Sulfer Biological Filter

Has anybody tried these? I've been reading up on them and they sound
interesting as I have persistently high nitrate levels.

--Kurt

I never heard of this but; I had a problem with Nitrates for a while and
when I got rid of the Bio media in my canister, plus more partial water
changes, I was able to get it under control.
"KurtG" wrote in message
...

Has anybody tried these? I've been reading up on them and they sound
interesting as I have persistently high nitrate levels.

--Kurt

Peter Pan wrote:
I never heard of this but;

It's much more common in Europe (from what I read).

Here's one:
http://www.marinedepot.com/aquarium_...denitrator.asp

They are also used for public water supplies to remove nitrates from
fresh water.

In sal****er, the reactions aren't well understood, but they appear to
work well, but they may raise PH due to proton release so they are back
ended with a calcium carbonate chamber (which in theory will release Ca
ions).

They are amazingly expensive for a tube of plastic with separated
sections for elemental sulfur and calcium carbonate, but I was planning
to build my own.

--Kurt

KurtG wrote:


Has anybody tried these? I've been reading up on them and they sound
interesting as I have persistently high nitrate levels.

--Kurt

Might want to start with something simpler such as a deep sand bed -
simply have 6 inches oir so of sand depth on the bottom of your tank,
and arrange the live rock so that most of it is NOT in direct contact
with the sand (ie: build lots of rock "bridges" so most of the rocks are
not directly on the sand) - you also need to have good turbulent water
flow - I aim for about 15 times turnover of tank volume per hour. Use
more little powerheads rather that 1 or two big ones. Aim them at the
back of the rocks, or even at each other, so that the flow is turbulent.
DON'T aim them straight into open spaces in the tank.

Works quite well for me. Oh, and also don't use anything like a wet dry
or trickle filter - it creates nitrates to fast. In fact, just use the
circulation over your live rock as your biological filtration (assuming
you have enough - at least 1/4 total volume of the tank IMO)

Doing what I describe above, I consistently have 0/0/0
ammonia/nitrite/nitrate in my tank.

that *other* annoying little troll wrote:
you also need to have good turbulent water
flow

Hm, good ideas.... I have a dry/wet setup right now and it's obviously
not working. Maybe I should just rip it out and rely on the protein
skimmer and my live rock (which I have copious quantities of). I could
also upgrade my power heads.

I might as well while I'm still figuring out the sulfur angle.

--Kurt

KurtG wrote:

Hm, good ideas.... I have a dry/wet setup right now and it's obviously
not working. Maybe I should just rip it out and rely on the protein
skimmer and my live rock (which I have copious quantities of). I could
also upgrade my power heads.

I had an Eheim Wet/dry filter. I now have about 130 pounds of live rock in a 125
gallon tank with a Tunze 6060, which generates 1600 gph flow. I was originally
intending to keep the Eheim running, but it sprang a leak.

The nitrites remain at 0. The nitrates build up at about the same rate as they
did with the Eheim. Based on this, I would definitely recommend the course of
action you're considering.

Based on what that other annoying little troll said, I will probably try
realigning the Tunze to produce more turbulence.

George Patterson
No one ever says "It's only a game." when his team is winning.

"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:xhUuh.585$Ss1.215@trnddc07...
KurtG wrote:

Hm, good ideas.... I have a dry/wet setup right now and it's obviously
not working. Maybe I should just rip it out and rely on the protein
skimmer and my live rock (which I have copious quantities of). I could
also upgrade my power heads.

I had an Eheim Wet/dry filter. I now have about 130 pounds of live rock in
a 125 gallon tank with a Tunze 6060, which generates 1600 gph flow. I was
originally intending to keep the Eheim running, but it sprang a leak.

The nitrites remain at 0. The nitrates build up at about the same rate as
they did with the Eheim. Based on this, I would definitely recommend the
course of action you're considering.

Based on what that other annoying little troll said, I will probably try
realigning the Tunze to produce more turbulence.

George Patterson
No one ever says "It's only a game." when his team is winning.


I love me trickles and biomedia filled sumps
yea I water change to get rid of nitrates
anyway, have setup a deepsandbed for a mate in his new 6 footer
not sure if it's gonna help
but went and dug a hole at the beach
actually collected stinky blackened sand
and layered the sand bed in the tank
not sure if it's going to speed it up much
but can but hope.

Most of my marine
are very overstocked with fish
and lots of biological filters are needed
only now am I moving into
the reef style tank

So I am going to try the LR and powerhead technique
yea have a nice skimmer as well
but main difference is the big reduction in bioload
super understocked
but I tells ya
they are some happy shrimps!

One question tho....
for a deepsand bed
should I be worried about excessive worm life?
only been a month and they have made tunnels all thru it
well can't see right at the bottem
but there is a lot more than I have ever had before
bristles and others
I know they are good normally for moving o2 thru sand
but thats not desirable is this case?...?

swarvegorilla wrote:
"George Patterson" wrote in message
news:xhUuh.585$Ss1.215@trnddc07...

KurtG wrote:


Hm, good ideas.... I have a dry/wet setup right now and it's obviously
not working. Maybe I should just rip it out and rely on the protein
skimmer and my live rock (which I have copious quantities of). I could
also upgrade my power heads.

I had an Eheim Wet/dry filter. I now have about 130 pounds of live rock in
a 125 gallon tank with a Tunze 6060, which generates 1600 gph flow. I was
originally intending to keep the Eheim running, but it sprang a leak.

The nitrites remain at 0. The nitrates build up at about the same rate as
they did with the Eheim. Based on this, I would definitely recommend the
course of action you're considering.

Based on what that other annoying little troll said, I will probably try
realigning the Tunze to produce more turbulence.

George Patterson
No one ever says "It's only a game." when his team is winning.



I love me trickles and biomedia filled sumps
yea I water change to get rid of nitrates
anyway, have setup a deepsandbed for a mate in his new 6 footer
not sure if it's gonna help
but went and dug a hole at the beach
actually collected stinky blackened sand
and layered the sand bed in the tank
not sure if it's going to speed it up much
but can but hope.

Most of my marine
are very overstocked with fish
and lots of biological filters are needed
only now am I moving into
the reef style tank

Depends on what you call "overstocked"

right now my 20 gal has:
1 yellow tang (yep - yellow tang in a twenty - doing well at that!)
2 ocellaris
1 red scooter "blenny" dragonette
2 large hawaiian fether dusters
about 1 sq foot of xooanthid polyps (5 different types)
1 indonesian cleaner shrimp
1 peppermint shrimp
1 mythrax crab
5 blue leg hermits
4 astreas
6 ceriths
2 tonga conchs..

And to especially help nitrates:
2 tridacna maximas
1 tridacns derasa
2 stalks of pink and whit xenia



So I am going to try the LR and powerhead technique
yea have a nice skimmer as well
but main difference is the big reduction in bioload

More impotrant to have an OFFSET bioload - add things that eat the waste
of the other things.

super understocked
but I tells ya
they are some happy shrimps!

One question tho....
for a deepsand bed
should I be worried about excessive worm life?

nah.

only been a month and they have made tunnels all thru it

Yup.

well can't see right at the bottem
but there is a lot more than I have ever had before
bristles and others
I know they are good normally for moving o2 thru sand
but thats not desirable is this case?...?

Deepends. How deep is deep for your deep sand bed?