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ssavader
10/14/2009, 01:44 PM
My Coralline nitrate reactor has been up and running a few months and has been working, but with questionable efficiency. My nitrates measure 20ppm in the tank and 0-5ppm from the reactor, depending on when measured. But, I can also measure 0-5 ppm nitrite from the reactor. If the tank is measuring 0 nitrites, how is the reactor producing nitrites? Where in the sulfate reduction equation is the nitrite production?

Randy???

acrylic_300
10/14/2009, 02:29 PM
I don't know the equation...but I know you need to slow the flow rate down.

I think (not sure) that the bacteria may be getting too much oxygen. I'm pretty sure that when the flow is too fast the bacteria break the nitrate down in reverse order (nitrate..nitrite..ammonia).

Hopefully someone will explain it better.

I know the flow is too fast if nitrite is coming out though.

bertoni
10/14/2009, 02:34 PM
Up to 5 ppm nitrite? That's a lot of nitrite. I'd expect that to cause problems for the nitrate test kit.

I agree that slowing the flow might help, but I'm not very familiar with these reactors.

Randy Holmes-Farley
10/14/2009, 04:11 PM
While I do not know the exact biological processes, nitrite is in between nitrate and N2 in terms of oxidation, and it is often stated that it is a partial reduction product, implying, as suggested above, the the process is not being allowed to progress to completion.

jtemple42000
10/14/2009, 04:27 PM
How much and what type of media are you using?