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marie06

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red colored wastewater
May 24^th, 2012, 8:56pm

Hi! I need an expert's view on this one. We're currently managing WWTF ponds/lagoons, purely biological treatment, no chemicals were added. There are 2 settling basins (parallel) and 9 ponds working in series. Recently, our ponds#5-9 color changes from greenish to brownish red. What could be the possible cause of this? Could it be red algae? purple sulfur bacteria? purple non-sulfur bacteria? Our wastewater BOD though is still decreasing, thus there is a significant BOD removal. Also, before the color changes, we recently have fish kills at Pond 5&6.

Other data: Pond 1-3 is full of duckweeds, pond 4 is full of water hyacinths, ponds 5-9 have tilapias on it. By the way, we are a canning (fruit-mostly pineapple) plant.

Hope for your responses. Thanks a lot!

chel

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Victor God Member Offline Escherichia coli Happens! Posts: 1269 Company or Organization: www.santacruzproductions.com	Re: red colored wastewater Reply #1 - May 24^th, 2012, 9:05pm We can only speculate as to what it is that is turning your ponds green/red. There are species of cyanobacteria that release toxins into the water that can kill organisms such as fish. By having your pond examined microscopically will be the only way to determine the biological/microbiological cause.
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marie06 YaBB Newbies Offline I love Water and Wastewater.com Posts: 4 Company or Organization: food manufacturing	Re: red colored wastewater Reply #2 - May 24^th, 2012, 9:08pm Thanks Victor! We'll send samples then on lab for micro test.
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marie06 YaBB Newbies Offline I love Water and Wastewater.com Posts: 4 Company or Organization: food manufacturing	Re: red colored wastewater Reply #3 - May 24^th, 2012, 9:09pm But would any of these types of bacteria of good help to the treatment process?
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Victor

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Re: red colored wastewater
Reply #4 - May 24^th, 2012, 9:22pm

Alga, don't know about cyanobacteria, have been used to treat wastewater. You do have to be careful with them due to their size and might end up leaving your system and adding to BOD with your treated water. Alga/cyanobacteria are seasonal and are highly dependent on temperature (like warm, hot weather), plenty of sun, and food available. Some alga have been used for producing protein, creation of biofuels, and treatment of aquaculture (raising of shrimp, fish) water.

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The sludge judge

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Re: red colored wastewater
Reply #5 - May 24^th, 2012, 9:34pm

This is likely a sulfur bacteria using sulfide. A microscopic examination by a professional is needed to determine for sure. If it is sulfur bacteria (can turn water purple or red) raising the redox is needed throughout the system. (keep everything aerobic- attack the sulfide with hydrogen peroxide etc)

A likely cause of the fish kill is from ammonia (possibly loss of nitrification before the sulfur bacteria took over)

best regards,

Ryan

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DoctorBug

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Re: red colored wastewater
Reply #6 - May 24^th, 2012, 11:54pm

marie06:

This most likely is a red or pink sulfur or non-sulfur anaerobic bacteria. These still use some simple BOD compounds like organic acids and alcohols, so they do reduce the BOD. They only occur at anaerobic conditions, so if these are present, your system is anaerobic. Some dissolved oxygen measurements in the red/pink pond would help the diagnosis.

Note that heavy duckweed cover or water hyacinths often cause low oxygen conditions in the water below these due to sealing off the pond from surface aeration. Low oxygen concentration could be the cause for the fish die-off. Again, dissolved oxygen measurements for each pond at mid-day and first thing in the morning at the middle depth are needed.

Hope that this helps.

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