CaribSea L.S.M. (Live Sulfur Media)

ReefCheif

Reef Shark
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#1
Trying to get a sulfur reactor set up as my last ditch effort to control NO3 before I tear my hair out, lol.

Anyone have any CaribSea L.S.M laying around, i need enough to fill an average size bio pellet reactor and it seems as if CaribSea is no longer making it. Ive got cash or frags.

I found another product that is 10 times the price, i think Ill go fishless first, haha.
 

ReefCheif

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#3
Not looking for reactors, looking for sulphur media
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#4
There was half of a jug in the used section at Aqua Imports. This was a few weeks ago. ...might be worth a call.

If you are using it in a reactor where oxygen will be plenty, then it will end up being like organic carbon that will also raise the sulfate... so why not just dose some sugar, vinegar or vodka. ...or do you have a way to keep the oxygen level very, very low?
 

ReefCheif

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#5
There was half of a jug in the used section at Aqua Imports. This was a few weeks ago. ...might be worth a call.

If you are using it in a reactor where oxygen will be plenty, then it will end up being like organic carbon that will also raise the sulfate... so why not just dose some sugar, vinegar or vodka. ...or do you have a way to keep the oxygen level very, very low?
Were past the point of organic carbon dosing, lol.

I totally get what your saying, and makes complete sense, considering you need an area void of oxygen to cultivate anaerobic bacteria.

Heres where Im confused, and now Im questioning myself here. It seems no matter how you do it, your pulling water from aquarium/sump to feed reactor, that water is oxygenated. So in order for the reactor to work properly the O2 would have to be removed from the feed water before entering the reactor. OK, but how? And how does a $600 commercial reactor accomplish this?

Am I missing something here? Arrrgghhh, back to the drawing board on this one I guess.

Thanks for getting me thinking @jda123, may not have fully thought that through had you not mentioned the above.
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#6
There are a lot of designs, but some of the simpler ones use very low flow and hundreds of feet of airline tubing that gets coated in oxic bacteria that slowly use up all of the oxygen as the water passes through. Some, like the Korallin, recirculate and have very low input flow similar to the flow of a CaRx where you only turn over a handful of gallons a day. Some work better than others. They all require low levels of oxygen. If you decide to do this, an old CaRx would probably work better than a Phosban or Biopellet reactor - there is a cheap used CaRx at Aqua Imports too (can you tell that I have been on the lookout for used equipment for the build-off?).

How bad are the nitrates? Are they killing coral yet? There is a likely solution for this. I am good with this stuff if you want to explain the system. Is the tank bare bottom with dry/dead/man-made rock?

Organic carbon is nearly a sure thing as long as you have some phosphates, a great skimmer and do not drive N too low. Sometimes, you might have to dose some P to get the bacteria to multiply and use up the nitrogen and phosphorous both.
 

ReefCheif

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#9

DyM

Sting ray
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#10
I don't have any of the LSM, but have a lot of experience with it. A little goes a long way. A cup will last you roughly 6 months for 100 gal going from 50+ppm down to 5. I can tell you it works, and is set an forget.

Also, it's pure Sulfur, beads or any pure form should work.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/1500-ml-pur-sul-sulfur-media-skimz.html (out of stock but they may have an ETA)

https://www.horticulturesource.com/...MIhdbJk6mO4QIVjLbICh38AQspEAkYByABEgJjU_D_BwE This seems like the same thing, worth doing some asking on national forums as I'm sure you're not the only one running into this.
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#11
There are natural methods to control nitrates. They work very, very well by just leaving enough to drive the equilibrium forward and also not taking nitrogen so low as to limit growth - nature knows what it is doing. Not everybody wants to use the natural methods, but oft reconsider when they see the alternative and how difficult that it can be for the human/hobbyists to be in charge of this.

This is off-topic of this discussion, but most corals, algae and other single cell organisms get their nitrogen from ammonia. Since ammonia is made in small amounts nearly all the time, the organisms get their needs met nearly constantly. The organisms can get nitrogen from nitrate, but it is more costly and not the preferred method. You are nearly never starving your corals of nitrogen if you let nitrate be very low as long as you don't aggressively drive them to zero with chemicals and media. My tanks stay near the oceanic levels of about .1 of nitrate which is more than enough since any surplus is a surplus.
 
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ReefCheif

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#12
There are natural methods to control nitrates. They work very, very well by just leaving enough to drive the equilibrium forward and also not taking nitrogen so low as to limit growth - nature knows what it is doing. Not everybody wants to use the natural methods, but oft reconsider when they see the alternative and how difficult that it can be for the human/hobbyists to be in charge of this.

This is off-topic of this discussion, but most corals, algae and other single cell organisms get their nitrogen from ammonia. Since ammonia is made in small amounts nearly all the time, the organisms get their needs met nearly constantly. The organisms can get nitrogen from nitrate, but it is more costly and not the preferred method. You are nearly never starving your corals of nitrogen if you let nitrate be very low as long as you don't aggressively drive them to zero with chemicals and media. My tanks stay near the oceanic levels of about .1 of nitrate which is more than enough since any surplus is a surplus.

Wish mine were at .1, im closer to the 80ppm range. Surprisingly, and those that have seen my tank can attest, my corals look great. It just lingers in the back of my head that of I got nitrates down it would look better and they would grow faster.

The real kicker is this, i maintain somewhere around 40 individual aquariams with Premier, ive had my battles in each and everyone of them and always find a way to win, yet my personal tank, the one that gets the most attention of all is the one that has me stumped. Ive done everything, and I mean everything to get the NO3 levels down, nothing works. I do have PO4 present as well so I know that’s not the issue. Hence why Im exploring the sulfur reactor.
 

jda123

Dolphin
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#13
Why is it high? Do you have no sand an a minimalistic rock scape? Did you start with dead, dry or man-made rock that is not capable of denitrifying yet (or at all)? Nitrate is a pretty easy thing to deal with in a reef tank, once mature.
 

DyM

Sting ray
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#14
I ran into "old tank syndrome" and it turned out to be high NO3 and PO4. Over time, the good balance wasn't balanced, and one big factor was I had removed cheto from my sump as it turned into more of a frag tank. I didn't see it at the time how important the cheto was for export, and thought nothing of it until I too came to see really high readings. Instead of looking for a natural way, I deal with NO3 with the L.S.M and PO4 with SeaKlear-Lanthanum chloride. It worked., for years... My tank for the most part always looked good, but I did fight cryo algae quite often.

I think there are a lot of threads on how to get to a good back to "the balanced way". What's challenging is getting from a high point, down, will take time. This recent thread may help, and jda's q's are aimed to get to what you can add to bring back balance. - https://www.marinecolorado.org/threads/high-nitrates-need-a-new-maintenance-plan.26945/#post-328049
 

ReefCheif

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#15
Plenty of sand, plenty of rock. Im iver stocked slightly and I over feed. Its not a matter of foguring out whats causing the high nitrate, im well aware of that. Im looking for a mechanical sokution to help me combat this.
 
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