Sulfur Denitrator depletes alkalinity
Hi
I have been running sulfur denitrator's for years and really like them. Unfortunately these is a limited amount of information I can seem to find. I having an issue with calcium increasing and alkalinity diving in one of my systems The tank is a 65 gallon soft coral heavily populated fish reef tank. The denitrator has been on the tank for over a year. I do not dose any kalk, alk or calcium to this tank and do 20 gallon bi-weekly water changes. My calcium level is currently over 600 and the dkh is 4. I have added as much as 12ozs of alk and the dkh moves to about 8 but drops by the next day. So I figured the calcium/alk ratio was so off i'd never be able to balance so I made up 70 gallons of new salt water and did 100% water change. Water going in had calcium of 420 and dkh was 7. Well within a week calcium was almost 580 and dkh 4 Sorry for being so long winded so my question is: Can the denitrator be causing this inbalance Thanks |
Denitrator adds calcium to your water as you have calcium media in there right? At least that's what's in mine on top of the sulfur media. I never notice and alk depletion. Maybe your curls are consuming a lot of all or precipitating out?
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I run a large sulfur denitrator with a calcium reactor . There is no aragonite on the top or bottom of the sulfur in the reactor . My calcium also reads high any where between 542 to 603 0n a triton test. Calcium seems to read higher on a hobby grade test kit. You might want to put this in the chemistry forum you might get more answers .
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The denitrator will consume alkalinity. See section 7 in this article:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/8/chemistry A drop of 3 dKH in a week seems like a lot, but that might be what's happening. Is that 3 dKH number correct? |
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Thanks for the response Andy |
Andy, Mike has a mini-cal for cheap if you want another unit.
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Yes it does depleteralkainity.The article cited explains it. The simplified reaction is : 2H2O(water) +5S (sulfur)+6NO3(nitrate )---->3N2(nitrogen gas) +5SO4(sulfate) + 4 H+ .The extra H+ depletes the alk .
I haven't used my DIY sulfur dentirator in quite a while but had no trouble with alk given kalk dosing and occasional supplementation with sodium carbonate(baked baking soda) |
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It'll be interesting to see what effecting taking the reactor off line will have. Please keep us posted! I'm not sure exactly what's happening here.
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Maybe you have a Magnesium imbalance? It does appear there is a relationship to Magnesium and its ability to slow down precipitation.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry Quote:
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To Reef Central Magnesium acts to foul crystal surfaces and thus reduce abiotic precipitation. That's one of the reasons that the surface waters of the ocean can run at supersaturation with respect to calcium carbonate. The equations for a sulfur reactor are different, though, and the cause is not precipitation. |
What was the outcome of your experience?
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interesting. does the denitrator reactor use up alk or does the depletion of n03 somehoe use it up? I am interested to know if there is an effect on alk with change in no3 levels. anyone know?
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The denitrator will consume some alkalinity due to the production of sulfuric acid. Converting nitrate to nitrogen gas actually releases alkalinity.
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/200...try#section-12 http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.htm |
I don’t think that’s correct. The downside to sulfur denitrification is that it consumes alkalinity. I can see this right now in my own take with no coral but an alkalinity demand as monitored by a kh guardian.
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very very interesting... anyone have a quantifiable amount of alk being used here?
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The formula given was 4 H<sup>+</sup> per 6 NO<sub>3</sub><sup>-</sup>. It's a very small amount. If the reactor is removing 10 ppm nitrate per week, I think the change in dKH would be about 0.6 dKH per week. I need to check another equation and double-check my math, though.
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