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Sulfur Denitrator out of a phosban reactor?

Nocturnal

Habitual Line Stepper
Anyone ever think of making something like this (for those of you w/nitrate issues).
After doing searches on Korallin Sulfur Denitrators, they look nothing more than a fancy phosban reactor (or similar) with sulfur and aragonite media and a pump attached.
So instead of spending 300+ you could spend 30 bucks plus media and then T it off of one of your return pumps or run it's own separate pump/powerhead.
Make sense?
Think it would work?

I know someone on here bought a nice one and it works great, just thinking on the cheap.
 
It has to be a closed loop pump setup with a seperate feed line and a drip line with something similar to a bubble counter, a calcium reactor would suit the job better but yes ive contemplated modifying one for a while now.

John at sea creature has one running now modified from a very compact HOB calcium reactor made by MRC IIRC, after talking with jim he mentioned the coralife calcium reactor would be a best bang for buck solution.
 
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I picked up a custom made Sulfur denitrator on ebay for under 100.00. The link is below (This is not me, this is the person I bought mine from).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sulfur-Denitrat...52|39:1|66:2|65:12&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14.l1318

After seeing it, its nothing more than two PVC canisters made out of standard PVC and end caps, with connections for hoses, a pump and the media all ready mixed. It could probably be made for less than $30.00 in parts. I hooked it up to the return on my canister filter so I do not use the supplied pump.

It has been running on my tank for several months now and has kept my Nitrates low. I am increasing the flow rate through it now that my nitrates are lower, the filter is cycled, and I am able to get more flow through it with no Nitrites coming out.

One of the biggest issues with these are the adjustment of the outflow, because if you are not willing to spend the time testing and adjusting the outflow, you can get Nitrites in your main system from them. Also, if the water flow is too slow you get a sulfur smell from the outflow.

The other issue you need to be aware of is the PH drop you get from these units. The outflow is a very low PH, so you not only need to watch for Nitrites, you need to monitor the PH of your system, otherwise if can get very low very quick. I am thinking of running the outflow through another canister with only argonite in it to pick up the PH.

I did a lot of research on this before I bought this one, looking at models and prices and looking for feedback on how they worked. I decided with this one because I could try it without the large expense.

The following link also helped me understand how these filters worked so I had a much better understanding of what was involved in hooking one up before I attempted it.

http://www.netpets.com/fish/reference/thielbook/thielbook3l.html


I hope this help.

John
 
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