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Nitrospira and NOT Nitrobacter May be the Main Nitrite Oxidizer in AP Systems

It seems that a bacteria long thought to exist only in marine environments, may in actuality be the main producer of nitrates from nitrites in waste-water treatment plants, fresh water aquariums bio-filters (and hence AP systems) etc...

A lot of what was once attributed to N.bacter is in reality being performed by N.spira (according to numerous new studies).

Interesting...

These are some links to studies that you don't have to pay 50 bucks to read for those who like this sort of thing. Though, I'm guessing, those that do like this sort of stuff already knew this :)

These are from the American Society for Microbiology and the University of Vienna Department of Microbial Ecology.

http://aem.asm.org/content/64/1/258.full

http://aem.asm.org/content/67/11/5273.full

http://www.microbial-ecology.net/nitriteoxidizers.asp

http://www.microbial-ecology.net/googlesearch.asp?cx=01204887656811...

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Permalink Reply by Patti Taylor on May 9, 2012 at 6:41am

Hey Vlad just heard down the pipeline: The university of waterloo conducts a study and discovers that Thaumarchaeota is primary organism involved in Nitrification not nitrosomas, Nitrospira or Nitobacter in fact its not even a bacteria.Have you heard anything about this... figured if anyone would know it be you.

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Permalink Reply by Patti Taylor on May 9, 2012 at 6:49am

Heres the link Thaumarchaeota

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Permalink Reply by Vlad Jovanovic on May 9, 2012 at 2:06pm

In regards to the nitrogen cycle, Rob Nash first turned me on to these organisms as perhaps being pretty damn important.(Previously I'd only known about them as somewhat interesting extremophiles. Rob seemed to be quite pleased with the results stemming from his use of a certain archaeon containing product...The literature all sounded good, but I can't say that I know anything special about them...

I think they may be one of a number (probably a whole host) of organisms that play a role in the nitrogen cycle, whether independently or in conjunction with one another (Nature is, I'm sure, quite a bit more complex and interesting than most of us give Her credit for a lot of the time)...

And this journey is like looking at a Mandelbrot set/fractal sometimes...deeper down the rabbit whole of detail only to find that it's a microcosm of the whole...good stuff. AP is a wonderful hobby to be sure!