After so many people asking about pics and so forth on how to create one here it is.
Last night cubano2480 went by my place and we decided to make one for him and take pics at the same time. If this helps one person it would have been worthwhile.
This is not a thread about the pros and cons of using one. There are plenty of threads here and elsewhere regarding the usage of these.
Sulfur denitrator are also not new toys in the market. They were first used by Marc LANGOUET back in the early 90's. Like I said there is plenty of information around here on these.
So to answer many questions from the get go:
Do they work?
Yes it does work.
How long before you see 0 nitrates coming out of the effluent?
3 days in my tank. My nitrates are hovering in excess of 80 ppm as we speak. It will take about a month to process all my tanks water.
Where did you buy the media?
I bought it from premiumaquatics for $55. It is exactly the same media midwestaquatics uses in their reactors. The media fills about a 1/4 of reactor and I used a bunch of ARM on top since the low ph helps dissolve the aragonite into more Calcium and Alk.
How long does the media last?
About 3 years according to the manufacturer.
Is it hard to adjust?
Not harder than a calcium reactor. The only daily adjustment you have to make is bleed the system from the top valve. Abou t 5 seconds.
What is the effluent's PH?
Mine reads 7.5 slightly higher than my Calcium reactor.
How did you adjust it?
One drop per second during first 3 days. Then ramp it up to to 2-4 drops per second and let it catch up. After that every tank is different, but here are some guidelines:
If you smell sulfate (end product) your bacteria is not gettting enough food (nitrates). Ramp up the flow or remove and store half the media for later usage.
Why not water changes?
I didn't feel like shocking my system with all the water changes. My fish (Tangs) hate water changes. They have all been with me for quite a while. The purple tang has been with me for a little over 10 years...so I know my fish.
BTW, there are many ways to deal with nitrates as you'll hear from others in the reefkeeping community, but this is the method that I'm trying in this thread so please don't hijack this thread. I've been in the hobby long enough to know how to deal with nitrates and spent probably thousands of dollars in test kits and chemicals and probably millions of gallons of water :-(
In essence, this thread is not about my tank; it's about a DIY Sulfur Denitrator.
One last thing
DISCLAIMER try this at your own risk and please be careful when using power tools. Furthermore, I'm not afiliated with any company whatsoever and have not intentions of doing so in the future.
Ok so here we go:
Tools that I used
Router with flush trim bit
Jigsaw
5/8' Forstner bit
1/2" Drill bit
Drill
Flat Screwdriver
3/8" Pipe tap
Unibit
1/8" Drill bit
PVC cutter
Utility knife
Supplies
2 feet 4" pvc (HD)
1 4" flange (base) (HD)
1 4" flange with knockout (top) (HD)
1/2" CPVC (HD)
Scrap white acrylic from Juliovideo
Nylon screw and nuts (Ace)
1/2" CPVC elbow
1/2" CPVC tee
Maxijet 1200 (old)
Gasket material
All purpose PVC, CPVC glue (HD)
Here are the pics:
Start out by glueing flange (base) to PVC tube
Next with 5/8" Forstner bit drill at the bottom making sure you go through flange as well.
