Sulfur Denitrator Build Thread

hawkinsrgk · Nov 25, 2016

greg 45 said:
measuring orp isn't needed / you can monitor what comes out with a nitrate test kit.

How hard is it to dial it in without one

greg 45 · Nov 25, 2016

not hard at all start out with low flow until you read zero on a nitrate test. My unit is large and I start flow at 25 ml a min. Once you get to zero slowly ramp up flow still achieving zero. Reading ml makes it easy and use stop watch on cell phone .

hawkinsrgk · Nov 25, 2016

greg 45 said:
not hard at all start out with low flow until you read zero on a nitrate test. My unit is large and I start flow at 25 ml a min. Once you get to zero slowly ramp up flow still achieving zero. Reading ml makes it easy and use stop watch on cell phone .

Thank you for the tip. Can't wait until this starts working

hawkinsrgk · Nov 30, 2016

For the people that have done this. How long did it take for the water out of the reactor to have 0 nitrates? Mine has been running for almost a week and nitrates are at the same level

RamsReef · Dec 1, 2016

You need to make it a very slow slow drip until you get 0, the first one takes the longest as the bacteria culture is just starting. It should just be barely dripping out to start.

hawkinsrgk · Dec 1, 2016

Ramasule said:
You need to make it a very slow slow drip until you get 0, the first one takes the longest as the bacteria culture is just starting. It should just be barely dripping out to start.

It is a very slow drip. Less than 25ml per minute. Guess I should just be more patient, but I thought after a week I would see something.

shornik · Dec 1, 2016

Following... I'm not handy or smart enough for a DIY like this - plumbing stuff just makes me very nervous. However, I'm about to purchase an Aquamax sulfur denigrators for my seahorse tank. So I'm interested to see how effective this is for you. Thanks for sharing.

hawkinsrgk · Dec 1, 2016

Thanks for following. Can't wait until this starts to work. When I started making this I really wanted to go with clear pvc. Then I saw the price of clear pvc.

greg 45 · Dec 1, 2016

This type of set up doesn't kick in overnight . It takes time for the bacteria to grow. Be patient it's the complete opposite of a bio pellet reactor it wont cloud your tank and kick in way to fast killing the tank . Once you get your levels to where you want you will forget all about the set up time involved .

hawkinsrgk · Dec 1, 2016

greg 45 said:
This type of set up doesn't kick in overnight . It takes time for the bacteria to grow. Be patient it's the complete opposite of a bio pellet reactor it wont cloud your tank and kick in way to fast killing the tank . Once you get your levels to where you want you will forget all about the set up time involved .

Very good point. Thank you. Just got to let it do its thing

hawkinsrgk · Dec 3, 2016

Just wanted to give an update on this. The Replacement SLX came in yesterday and I got it installed. The ORP for the reactor is now at -91 so I have a little longer to go. Nitrates coming out of the reactor is greater than 4ppm. Not sure how much more and don't think it matters that much

hawkinsrgk · Dec 3, 2016

While I'm waiting upon this to do its thing, I took the solenoid off an old BRS topoff that I had. The float switch no longer works and I know I will not be using it again

I painted the rusted metal on it and got it cleaned up. If it doesn't work I'm not out anything

president89 · Dec 28, 2016

Did you rinse your sulfur first? I'm about to setup mine. I have everything built.

hawkinsrgk · Dec 28, 2016

president89 said:
Did you rinse your sulfur first? I'm about to setup mine. I have everything built.

I rinsed the matrix and calcium aggregate but didn't rinse the sulfur. I ran about two gallons to a bucket before I put it in the tank

president89 · Dec 28, 2016

Did you put the matrix on top of sulfur?

hawkinsrgk · Dec 28, 2016

Yes

In the bottom of both canisters I put in a 3 inch plastic shower drain and on top of that I cut out a eheim eco coarse canister filter. It looks like this

In the first canister after the first filter pad I put in 2 liters of sulfur, then put in another filter pad and added the matrix in top of that

The second canister should have a shower drain and filter pad in it and I added a gallon of calcium aggregate on top of that

For the amount of sulfur one person recommended to use (tank volume) x .006
So in my case that was 380 x .006 = 2.28 liters

Since some people thought that recommendation was too low and since I really am shooting for nitrates around 5ppm I went with 2 liters

For the matrix, I have read that it's ok to use 2/1 matrix to sulfur and since I bought 4 liters that's what I went with

For the calcium aggregate I don't think you can have too much. I bought a gallon so that's what I went with. In a couple of months I will probably add another gallon to the second canister

hawkinsrgk · Jan 3, 2017

Just to give an update. The reactor has finally cycled. I have turned the flow up today to around 3 drops a second. Will check it in a couple hours to see if I need to turn it down. Didn't expect it to take a month, but so pumped it's making progress.

RamsReef · Jan 4, 2017

hawkinsrgk said:
Just to give an update. The reactor has finally cycled. I have turned the flow up today to around 3 drops a second. Will check it in a couple hours to see if I need to turn it down. Didn't expect it to take a month, but so pumped it's making progress.

Awesome