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sulfur denitrator?

7K views 22 replies 7 participants last post by  cdochene 
#1 ·
would any of you recommend this for an sps tank. i just cant seem to get my nitrates under 25ppm. i dose mb7 and biofuel, run a skimmer that is way overkill, and do regular 15-20% water changes every week. what are the possible negative effects from the sulfur based denitrators and do they really work like they are supposed to? ive heard that the sulfur denitrators will lower you alk, but i have my calcium reactor (rated for up to 500g) that i can adjust to keep the alk up. all my corals are doing great, just trying to cut back on some water changes and clean up the water a little more. parameters are as follows, all on salifert tests:
ph-8.1-8.3
nitrates- 25ppm
trites- 0
ammonia- 0
alk- 12
calcium- 450
mag- 1420
phosphates- undetectable
salinity- 1.026
ORP- 356
 
#3 ·
Do you have pic's of your system? If not, can you explain your system?

Fish load?
Total water volume?
Sand bed?
Do you clean the sand bed?
Macro algae?
Mechanical filtration?
How often do you change out mechanical filtration?


Denitrators "work", but it's another piece of equipment to take up space, your time, and money. IMHO, nitrate can be handled in more efficient ways. Having a good clean anaerobic environment to offset the aerobic bacteria population goes a long way. This usually means limiting areas where aerobic bacteria bloom without anaerobic bacteria near by. Filter pads and socks need to be changed out daily or very close to that. Water volume to load has a huge impact on nitrate. Just keeping the system clean will drastically reduce nitrate.
 
#4 ·
fish load:
1 yellow tang(medium), 1 canary blenny, 4 green chromis, 1 red fairy wrasse, 1 leopard wrasse, 1 orange diamond goby, 1 mandarin goby, 1 foxface, 1 royal gamma, 1 cleaner wrasse, 1 cinnamon clown. i know its a lot of fish, but they are mostly small 2-3 inches or less.
water volume:
90g tank, 50g sump(a little over half full) so probably right around 90-100g total
sand bed: yes, in most places, lol my flow gives me the BB look in some places
yes i clean the sand bed every water change and i have a ton of the little snails that hide in it and pop up when you feed
no macro algae
filtration:
MR1 phosban reactor that i run carbon in instead of phosban
Royal exclusive alpha cone 250 skimmer
i clean the skimmer neck once a week and change out the carbon at least once a month
 
#5 ·
my thing is, even after a water change i still see no difference in the nitrates. they are stable at that level. i dose MB& and reef biofuel and still have seen no difference. the one good thing i know about my corals is that they can handle alk swings for the most part. it took a while to get my calc reactor dialed in right and the alk would go anywhere from 8-13 or 14(not in one day of course). if it can live in my tank it can live anywhere.lol
 
#6 ·
Do you run mechanical filtration, like filter socks? If so, how often do you change them out?
 
#7 · (Edited)
Nitrates are not the negative thing that so many prescribe them to be. By looking at the tank you can tell if it is something to worry about or not. Upwards levels higher than yours have been seen in very healthy tanks.
 
#9 ·
yeah, i should have never bought another nitrate kit.lol
i had my trates pretty steady at 5-10ppm for several months. once i got my sps going and they were doing fine, the main things i tested for were phos, alk, mag, and cal. i didnt test for nitrates for around 8 months. when i bought the alpha cone i wanted to see how much of a difference it would make. been around 25ppm ever since i tested again.
 
#11 ·
I've been running a sulfur denitrator for over a year on my SPS dominant tank. I've got a lot of big fish in my tank, and I like to keep them fat and happy so I feed every day. I do know that my corals like a little trate though... they are more colorful and seem happier with a little nutrients in the water.


Nice skimmer... I love my 250! :agree:





D
 
#13 ·
I'd start changing the filter sock and pad much more often. They are just nitrate factories when left in the tank that long. I change my socks out every day. Okay, so maybe I skip a day from time to time, but I try to change it every day.:)
 
#15 ·
i think im just going to quit testing for nitrates. i just did a 20g water change from the display(siphoned rocks and sand), cleaned the socks and skimmer, and then tested everything after about 30min. here are the results:
nitrates-50
phosphate- undetectable
ph- 8.1
calcium- 470
alk- 11.5
mag- 1470

i do feed everyday, but not much for what i have in the tank. i give a small pinch of flakes or pellets before i go to work and then give one cube of frozen(mysis, emerald entree, or marine cuisine) after thawing and rinsing it in DI water. i might get a sulfur denitrator just to drop the levels to a manageable range, but i dont plan on using it for an extended period of time
 
#18 ·
yes it is a salifert kit. i hate the color matching tests. i was hoping it would be another titration type test when i bought it.
i usually keep my alk pretty high, in the 10-12 range. i had it bottom out once when i kept it around 8, dropped to 5.6 and i almost lost everything. now if it drops a point or two everything is still fine.
 
#19 ·
Have you looked into an Algae scrubber? They're not quite mainstream these days but they're a sure-fire way to reduce nitrates and phosphate, in addition to boosting pod populations, raising O2, and keeping algae down in the display. A little research may be in order, thats all I'm suggesting...evaluate all avenues of approach.

-Matt
 
#23 ·
Sulfur Reactor

Built the DIY Sulfur Reactor on Reef Keeping web site. Struggled to get below 25-50 ppm The Diy reactor after about 3 months brought the nitrates to less than 5. Then 2 months after that less than 1. Hanging around .2. It works,

180 tank
35 gallon sump
Large Tangs
Feed heavily
 
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