Economics of Sulfur reactor vs Water changes

acroporas · 07/02/2007, 01:20 PM

I have for the last few weeks been looking for a comparison of the cost of a sulfur reactor compared to the cost of water changes. I eventually gave up and decided to do the math myself.

My my math, it is not even close. A sulfur reactor is far cheaper than water changes. The running cost of a sulfur reactor is similar to the cost of keeping your nitrates ~1000ppm.

Would anyone do me a favor and go over my math and see if you see any mistakes.

See attached Excel sheet:

Boomer · 07/02/2007, 04:45 PM

I did not go through it line by line William but it looks good to me.

Yangtze Reef · 07/02/2007, 04:48 PM

Well, I am doing both Water change and Sulfur reactor.

Ying

Billybeau1 · 07/02/2007, 05:19 PM

I believe in water changes, regardless whether you have a sulfur reactor or not. I'm with Ying on this one.

Billybeau1 · 07/02/2007, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Billybeau1
I believe in water changes, regardless whether you have a sulfur reactor or not. I'm with Ying on this one.

Oops.

yrema · 07/02/2007, 09:33 PM

there's more to water chemistry than just nitrates, it might work on an FO or FOWLR tank but I'll have qualms doing this on a reef tank.

acroporas · 07/02/2007, 10:24 PM

Have any of you actually looked at my spreadsheet? If so, please tell me if you think I got the math right. I am pretty sure I got the cost of WC part right, but I am not so confident that I got the cost of a Sulfur reactor part right.

Also, if any of you have any experience running a sulfur reactor, I'm very curious about it's real life efficiency: How long did the media last (along with estimated nitrate production) and how much sulfur do you toss out when you replace the media?

From my calculations, effeciency does not really matter as even if only 1% of the sulfur was used for denitrification the cost of electricity to run the reactor would still far excede the cost of the sulfur. But I as still very curious as to a realistic value for this variable.

Any other comments are off topic and not appreciated.

Quote:

Originally posted by Boomer
I did not go through it line by line William but it looks good to me.

Thanks for looking at it Boomer.

07/02/2007, 04:45 PM	#2
Boomer Bomb Technician (EOD) Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Duluth, Minnesota Posts: 11,883	I did not go through it line by line William but it looks good to me. __________________ If you See Me Running You Better Catch-Up Seawater Chemistry, Geology, ID Marine Life, Collecting Science Books, Explosives Technology, Audiophile An explosion can be defined as a loud noise, accompanied by the sudden going away of things, from a place where they use to be.

07/02/2007, 09:33 PM	#6
yrema Be right back! :) Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Manila, Philippines Posts: 298	there's more to water chemistry than just nitrates, it might work on an FO or FOWLR tank but I'll have qualms doing this on a reef tank. __________________ Warmest Regards, Marty, Amery and Seth :) Current Tank Info: 30G Low-tech, low-cost reef.

07/02/2007, 04:48 PM	#3
Yangtze Reef Moved On Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: NJ08544 Posts: 56	Well, I am doing both Water change and Sulfur reactor. Ying

07/02/2007, 05:19 PM	#4
Billybeau1 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Dyer, Indiana Posts: 12,164	I believe in water changes, regardless whether you have a sulfur reactor or not. I'm with Ying on this one.