Finally Something that Works

BaliReefBox · May 4, 2023

Well for awhile now I have been fighting a losing battle against high nitrates..50+. Initially I tried an ATS with limited success, then I made a larger ATS again with limited success. Then I went down the bio pellet route and it has been tumbling away for a few months with little to no success. Finally I dipped my toes into a sulphur reactor and after just 36hrs I have 2ppm coming out of it and 50+ going in.
I measure the ph and it has dropped to 7 directly out of the reactor when it is usually 8.2 in the tank. My tank is like a washing machine with heaps of flow and lots of surface agitation so hopefully it wont effect it too much. the tank is in an open lounge that has zero co2 issues (it is the tropics).
Question if my ph starts to drop too much what do you recommend as a buffer that is easy and I can dose through my empty doser head. I will als be vigilant of mu Dkh and ajust the dosing as required. Only very early days but had to share as I was getting so dishearted by all the failures..

Also once in check do you think I should keep the bio pellets going as well or just the sulphur and rowa phos

Dennis Cartier · May 4, 2023

I would not worry about the pH in your case. With your tank being outside, and having lots of gas exchange, the pH should not be affected too much by the sulfur reactor.

Where you will be impacted though, is the alkalinity, as some alk will be consumed by the reactor. You mention that you will monitor and adjust accordingly, so that should be good.

Lastly, as your nitrate levels get depleted, you may have an issue with the sulfur reactor producing hydrogen sulfide. This happens when there is not enough nitrate in the water column to feed the bacteria that have grown on the media. If this occurs, you will need to remove some sulfur media to reduce the size of the bed to match the daily nitrate production. Exposing the media to the air, while reducing the bed volume, will kill the bacteria on the media. So you will get a bit of a wobble in nitrate levels as the bacteria population take time to get back up to size.

Nice use of the RODI canister for construction the sulfur denitrator by the way.