU murse · May 6, 2018

Thomas B said:
I have been using de-nitrate or the other one for years. I have it on both of my systems. I run one in a home made pvc setup and the other is in a two little fishes reactor. If you dial them down to the appropriate gph, they will strip your nitrates from your tank without the sulfur. I have to dose nitrates daily to keep the sps happy. In my 75 gallon I have three chromis, a kole tang, lawnmower blenny, mandarin, maroon clown, and a wrasse. I feed them quite heavily. I always had problems in prior tanks with nitrates but not using the de nitrate.

Sorry for the delayed reply, work has been crazy. What else do you have for biological filtration? I have been struggling with nitrates for a while in my old tank and now in my new one. My new tank just finished cycling so it’s not very mature, it may not have had enough time to stabilize out. Currently I am running mine like yours without sulfur right now and it’s running at approximately 1-2 gtts, so pretty slow. I need to test my tank water vs my reactor water again. Previously there was no difference but I had only had it running for a few days soprobably not too many anaerobic bacteria in that time.

Thomas B · May 7, 2018

I have a skimmer and liverock in my display. In my garage setup I only use matrix. It took a little while before it started eating nitrates. Couldn't tell you how long. I use the matrix, which allows any flow. The de-nitrate has to have a certain flow. Or I have that backward.

MICU murse · May 7, 2018

Thomas B said:
I have a skimmer and liverock in my display. In my garage setup I only use matrix. It took a little while before it started eating nitrates. Couldn't tell you how long. I use the matrix, which allows any flow. The de-nitrate has to have a certain flow. Or I have that backward.

You’re right, the matrix is advertised for any flow rate whereas the denitrate recommends a slow one. I’ve got 70lbs of live rock, 120+lbs live sand, macro algae, and I just added a marine pure block in a low flow area. I also have a relatively low fishload with only 6 small fish. I think I’m just impatient more that anything, it probably hasn’t had time to mature and develop the anaerobic bacteria. I think for now despite my urge to tinker I will leave it alone and give this time to mature and stabilize. If I do add sulfur to the reactor I will definitely post updates. I think the recirculating sulfur reactor I have would be more effective at nitrate reduction than just the biological one, but the alkalinity and ph drop is unappealing. Thanks for the advice.