sulfur reactor effluent question

[Hens4Fish]

Ok, so I am wondering something. I put a sulfur reactor online roughly 4-5 weeks ago. It works just fine, but I have a question for the experts. MY nitrats are currently somewhere between 100-200ppm. My test kit does not really show much difference above 100ppm. I have a koralia sulfur reactor, 200 gallon twv, and some big fish. MY question is this....
IS it better to run the reactor at 8-10 drops per second with the effluent being 20-30ppm nitrates, or at 3-4 drops per second with effluent being zero nirates. If I turn the effluent down it puts out zero, if I turn it up it puts out 20-30ppm. OVerall, I want it to go to zero, but with such high nitrates, is it better to run more water through at 20ppm, then just a few drops at 0? I think in my figuring, its filtering about 5-6 gallons a day currently. Any thoughts from the experts would be great.
Thanks,
Bill

[bertoni]

I suspect you could find the maximum performance level with some tuning, but I'd just leave the flow rate on the higher side as long as you don't see any buildup of gas inside the reactor. If that's not easy to check, I'd likely tune the reactor down to the zero nitrate output rate.

[Dave & Monica]

Actually start off with a few drops per second, once the effluent reads zero, then you push more water out by a few drops. The gas build up is normal in the beginning. I have mine at a steady stream and test the reef once a month (5ppm for more than a year now). What I love is it's a set a forget once (a) your reactor is working and (b) nitrates are low. Mine were in 100+ range...

[Hens4Fish]

Sweet, that is awesome. I have it working to pump about 14 gallons a day, so its pretty decent flow, and still below 5ppm nitrates coming out. Thanks for letting me know about the gas, thought there was something wrong with it. I was hoping it was because the nitrates were so high. Love the reactor, like you said, set it and forget it.

[bnumair]

at first according to manufacturer ur suppose to keep the output just few drops per sec. till the denitrator cycles. when its there ur suppose to increase flow by doubling the rate then check for nitrates if still 0 then keep increasing flow everyday till nitrates show up. then dial it back down to last setting.
i had the same unit and i ran 2 drops per sec for first 2 months and when nitrates went to 0 i went to several drops per sec. then eventually i was at a steady stream over several months.

here is the manual
http://www.korallin.com/europe/biomanual.pdf

[Hens4Fish]

Hi Bnumair,
Yeah, I know we have talked about this already, and I know the manufacturer recommendation. I was just asking the opinion if anyone thought it was better to run the reactor faster at slightly higher nitrates, or slower at zero. So for instance, if I am running it at 4 gallons a day output(2 drops per second), and getting zero nitrates, if my nitrates started at 100ppm, its removing 100ppm out of 4 gallons daily. If I am running at 14 gallons a day and getting 20ppm, its removing 80ppm nitrates out of 14 gallons. Just was wondering which would be better. IF my nitrates were only like 40, it would not be a question, but since they are so high, I was not sure if getting more volume through would help reduce the nitrates faster, or if I was thinking about it wrong.
Thanks,
Bill

[Hens4Fish]

Bertoni,
I do have gas build up, but even at 2 drops per second it was building up. So I put a piece of tubing on the gas release valve, put it into my sump, and let that stay open a little bit to release any gas that forms right away. I was running into problems because the gas would form so fast that the reactor was not dripping(too much pressure in the reactor), so this fix allows the gast to release and the reactor to keep working. Thanks for the reply everyone.
Bill

[bertoni]

Okay, as long as the gas doesn't cause any problems, that should be fine. I'd watch carefully.