Microbacter 7 Just Ammonia & Nitrate in a bottle ?

wattson · Mar 14, 2018

Been seeing some people are dosing bacterial supplements in there systems as a routine to keep bacterial levels elevated to control No3/Po4 and also as a food source for corals..
I came across this comparison of 2 products and was surprised to see Ammonia/Nitrate concentrations were high in these 2 products,, but purely not a food source for the bacteria contained in the bottle..
Whats the thinking behind the contents of the bottle per Ammonia/nitrate ?
https://www.advancedaquarist.com/2014/8/review

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 14, 2018

You mean why did Dana detect ammonia in bacteria products? I’m not sure, but it might be breakdown products formed in the bottle, or might be there to stabilize them somehow. It might even be faulty testing somehow. I’m not sure, for example, if things like amino acids may falsely show as ammonia.

But the purpose of the products is the bacteria in them, and according to Dana they seemed to work.

wattson · Mar 14, 2018

curious why the bacteria in the bottle did not consume the ammonia in the bottle and only No3 was remaining in the bottle..
Possible lack Of O2 in the bottle ?
seems like the equipment that Dana used to do the testing was pretty adequate to gain accurate results ?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 15, 2018

wattson said:
curious why the bacteria in the bottle did not consume the ammonia in the bottle and only No3 was remaining in the bottle..
Possible lack Of O2 in the bottle ?
seems like the equipment that Dana used to do the testing was pretty adequate to gain accurate results ?

It certainly could be that the O2 was used up and the nitrification stopped for that reason.

It is also known in the literature from the company that makes Dana's test device (Hach) that the method he used is susceptible to interferences from amino acids such as glycine. Does that sort of interference explain the reported values in the bottle? I have no idea since I do not know what was in it or exactly how strongly these interfere with the test.

Dana says:

"Ammonia was determined by a Hach DR890 colorimeter using the salicylate method. "

And Hach says:

Nitrogen, Ammonia-Salicylate HR Method 10031
http://www.hach.com/asset-get.download-en.jsa?id=7639983747

"Less common interferences such as hydrazine and glycine cause intensified colors in the prepared
sample. Turbidity and color will give incorrect high values. Samples with severe interferences require
distillation. Use the distillation procedure that is supplied with the distillation set."