Korallin Sulfur BioDenitrator or Other nitrate reducing process

Korallin Sulfur-Based Biodenitrator

I'm relatively new to the hobby and I was wondering what peoples thoughts were on this product. Some of the questions I have are:

1) What is the difficulty level to set it up?

2) What are the routine maintenance procedures for it? The website says good for 2-3 years but that cant be right. The other products that operate under similar principles appear to all require some type of bacterial food for anaerobic respiration, such as carbon or alcohol. Why doesn't this product?

3) How effective is it actually?

4) If I were to go on vacation and something were to go wrong or in getting it started I do it poorly and it leaches sulfur into the tank what will that do to my fish? Even more importantly what will it do to the live rock and sand or the tank itself?

Any thoughts would be appreciated especially from people who use the product or a similar one.

I'm not too concerned about the price, I saw a lot of posts talking about the ease of making your own but I do not have the motivation or time to do it properly.

 

I'm curious about these too, I don't know if these are similar to biopellets(carbon based I think) in function.
Maybe the use sulfur eating bacteria instead of carbon ones.

 

CaribSea L.S.M. Live Sulfur Media 1 Gallon

read this description. They work similar to biopellets but with a very nasty side effect of acidifying water. I think I will stick to the biopellets for my no hassle Nitrate and phosphate reducing needs.

 

Here is how I think they work but someone probably needs to correct me:

The water is forced through the sulfur which creates an anaerobic environment for bacteria necessary to convert nitrates to nitrogen gas which evaporates out of the water. The sulfur also acts as a food source for the anaerobic bacteria which eliminates the need for vodka or carbon dosing. However, the converting bacteria create hydrogen sulfide or something similar which increases the acidity of the water. The increase in the acidity is supposed to be countered by the addition of calcium carbonate downstream of the sulfur which raises the pH and Ca which is then released into the water.

I have never heard of the other method you mentioned biopellets. What is their downside, as there must be something, and what is your experience with the biopellets?

 

Thats the gist I got from the description too.

biopellets are basically little balls of non-dissolving carbon, that bacteria live on and eat will using N and P. Its like dosing vodka or sugar, but instead of it being free floating its in a controlled area and won't hurt the corals.

The only downside is when people first set up the reactor in a nutrient rich system they will get clouding/bacterial blooms, until the excess nutrients are used up.

I'm using it in a two little fishes reactor its keeping my nitrate less then 2 ppm, phosphates near zero. nitrate were at 20ppm, phosphate at .2 when I started using it.

They use a few different brands of pellets i use NP biopellets.

I know it sounds cliche, but I would never run another reef with out it again.

 

Did u have to do any modifications to the two little fishes reactor? Is it a particular type you used or do they make one just for these pellets?

I looked them up and they seem too good to be true. They appear to require no maintenance and can even be put in a canister filter is that true?

How long did you use them before they began working?

Sorry about all the stupid questions. I'm new.

 

no I just use the regular one, they make them for phosphate media I guess. I did take the top sponge out because it got clogged to fast from the bacteria.
You want to use a reactor not a canister so bacteria is continually removed(by pellet turnover) from them and new bacteria can grow. The old bacteria the is blown off is assumed to be pulled out buy the skimmer.
This will make your skimmer more active(but I wouldn't say overactive) regularly but during any initial bloom you have it can go crazy. So be aware of potential skimmer adjustments.

The tricky part is getting the flow right so the pellets move and turn over. If they are sedentary you will have to stir them regularly to remove bacteria and that is a P I T A.

I'm using a maxi-jet 600 for turn over(with the tube about 1/3 full of pellets), I may go up to a 900 later. a maxi-jet 400 was insufficent for turn over. So these aren't really anaerobic environments.

they started working with in 2 weeks for me.

btw they do make special reactors just for biopellets but the TLF is working fine for me and alot cheaper.

 

I am using the Warner Marine EcoBak biopellets. They tell you to expect an increase in skimmate and I certainly have. I really haven't experienced any downsides to the product thus far.

Mark

 

Thanks ill have to take a look into these, they sound much better than the sulfur denitrator. How often do you have to change out the pellets? And is there a generally recommended pump or does the reactor made especially for them come with one?

 

pellets don't get changed out they get eaten, you only top them off when necessary.

people say 100gph for each 100 ml of media or something like that.