Effect of C/N ratio variations on Muara Karang sediment in oxidizing high concentrated ammonia and identification of nitrifying bacteria using VITEK 2

Oxidation of ammonia in the environment is known as nitrification. The process itself is a two-step process which oxidizes ammonia into nitrite then nitrate. A research was conducted to study the effect of C/N ratio variations in oxidizing high concentrated ammonia (100 ppm) by the bacteria isolated from the sediments collected from Muara Karang. The variations of C/N ratio implemented in the systems were 5:1, 10:1, 15:1, and 20:1 with glucose as the carbon source and ammonium sulphate as the nitrogen source. Parameters measured during the research were ammonia and nitrate concentrations. Identification of bacteria from the sediments was performed using VITEK 2 identification kits. The results revealed a significant difference (α=0.05) in ammonia concentrations between treated groups, whilst no differences were noted in nitrate (α=0.001) concentrations. Potential nitrification bacteria from the systems were identified as Acinetobacter ursingii (88%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (99%), and Shewanellaputrefaciens (91%.)