sulfur reactor not gassing?

[jjoos99]

I have been running a diy sulfur denitrator that I built myself that has been running about a month. Within the last several days it is not producing any gas out of the top of the reactor. Is this because my nitrates are so low? Not sure what is causing this.
thanks
Jeff

[bertoni]

What is the nitrate level currently?

[AcroporAddict]

Have you always had to manually degas your reactor? I have not used a DIY unit, but the ones I have used just pass the nitrogen gas out the effluent line. My reactors have always had a recirc pump on them.

[jjoos99]

If I am reading my salifert test kit right it is showing 1ppm or maybe a tad bit lower. My diy reactor does have a valve that needs to be opened once a day to release the gas. For the first 3 weeks or so I got some gas out of it each evening, but recently it is not gassing. The output water is showing 0 so it is working. I have noticed very little algae build up on the glass.
thanks
Jeff

[AcroporAddict]

1 ppm is very low. The amount of N gas may be small enough it is passing out with the effluent now.

[bertoni]

I agree. I'd just let the reactor run.

[AcroporAddict]

I would guess the pump on recirculating denitrators probably does a pretty good job of keeping any nitrogen gas chopped up in small bubbles and leaving with the effluent, which may be the reason for the difference vs a DIY type.

Here is the GEO denitrator I just placed in service. This holds 4.5 gallons of media. I hope I have enough to take my nitrates all the way to zero. I don't know if I would keep them at zero, but I want the ability to do it. Next to it is the large size Midwest Aquatics Sulfur Denitrator I was using. I have almost three times as much sulfur in the new unit, and can go up to 1% of my system volume, if it is needed.

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o729/acroporaddict/CIMG5737_zps73babb03.jpg

http://i1340.photobucket.com/albums/o729/acroporaddict/CIMG5738_zpsf52c6e61.jpg

[jjoos99]

That is a sweet reactor. Geo sure makes some nice equipment.
Here is another question, once the tanks nitrates are low or near 0 what should be done with the reactor? Do you take if offline, or turn down the drip rate? From everything I am reading 0 nitrates are not good for good sps coloration so I might want to stop at the 1 ppm that my tank is currently at.
thanks
Jeff

[AcroporAddict]

That is a sweet reactor. Geo sure makes some nice equipment.
Here is another question, once the tanks nitrates are low or near 0 what should be done with the reactor? Do you take if offline, or turn down the drip rate? From everything I am reading 0 nitrates are not good for good sps coloration so I might want to stop at the 1 ppm that my tank is currently at.
thanks
Jeff

I would not remove the denitrator. It is not like you lower the levels and it stays there. Remove the denitrator and your NO3 levels will go back up, all other things being the same. The ultimate goal is to have the denitrator on a daily basis remove what nitrate the tank produces on a daily basis, maintaining a constant tank NO3 level, once your desired level is reached.

What I would do is decide what nitrate level in your tank you want to maintain. Say for example, 1 ppm. If your level is 2 right now, you up the effluent rate of the denitrator until you reach 1 ppm, then maybe back off your effluent rate by 1 drop per second so you maintain a constant level of 1 ppm. Test your tank nitrate levels regularly, and if it stays at 1, then don't change a thing, you are good. If the tank NO3 level goes down to 0, then reduce the effluent rate a bit more, which should raise tank NO3 levels after a while. If the tank level drifts up to 2, increase the effluent rate until tank NO3 goes back down to 1.

[jjoos99]

Sounds easy enough. What level seems to be what everyone is trying to keep?
Jeff

[AcroporAddict]

Sounds easy enough. What level seems to be what everyone is trying to keep?
Jeff
I would think 5 ppm or less would be a good goal, but maybe Jon, Tom or Randy can chime in here. I'm still tuning mine in. My nitrate levels are not that high, but I had maxxed out my denitrator, and couldn't get 0 NO3 effluent past 7 drops a second, while still having detectable nitrates in my DT. I was unaware until recently that the system volumes some manufacturers rated their denitrators for were a bit exaggerated. Kudos to Tom (tmz) for helping my understanding of their chemical function from a couple threads on sulfur denitrators lately.

[bertoni]

We don't know what is optimal, but natural reefs tend to be well below 1 ppm of nitrate in most areas of the ocean. I'm excluding areas polluted by runoff and sewage.