Sulphur denitrator.

[Wei]

Hi,

Due to the postive claims, it got me very interested in trying out 1. i have intended experiment on a sulphur denitrator previously but end up aborting it due lack of vitamin $. Transfering all funding to buying equipment for my next tank.

the +

1) the construction of a sulphur denitrator is very easy. Any layman can do it.

2) It doesn't require feeding. Its plug & play!

3) After tank water is pass through the filter, the water has a lower pH of ard 6-6.5. To remedy this, one can add aragonite which will dissolve & raise pH! U have a calcium reactor ###### denitrator!

Too good to be true right! If its so good, it should have been more popular than using typical ca reactor!

wat is not stated in their claim.

1) sulphur will buildup overtime, therefore frequent water changes is needed. quote by Tanzy. I only do 10-15% water change every 3-4mths. Definately a no no for me.

But i have come across this quote by Marc LANGOUET

This output water also contains sulfates in quantities slightly higher than at the input, but in 7 year of experiments it has never been observed any consequence, even in aquariums that didn't get any water changes for years. It must be noted about that subject that there was an error in the publication made with the MAAO: the sulfur level in natural seawater is near 900 mg/l; this sulfur is present under the form of about 2.65 g/l sulfate (SO4--), quantity, which by itself can explain that the system's addition in sulfate will be without any notable consequence.

2) u need to control the flow properly as flow rate too low will result in production of sulfurous hydrogen(H2S). But this rarely happen.

3) flow rate too high and you will detect nitrites or nitrates in the water.

4) monitoring of tank water pH is needed as yr pH might drop due to the lower pH output.

Anyone here care to experiment?

Wei

[Achilles Tang]

TTboy bought a H&S Sulfur Denitrator... and thinks it's a piece of expensive crap. Or he doesn't know how to tune it properly. I think Sam from Sealife has no experience using it too so he gave some advice which TTboy doesn't seem to be able to apply.

Perhaps you can enlighten him?

[Wei]

Hi AT,

I personally have not use one myself, therefore I cannot comment on whether its a piece of crap or not. I mean if H&S, Aquacare, Deltec & korallin(reputatable german companies) come out with their line of sulphur denitrator, it should function to certain extend of wat they claim. Therefore, i think we should not narrow down to an answer too fast. Especially for TTboy, should have more faith in H&S.

I can only provide info of wat I gather from my research so far, besides the pros & cons, there still have some ?? yet to be answered.

basic info.

Michel Hignette, Benoît Lamort, Marc Langouet, Sebastien Leroy and Guy Martin are the guys that came out with this idea of using sulphur to remove NO3. No3 is breakdown by bacteria (Thiobacillus denitrificans) that will grow in slightly hypoxic place and if a native sulfur substrate is available.

when NO3 pass through S, it will take the O away & u get N2. End product after passing through S will be SO4 2- into yr tank water.

Advantages

- Very short startup delay, around 2 days, compared to the 1 month to startup for a denitrator (heterotrophic denitratation) which need feeding.

- No feeding required as the bacteria get their energy from the sulfur that they oxidize into sulfates

- Sulphur denitrator seems to be more efficient than heterotrofic denitrators when nitrates concentration is low (

[Wei]

Hi TTboy,

maybe u can pass me that denitrator to play with first. kidding. Run it and give a review.

Wei

[Tanzy]

There are no aquarium sulphate test kits available, but commercial testkits are available from Hanna and other manufacturers.

One method that might work at home is by barium precipitation.

Using 100mL of water. Acidify using vinegar or HCl if possible until pH <5.

Add 1% barium chloride solution (<75mL) until in excess to precipitate sulphate as insoluble barium sulphate.

Filter and bake residue until dry.

Weigh totally dry powder.

(Weight in grams/233.41)/0.100 = molar concentration of sulphate in water (mol/L)

molar concentration of sulphate x 97.07 x 1000 = concentration of sulphate in mg/L or ppm.

I thought up this method myself and I can't think of a better way without resorting to lab equipment.

Sulphate in seawater is about 2700 ppm.

[Sinn]

Tanzy thats very impressive....

Yer not my Chemistry teacher are u ?

[Wei]

Hi Tanzy,

do u still recommend frequent water changes since the amount of sulfates added is not that much and NSW had such high sulfate content?

Marc Langouet had said that the tanks at MAAO, Aquariums of the Museum of African and Oceanian Arts hasn't had any toxicity reported so far after running for a few years.

Abt how frequent to replace the sulphur, any comments?

Lastly, can you recommend to us where to get those commerical testkit. I think its more easy for us find a ready commerical testkit than to buy diff chemical & mix ourselves.

Thks.

Wei

[Tanzy]

2700 ppm of sulphate isn't a lot of sulphate as it consist only 7.7% of seawater compared to chloride which is 55%. I won't know when to replace the sulphur as I've no experience with this device, I suppose when it runs out.

Sulphate is relatively nontoxic but the worry is it's effect on the buffering capacity of the water. It may depress pH if the concentration is increased. Also it can precipitate calcium as insoluble calcium sulphate if the concentration gets high enough but I doubt it will happen. Also, I don't know what is the rate of production of sulphate from the device.

Robe knows where to get Hanna testkits in Singapore, he mentioned it before. You might want to search the board. The testkits will be pricey because you'll have to buy a turbidometer that measures the amount of barium sulphate formed by titration with barium chloride.

[Achilles Tang]

Tanzy is studying to be a pharmacist/chemist.

He's gonna be our own Randy Holmes Farley of RC...

[Tanzy]

No where near Randy, that guy has 'Permanent head Damage' and I'm pretty shit with inorganic chemistry cause most of what I study involves organic chem.

[Sinn]

haha...

but still the chem whiz in sgreefclub