It has become apparent through the years, the importance of all elements in water to maintain good healthy water systems.  These are needed either as a major element or microelements in their available forms whilst making sure that you balance the Redfield Ratio C117 N14 and P1 for good microalgae and diatom dominance, resulting in a healthy water system.

 

Therefore whilst testing for all the elements required for healthy water is quite a simple process, reading the results that you receive can be quite baffling as the test results do not confirm what current position the mineral or element you require is biologically at, such as nitrate and phosphate.

 

When reading your test results, you will find that Nitrate comes in three forms with the different forms being very bad or extremely good for the environment.

 

1. Inorganic nitrate - very bad as most micro-algae and wetlands cannot intake Nitrate in this form. It actually needs to be biologically converted back to ammonia then through to organic Nitrate to be consumed.​
    

2. Organic nitrate - very good as microalgae diatoms and wetlands can intake Nitrate in this form.
    

3. NO3-N - extremely good, as this is the final stage within the biological process. In a natural environment the readings of your nitrate will start to lower with this, but in an enclosed system where the Nitrate cannot be consumed your readings will actually be 4.4 times higher on the test results. So whilst you believe you have a Nitrate problem you have actually completed the biological cycle and it is completely safe.

 

Phosphate comes in five different forms:

 

1. Unavailable inorganic Phosphate - extremely bad for the environment as it cannot be taken in by the natural environment, so itself becomes a nitrification inhibitor.
    

2. Available inorganic Phosphate - whilst not the best, small amounts can be taken in by the natural environment.​
    

3. Unavailable organic Phosphate - whilst bad this can easily be converted to available organic phosphate through the biological process.
    

4. Available organic Phosphate - very good as this highly consumable form is very healthy for microalgae, diatoms and wetland development. It complements the completion of the Redfield Ratio
    

5. PO4-P - extremely good for the environment as the Phosphorus content goes to microalgae, diatoms and wetlands. The empty PO4 cell takes in a contaminant, then through polyphosphate conversion, it sinks to the bottom to be consumed by polyphosphate consuming bacteria, making the contaminant inert to the environment. Now the only problem with this end biological conversion is it reads in the tests 3.3 times higher than its actual level. In an enclosed water system, it reads at toxic levels of Phosphate when in reality it is a very healthy water system.

 

These are just two examples with most elements coming in unavailable and available forms. When reading your results, you need to understand the surroundings of the test area and overall health of the wildlife in the area, as native wildlife will increase in good healthy water conditions and seriously decrease if the elements are in their unavailable form. These then become a nitrification inhibitor which enhances Cyanobacterial blooms. Therefore, nature is critical to leading you in the direction of what the actual numbers in the test results are;

 

New testing requirements:

 

The simplest test we now conducting is the counting of birds on the water systems we are treating, before and after treatment. When treating with TWC bird numbers always increase, which is one of Nature’s signs of a healthy water system.