Sulphur Nitrate Filter

The bacteria require a food source and oxygen to survive. The food source is the sulphur and as they are anaerobic bacteria and only grow in the low oxygen water they must obtain the oxygen from another source. The bacteria take the oxygen from the nitrate molecule by reduction, first from nitrate NO3 to Nitrite NO3 and then further from nitrite to nitrogen gas N2.  

Installation

The Sulphur Nitrate filter is designed to stand vertically in a sump or beside the tank. Note: The NO3 Filter can only operate in the vertical position. The reactor has a fine Micro-Filter on the inlet to stop the tap from blocking and should always be used to control the water volume on the way in and not on the way out. 

Commissioning

The unit can take from 7-10 days up to a number of weeks to commission and as this is a natural biological process it can not be rushed. When the temperature is low, near 17 C and if the nitrate is below 25 mg/l it may take longer to start working. At higher temperatures the bacterial growth rate will increase considerably.

It is possible ultimately to increase the flow rate to 10 litres per hour. We recommend as the flow increases that you wait four days with zero reading before moving on.

It is possible under the right conditions to further increase the performance of the Nitrate NO3 filter up to a maximum output of 15 litres per hour when there is a high concentration of Nitrate NO3 in the water, however you should be aware that the PH coming out of your Nitrate filter will be very low and for small tanks it is better to run it slowly. The Nitrate will fall but it will take a little longer and will require less buffering.

Buffering: The water leaving the NO3 filter has a very low PH, approximately 6 to 6.5, or lower in fresh water. This water can be dripped over coral sand to raise the PH before entering the aquarium, or through a container with an air stone in it. This is particularly important on fresh water as coral sand could harden the water.

If you exceed at any time the maximum flow rate until the bacterial colony can deal with it then you will add oxygen, raise the redox and the system will crash requiring you to start again.