Culture media for Nitrifying Organisms - (Feb/24/2009 )

Hi everybody,

I'd firstly like to say hello to everybody - i'm new to the forums and am glad to have found you all.

I am a Microbiologist in Melbourne, Australia and am currently working on a project for treatment of waste water and bioremediation principles. I'm currently working at culturing nitrifying bacteria - Nitrosomonas spp, Nitrobacter spp & Nitrospira spp

I was wondering if anybody would have any sources that describe an appropriate culture media? being chemoautotrophs you can't just throw them on some nutrient media and hope for the best. I have come across two formulas:

Formula 1

(NH4)2SO4
KNO2
CaCl2.2H2O
MgSO4.7H2O
Bromothymol Blue
K2HPO4 (0.2M)
KH2PO4 (0.2M)
Chelated Iron
FeSO4.7H2O
EDTA disodium
with the following trace elements
NaMoO4.2H2O
MnCl2
CoCl2.6H2O
ZnSO4.7H2O
CuSO4.5H2O

Formula 2
(NH4)2SO4
K2HPO4
NaH2PO4
MgSO4.7H2O
MnSO4.4H2O
CaCO3

Some similarities but one more complex than the other...any thoughts or recommendations? do you have something that works for you?

I am making 1,000litres of this media and want to grow up a starter culture in that 1,000L IBC (It's a fully sealable plastic shipping 'tank' which is wrapped on the outside with a steel frame for strength and support and comes on a steel pallet for shipping)

Any advice would be appreciated...

Kind regards and thanks for your time

May be this paper could help you, http://jb.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/120/1/556

I think you need to try some concentrations for the optimization of growth, for each strain.