Sulfur Denitrators?

A LFS owner opened my eyes to what in Europe is replacing refugiums. Sulfur Denitrators. I have researched online and found that not only does it replace refugiums, and water changes, but Calcium can be added to turn it into a Sulfur Denitrator/Calcium reactor. Then there is a guy on eBay selling a three chamber system with Sulfur Denitrator/Calcium reactor/Phosphate media filter all in one.

Has anyone successfully used a device like this? I am particularly interested in the proverbial " Killing two birds with one stone " idea, but I don't want this proverb to involve fish.

Here are the links I found most interesting:

French inventor interview

http://mars.reefkeepers.net/USHomePage/USArticles/SulphurDenitrator.htm

DIY Sulfur Denitrator

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=1288082

Any help would be appreciated.



Edited by omedman - June 22 2010 at 2:29pm

Garff is testing this right now I think

There ain't nothing fishy about the chemistry of sulfur denitrifiers.  All they do is replace nitrates with sulfates.  If you feel that the only thing your refugium does is remove nitrate, then I guess you could say a sulfur denitrifer could replace it (although a refugium replaces nitrate with biomass rather then sulfate).  But I think most who keep refugiums would say they provide more benefits then just denitrification.

Bump? Anything more?

Marine Aquatics Inc, Is putting together a few of these for $125.00 these are pretty cool slick little units.

So here is the beginning documentary of testing the three chamber sulfur denitrator.


This is the side view, showing the three chambers, and the bleeder valve that the effluent leaves the denitrator.



I have it running into the last chamber of my refugium that pumps up into the display tank.



I have a closed loop system, so I thought about bringing the tank water into the sulfur denitrator through the main intake, but there were several issues that seemed like it could cause problems in the future, so I "T"ed into the 3/4" line that takes the final filtered water back into the tank. It seems  a little redundant, but it still pumps the water into the display tank thus returning eventually through the main intake.



This is a picture of my pump and refugium area before adding the sulfur denitrator. The sulfur denitrator now sits on top of the far right side of the refugium. ( The fan has been removed for now, because the denitrator barely fit.)



This will give you an idea of my Bio load. This is the 90 galllon display tank. I have A 3-4" Yellow tang, 3-4" Sailfin Tang ( Thank you madreefer ), a 3" Blue tang ( Once again Thank you madreefer ), a pair of 2" clowns, (5) 1-2" Blue/Green Chromis, and a 1-2" yellow wrasse. That is just the fish. I have a 12 - 14" carpet anemone, a 8 - 9" Red Bubble anemone, a 12" green bubble anemone ( that I would love to sell ), a cleaner shrimp, a coral banded shrimp, two peppermint shrimp, 2 decorator crabs, an arrow crab, and a full compliment of cleaner crew, both hermit crabs and snails.

WHEW!!!

I was concerned about the bio-load, I am not willing to get rid of my refugium, and all of the beneficial properties it brings, I just wanted something that would allow me to comfortably be able to sustain what I have as it grows, while getting the fring benefit of a Calcium reactor with the benefit of not needing to buy all that goes along with a reactor.

I didn't even need a dedicated pump for it, I piggy backed it off of my return pump.

Actually, the way I understand it, the sulfur and the bacteria on the sulfur create an acid that is neutralized by the breakdown of the Calcium. Isn't that what the CO2 is doing to the Argonite?

From what I had read that was exactly how low it was getting, and they had been running it for months, sometimes years. I'll let you know how low it gets as it ages.

I believe that Eric is right. A Calcium Reactor is meant to dissolve aragonite media to supply Ca, and don't forget Alk, to the tankwater. Though the "advertising" about a Sulfur Denitrator may have given the impression, it is not able to replace a Ca Reactor. I wouldn't worry about that though, because from what you described of your tank, the need for Alk and Ca is not so great that a Ca Reactor is needed. From what I can tell, manually adding Alk and Ca once a week to keep up on this tanks needs should be easy. It is also way cheap when you use the 2-part solutions made from baking soda and ice melt.

Edited by Mark Peterson - April 05 2010 at 12:03pm

So does this thing cause a drop in ph in the tank?