siskiou Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 You know, that sounds really interesting! I may try to modify my HOB fuge to try this out, once I free that up! Does it have to be closed on top (lid)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defigart Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 You know, that sounds really interesting! I may try to modify my HOB fuge to try this out, once I free that up! Does it have to be closed on top (lid)? I think a lid on top would help keep O2 out of the system, and the system needs to be oxygen deprived to function properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 It will function, just not as effectively as it could. Keep in mind a few things: - If your siphon gets stopped on the incoming water you will drain the reactor causing to recycle - If your drip goes to fast (flush with regular ph) this too will crash the reactor in both cases your reactor will have to recycle, I have had BOTH happen with the old setup and as it cycles the process is creating nitrates, so be careful and try to get it rock solid on the drip. Secondly as for the aragonite, in the reactor you should be aiming for 1/3 sulfur and 2/3 aragonite (or seachem matrix product that does not dissolve but functions the same). For effectiveness of course no air is best but from all the systems that I have seen fuction you would still get some function from an open top style system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defigart Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 Nyles, Thanks for starting this and for answering all of our questions. Could you estimate the volume of 1 pound of sulfer? Answer: 1 pound of Sulfer = 3.3 cups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
defigart Posted January 19, 2008 Share Posted January 19, 2008 One more thing. In the french versions it shows a chamber for phosphate removeral. Do you think this is important as well? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 I believe they recommend removing that at the end of their research, my phos removal is in a reactor thats separate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 as far as how much... the amount in there is 2 pounds and thats a 1 gallon container, the larger nitrate reactors (for the big systems) are running about 5 pound media. I guess mine is 2 pounds filled up a gallon jug 1/6 th full.?? LOL Sorry... that about my best guess...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted January 19, 2008 Author Share Posted January 19, 2008 Nyles, Thanks for starting this and for answering all of our questions. Could you estimate the volume of 1 pound of sulfer? Answer: 1 pound of Sulfer = 3.3 cups I would guess 3 cups is pretty darn close.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted January 25, 2008 Author Share Posted January 25, 2008 For reference... from some recent experiences... MAKE SURE THE UNIT IS SEALED, air tight. There should be NO fresh air getting in the unit. This was causing the unit to recycle itself over and over when I had a tiny hole in the top. I sealed it and the unit is working perfectly. If you do not do this your unit WILL MAKE NITRATES like no tomorrow. I am pretty confident that this is due to PH, this unit has a high flow inside it so fresh air in the unit brings the ph up causing the unit to start the cycle over. If your doing the HOB style and the flow is VERY slow this should not be an issue due to the fact the water will not have high contact to fresh air, if it is changed to a high flow unit (recirculating the water) you will have to make a top and seal the unit. Just remember just as a calcium reactor needs low ph to dissolve cal media, this needs low ph to break down nitrates and sustain the good bacteria that live in the lower ph water. Under 7.25 operating ph I have no issues, its when the ph creeps above that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Thanks for all the info Nyles. I am looking into possibly adding(making) a nitrate reactor to the clownfish system to help control nitrates. I have a question though. Since this is a large fish only system I have no reason to supplement it with calcium. You had mentioned using the seachem matrix product instead of the arm media. Do you think this would function the same on a fish only system? I was thinking about purchasing a large phosban reactor, building a closed loop for it, & trying to make it work. Something like the midwest aquatics version. http://www.midwestaquatic.com/PRODUCTS/sulfur_denitrifier.htm My only concern is raising the ph back up going into the aquarium. I have read that simply dripping the effluent back into a chamber with an air stone will fix this problem. Maybe dripping back into the skimmer somehow or a chamber with an air stone? Are you coming to the meeting this sunday in salem? If so I would like to talk to you some more about this. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 I am probably not coming to the meeting, with all my family going ons its near impossible also basketball in the middle of the day, anyhow back to the question... I think you could easily avoid using the matrix product and use the aragonite. In the past Authors have suggested its good because it puts calcium back, but I ASSURE you its very minimal, my aragonite has not dissolved at all, I am very low on calcium tests if I had more I would test the effluent for you, but I doubt its much if at all higher than the input. I want to breed clowns when my clowns decide the time is right and I plan to use one of these to help with maintinence. Just keep in mind on very important thing, it does not take much affluent at all to control the nitrates on most tanks. my drip is now less than one drip per 3 seconds and its still doing its job very effectively. I would feel very confident in adding this system to a clown system or fish only. Only advice I can give is run the unit for at least a month and get any kinks out, this system has great positives and one big negative, that being if you mess it up and it dumps the effluent it will make nitrates till you slow it back down, so use with reliable equipment (john guest valve and make sure there is decent pressure behind it to keep a accurate drip). If you pm me I would be happy to give you my number to go over the system if you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Ok on the next question. I am building a new fish room aka the "clown house". It is a 12x14 room where my existing 11 tanks are moving to plus 16 more. So there will be a total of 27 ten gallon tanks plus a 100-125g sump. For now there will only be fish in the 11 tanks but I will probably be bringing on a couple new tanks a month through summer until they are all running. The total system volume will be approximately 370-400g. Do you have any thoughts on size of a reactor to start this thing?? The one midwest has is 7" dia x 21" tall for a 250-500g system. I am not sure what size to start with as i am sure it will change (as all diy projects do.) My