# Marine Aquariums > Marine aquarium Set Up >  Got 2 new toys today, now got a headaque

## Timo

Got my new massive nitrate filter today for my sump and because it was late the guy gave me a calcium reactor chamber for free.

Sounds good and i really fancy sttting up a calcium reactor but they both wont fit under my tank next to the sump i only have room for one  :Frown:  and the pipe work is a different size and fitting to the pipe work in my sump arrgh.

I cant make my mind up and really dont want to have to totakkt change my sump again, i have allready change it twice :S

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## Dave wow

i built my own sulphur nitrate filter it took some modification and tinkering but now it kicks ass! put the nitrate filter on

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## Gary R

And if you dont use the nitrate filter let me know, i might buy it off you for the right money  :sofahide:

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## Timo

> And if you dont use the nitrate filter let me know, i might buy it off you for the right money


Just got some adapters of ebay so messing around with sump this weekend. Will let you know if i dont end up using the filter, sure i could let go cheap seeing its you  :lol:

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## Timo

My new reverse-flow design nitrate filter on the left and fluidized sand bed filter on the middle. I was going to use hydrocarbanate because aqua-medic say its better but the shop didn't have any so i used a bag of crushed coral (much cheaper as well). Crushed coral base with aqua-medic sulfur beads on top is the media i used. The water flow goes from the top and leaves from the base.

This is a bit long but well worth a read;

Q. Do you know anything about nitrate reduction with the help of elemental sulfur? In Germany, there is a special filter promoted using small sulfur drops as a filter bed.
Rudolf Hester

A. The device you mention is known as a sulfur reactor and uses a process called autotrophic sulfur denitrification. Sulfur-based denitrification in freshwater is based upon autotrophic denitrification by sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, such as Thiobacillus denitrificans and Thiomicrospira denitrificans. Under aerobic conditions, these bacteria use oxygen as an electron acceptor, but under anoxic conditions, they oxidize various forms of reduced sulfur to sulfate, while reducing nitrate to liberate the oxygen for their own use. In addition to nitrate, T. denitrificans can also use nitrite. Autotrophic denitrifiers utilize inorganic carbon compounds (e.g., carbon dioxide, bicarbonate) as their carbon source. The process in seawater is not fully understood yet, but it does seem to work with the same result: the total removal of nitrate.

Professor Guy Martin, a specialist in water treatment at the Engineer National School of Chemistry in Rennes, France, is credited with originating the idea of using elemental sulfur and autotrophic bacteria to eliminate nitrate, but he only applied it to fresh water treatment for drinking water. Beginning in 1991, Marc Langouet, a past student of Dr. Martin, tested the method with seawater on his home reef aquariums - a risk given that no one knew if it would have toxic effects. By the end of 1994, after three years of experiments without apparent toxicity in numerous aquariums, Langouet proposed this method to Michel Hignette, curator of the Musée des Arts Africains et Océaniens (MAAO) Aquarium in Paris. There, a pilot project was launched under his care. Since then, experiments have been done on a much bigger scale at the MAAO, as well as at the Grand Aquarium in Saint-Malo, where Langouet was technical and scientific director from June 1996 to December 1997. 

The system uses small beads of elemental sulfur placed in a contact chamber. Tank water is introduced at the bottom of the chamber at a very slow rate and exits out the top. As the water moves slowly upward, oxygen is removed by bacteria, making the chamber more anaerobic the further up the water rises. At this point, the bacteria will use nitrate in the absence of oxygen so that by the time the water exits from the top of the chamber, most of the nitrate has been removed. The chemical reaction that takes place releases excess hydrogen ions, which makes the water acidic.

Nitrogen gas is also produced, and this leaves the water at the top of the chamber (one reason why a reverse-flow design is favored). It is believed that carbon dioxide is also produced in this process, further acidifying the water. To counter the acidity, the effluent from the reactor should pass through another column of crushed coral in which the acidic water will dissolve the coral gravel, raising the pH and generating calcium ions.

Another by-product of sulfur-based denitrification is sulfate. Passing the water through calcareous gravel precipitates this sulfate and prevents it from entering the aquarium. The sulfur beads can last a very long time, but the chamber of coral gravel will quickly turn to sediment and should be replenished on a regular basis. The use of a fluidized bed design for both the sulfur and the coral gravel reactors should help to reduce the build-up of sediments.

These reactors are very effective at removing nitrate. In a 16,000-gallon fish system at the MAAO, aquarists found that a sulfur-based denitrification system was able to reduce the nitrate ion level from a high of 320 mg/L to less than 10 mg/L in a month, so these reactors are very effective. The question is, however, whether we really need them in a reef aquarium in which nitrate levels are generally quite low to begin with.

