Graph of nitrogen cycle with denitrifying bacteria nh3/no2/no3

[nomad6]

I’m looking to share my findings and get feedback to prove my conclusion @Randy Holmes-Farley thank you! If you could also point me to some of your papers on this matter TIA! I used Seachem matrix in a canister filter along with fritz9/ microbacter7 and only running carbon atm. I am using api for the cycle but will start using Hanna no3 to check as soon as cycle stabilizes. To explain the graph it’s my initial cycle and maybe to some new in the hobby an effective way of controlling nitrates by using denitrifying bacteria. One can first see that no2-no3 was stalled with the spike in no3 and from my understanding high no3 drops ph, I’m thinking this is the cause. Once no3 starts dropping so does no2. I’ve had other tanks in the past before which I’ve used microbacter7 with and saw little to no no3 control, obviously an anoxic zone is required which imo seachem matrix in canisters provides. If you read instructions it says for drip systems a larger media is more effective which they make. I’m sure it could be ran in low flow area in sump or reactor. Thanks hope it helps

 

[Garf]

I’m looking to share my findings and get feedback to prove my conclusion @Randy Holmes-Farley thank you! If you could also point me to some of your papers on this matter TIA! I used Seachem matrix in a canister filter along with fritz9/ microbacter7 and only running carbon atm. I am using api for the cycle but will start using Hanna no3 to check as soon as cycle stabilizes. To explain the graph it’s my initial cycle and maybe to some new in the hobby an effective way of controlling nitrates by using denitrifying bacteria. One can first see that no2-no3 was stalled with the spike in no3 and from my understanding high no3 drops ph, I’m thinking this is the cause. Once no3 starts dropping so does no2. I’ve had other tanks in the past before which I’ve used microbacter7 with and saw little to no no3 control, obviously an anoxic zone is required which imo seachem matrix in canisters provides. If you read instructions it says for drip systems a larger media is more effective which they make. I’m sure it could be ran in low flow area in sump or reactor. Thanks hope it helps

I think this is a matter of nitrite interfering with the nitrate test, not denitrification, tbh

 

[nomad6]

I think this is a matter of nitrite interfering with the nitrate test, not denitrification, tbh

I will test no3 with Hanna in a couple of days but never heard of nitrite interference nor had an issue of this sort with my other builds. Can you point me to some sources where this topic is discussed?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I will test no3 with Hanna in a couple of days but never heard of nitrite interference nor had an issue of this sort with my other builds. Can you point me to some sources where this topic is discussed?

Yes, all nitrate kits convert nitrate to nitrite, then detect the nitrite. Since they only convert a fraction of the total nitrate, there's a big multiplication factor of 10-100.

In some kits, 0.1 ppm nitrite will read falsely as 10 ppm nitrate.

Here's a recent thread discussing implications for nitrate measurement even in post cycling reef aquaria:

What is the nitrite concentration of your mature reef? And why it may matter.

I known it may not affect the animals in your aquarium, but measurable nitrite will affect the amount of NO3 that you measure (depending on the test that you use). I have a 1.5 year-old reef and I measure 0.150 ppm nitrite (Hanna ULR). I was surprised it was this high. This means that for some...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[nomad6]

Yes, all nitrate kits convert nitrate to nitrite, then detect the nitrite. Since they only convert a fraction of the total nitrate, there's a big multiplication factor of 10-100.

In some kits, 0.1 ppm nitrite will read falsely as 10 ppm nitrate.

Here's a recent thread discussing implications for nitrate measurement even in post cycling reef aquaria:

What is the nitrite concentration of your mature reef? And why it may matter.

I known it may not affect the animals in your aquarium, but measurable nitrite will affect the amount of NO3 that you measure (depending on the test that you use). I have a 1.5 year-old reef and I measure 0.150 ppm nitrite (Hanna ULR). I was surprised it was this high. This means that for some...

www.reef2reef.com

Excellent i appreciate it!!

 

[taricha]

The answers above are correct, and I'll point out the expected conversions for equal Nitrogen in ammonia, nitrite, nitrate.
If you accurately dosed 2ppm ammonia (presuming 2.00 ppm NH4) , that's 1.55 ppm Nitrogen in ammonia.
If that turns into nitrite, NO2, it becomes 5.1ppm NO2. Since your kit maxed at 2.5ppm NO2, this is plausible. Some of that 5.1ppm possible NO2 had already been turned into NO3 and some of it had been assimilated by organisms in the ammonia or NO2 forms.
So the ammonia and NO2 data is giving you a good picture of what's going on.
but...
If all of that initial 1.6ppm nitrogen in ammonia made it to NO3, it could only possibly create 6.9ppm NO3. So testing showing that NO3 climbed from zero to 100+ ppm NO3 only shows you the degree of interference - how the NO2 makes the NO3 test give nonsense high values.

end result - ammonia and NO2 accurately track what's happening, and NO3 test isn't helpful until NO2 is nearly cleared (unless specific measures to deal with interference are done).