thought was that any reduction is going to help. Right now I have approx 1000 clowns in the system so there is a heavy bioload with lots of water changes to help keeps nitrates down. Any reduction is going to help. I will PM you for you number but would also like to keep the info in the thread also to help anyone else that is interested. Also feel free if you have any clown questions, I am not an expert by any means but would be happy to help. Thanks again, Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 For something that size.... let me explain my thinking My tank has / had a serious nitrate problem, the nitrates doing 20% water changes weekly kept it at 25ppm nitrate. The tank is 180-200 gallons total volume and I use 2 pounds of Sulfur and about 4 pounds of aragonite in a 1 gallon jug. For simplicity I would go a little bigger for ease of use, so something like that I would probably use around 5 pounds sulfur and 10 aragonite in a vessel of your choice. Mid west aquatic has nice stuff and I like the owner (he has helped me perfect my system), if thats an option its a good one, I just prefer to save and build my own. With a larger system you have the ability to control more nitrates but I don't think you will need more than 5 pounds to keep the nitrate at 0, I know breeding clowns are one of the dirtiest jobs, I think this would keep water changes to a minimal, matter of fact thats my plan when these darn clown get busy doing what they need to do. Again, word of caution, the drip rate needs to be controlled very closely and accurately this is the biggest key to the system. I have a dosing pump thats up for grabs if thats something you want to try, I got it from a friend but for my tank in the living room the noise it puts off is unacceptable, in a breeding room I don't think you will hear it at all. Just a thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 That seems logical. Now to find a vessel that will hold that amount of media. Without having built one of these yet do you have any ideas on what size, type, material would be necessary? What would you use the dosing pump for? Would you use it to control the flow into the chamber? I might be interested in it. Sorry for all the questions, but it seems that the closer i come to understanding this the more questions i have I really do appreciate you thoughts & time. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 That seems logical. Now to find a vessel that will hold that amount of media. Without having built one of these yet do you have any ideas on what size, type, material would be necessary? Something like this I would make from a rectangular acrylic enclosure that would be accessible from the top to clean and top off its total volume would be close to 2.5 gallons and be seal able. What would you use the dosing pump for? The dosing pump would be to control the drip rate accurately, if the system gravity fed out then it would supply, or like mine it gravity feeds in by a siphon hose and I have a pump in the unit that circulates water and is "T'ed" off to control the drip rate out under pressure with a john guest valve. Would you use it to control the flow into the chamber? I use mine siphon in and pump out. But you could do it either way depending on if the unit was above or below the sump. I might be interested in it. Sorry for all the questions, but it seems that the closer i come to understanding this the more questions i have I really do appreciate you thoughts & time. Dave Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted February 15, 2008 Share Posted February 15, 2008 Would you try to make the enclosure or did you have something in mind that could be modified? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted February 15, 2008 Author Share Posted February 15, 2008 It depends on what you can find in that size, personally I am looking to rebuild mine as a true reactor, our local acrylics place has raw tubes for $6-8, putting a bottom and removable top on are easy. The hard part is finding all the fittings to make the reactor for the recirc pump and the two small fittings for the dosing pump. However you do it you should make sure the Effluent exit fitting is on top, as the sulfur will very slowly break down nitrates and make nitrogen gas, the gas could be purged manually but its better to have the valve at the top to it will purge automatically. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted August 18, 2009 Author Share Posted August 18, 2009 Well since I have not needed my calcium reactor and it has not sold I am going to convert it over to the same nitrate reactor as above, hopefully with the same great results as my previous model, it will also make SOME Alk as well but only about 1/5 what a regular reactor would do but every bit helps. I will post results when I get a new nitrate test kit. Firing it up the converted no3 reactor in a few hours. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 well that was easy, all setup, will check it in two days and see if I have 0 ppm nitrate, currently I am around 20 ppm with weekly water changes. fun fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barelycuda Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 pictures, pictures Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted August 19, 2009 Author Share Posted August 19, 2009 All I did was turn off the co2 in the cal reactor and remove all the cal media, put in 2/3 sulfur and then top back off with cal media (arm) and set to a 1 drip per second. This setup requires no ph probe nor co2 as long as the drip is slow the ph will naturally lower. You could use co2 to lower but its not necessary as the low drip rate will easily reduce the nitrate to nothing as the first test last year or so ago showed, also I should have much less risk of having to much effluent causing a huge nitrate production instead of reduction. Also note my system is less than half the size of the old one. However I am still bare bottom and I think it has a little to do with my reoccurring nitrate problem and my remote DSB is not very big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted August 19, 2009 Share Posted August 19, 2009 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wanareef Posted August 20, 2009 Share Posted August 20, 2009 Nyles Using John Guest fittings would solve the problem of hooking up the reactor. Problem is the holes have to be tapped. For example my calcium reactor: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted August 21, 2009 Author Share Posted August 21, 2009 Not sure Im following what your talking about? The unit already has JG fittings? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nyles Posted August 26, 2009 Author Share Posted August 26, 2009 Checked nitrates today, 0ppm out of effluent, now I just have to wait, I will check nitrates in water in a few weeks, but for now reactor is working like it should. 1 drip per second out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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