This depends on how low such filters can bring the nitrate. Most reef aquariums still have nitrate levels that are a magnitude greater than those found in nature. If these filters can bring down aquarium levels to natural reef levels, they may well be worth the effort to use. On fish-only systems, these filters can easily help bring down nitrates to much lower levels. In addition, with the increase in the numbers of fish and the amount of food being added to reef tanks, a sulfur denitrator may be a necessary tool to remove excess nitrate. Finally, if aquarists want to keep many of the more delicate nonphotosynthetic corals, such as Dendronephthya, which require frequent feedings, these filters would again help keep nitrates under control.

Some of you may be wondering what all the fuss is about, since denitrification filters have been around for over 10 years. The difference is that those filters rely on heterotrophic bacteria to reduce nitrate to nitrogen gas. This means that you need to feed the bacteria a carbon source, usually methanol or ethanol, in a controlled manner, and adjust the amount in response to changes in nitrate levels. Too much alcohol, and you get hydrogen sulfide production. Too little, and you have nitrite and nitrate released back to the aquarium. These filters also produce a large amount of bacterial slime that needs to be removed on a regular basis.

The genius of the sulfur-based denitrators is that they do not need to be constantly adjusted, you don't need to feed them (other than to add some new sulfur maybe once a year or less), and they can also be used in conjunction with a calcium reactor to add calcium and alkalinity to the aquarium. Put simply, they are much easier to use with much less risk than alcohol-based reactors.

It is also possible to use this method in conjunction with a Jaubert plenum system, and most likely, with a deep sand bed system. By adding a thin layer of sulfur beads just above the plenum, or bare bottom of the tank in a deep sand bed, you can use the anaerobic environment there to allow sulfur-based denitrification to occur. This might allow Jaubert or deep sand bed systems to carry a heavier bioload by increasing their denitrifying capacity. You could also set up a system in a refugium or adjacent sump to allow you to add such a system to an existing tank without having to tear it down first.

The advantage of this system is that you don't need to add another piece of equipment, but I prefer the convenience of having a separate device I can remove without having to disrupt my tank. Several manufacturers are offering these systems in Europe, and some are now being imported to the United States (e.g., Knop, AquaMedic and Deltec). You can read more about sulfur denitrators in the Fall 2000 issue of SeaScope and on the Internet at mars.reefkeepers.net/ USHomePage/USArticles/SulphurDenitrator.htm. Julian Sprung and I will go into more detail, including how to design and properly operate a sulfur-based denitrator, in the upcoming third volume of The Reef Aquarium book series. 

Answer by J. Charles Delbeek, M.Sc.

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## plankton

thanks timo what a very good read 

i have been looking in to these and i think i'll be adding one to my tank
i was looking into ozone but not seen a tank using it 

by the way looking a bit full in that cupboard nice work

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## Timo

> by the way looking a bit full in that cupboard nice work


Yeah after I drained and moved my acrilic blue sump over to the right as far as it would go they both still didn't fit  :Frown: 

After a quick look and think the thread to the sump drain could go so hacksaw out and off it came, now there is 4mm play with them both in the cupboard  :Wink:

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## Dave wow

do you oxygenate the return water from your fluidised bed in any way? my similar setup runs through a trickle tower B4 returning to tanks.

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## Timo

> do you oxygenate the return water from your fluidised bed in any way? my similar setup runs through a trickle tower B4 returning to tanks.


Not fully finished but at the minute it does acually it runs into a small tower thats higher than the sump and is filled with bio disks then runs through the whole sump to the last chamber which feeds up to the tank.

I did have the water coming direct from my tank going into this but change now to the sand filter. The sump feed from the tank will go straight into a filter sock as soon as i get one.

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## Gary R

well it looks like you have now started somethink here Timo  :Big Grin: 

iv now got a aqua-medic nitrate reductor 1000 on the way to me, thanks to your keen eyes  :lol: 

and now dave from WoW as said that plankton is now looking at getting one...what have you started here timo.

and i think i know 2 others that might now end up getting 1 each 

and @ plankton have a read at this link below m8 as dave as said you were looking at the 3000 which i think you will find that the 1000 is all you need  :Wink:  

http://www.aqua-medic.com/nitrate_reductor.shtml

Regards Gary

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## plankton

thanks gary

i think im going to go for the deltec nitrate reactor NFP509
http://www.theaquariumsolution.com/?q=node/26
it was between aqua medic and deltec both look good

word gets around fast here  :lol:

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## Gary R

i did look at the deltec nitrate reactor NFP509 meself but with having a aqua medic sump i thought it best to keep to the same.
i just cant wait now for the postman to come knocking at me door :dance1:

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## plankton

> i just cant wait now for the postman to come knocking at me door :dance1:



 :lol:  me too

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