Smell of nitrites

NetMax wrote:
"Steve" wrote in message
.. .

NetMax wrote:


I don't know if I could detect ammonia with my nose, but I do smell a
lot of sulphur in my well water for the last month and it's worrying
me for water changes. To compensate, I'm using more turbulence in the
water (hoping to dissipate it faster), and I'm refilling the tanks
slowly (less than a gallon a minute). I've just started filling 5g
water jugs a week earlier, so they will have equalized more by the
time I use them.

Does anyone know the characteristics of the source of this smell?
Does it take long to leave the water, and is the water left harmless
after?


I remember reading in a Ministry of Environment brochure that the smell
often comes from iron-reducing bacteria in the well. A solution is to
chlorinate your well and water system, which is not a bad thing to do
occasionally. That's done by putting lots of water with abundant bleach
in it in the well, letting stand, then letting it into the water system
and letting stand again, before flushing out. Use the garden hose as
output of flushing, and don't run too much chlorinated water into the
septic system. It's more easily done in spring/ summer, and please
research the details before attempting it. The details are recorded as
I remember them from years ago.

Another source is supposed to be sulphate (gypsum, anhydrite) in the
rocks. that's not uncommon in eastern Ontario. You're near Ottawa, eh?

I'd think that using turbulent water into buckets will probably
disperse most of the sulphur gas.

Steve


Thanks Steve, that's interesting about the iron. I dug out an old water
test and they didn't test for H2S unfortunately, but there was a small
(+2) amount of sheated bacteria or iron bacteria, leptothrix spp. This
is why I shock the well periodically, as it leaves a red residue inside
the toilet tank. I'm attributing the odour to H2S since it is
intermittent.

I don't think the iron bacteria are anything which would threaten the
fish. Is the (gypsum, anhydrite) sulphate characteristics similar to H2S
(in regards to threat to fish and the ability to be released through
aeration)?

The small amount sulphate from rocks that are mainly limestone, should
just contibute to your water's hardness. It's not harmful at all, as far
as I know, but perhaps other posters better understand the chemistry
involved. I suppose you could get H2S developing from any sulphur
sources in the well/ aquifer: sulphates, sulfides... and I'd guess that
those bacteria probably obtain/ assimilate/ release dilute sulphur from
the water anyway.

When we had a limestone well, the splined shaft of our 5 year-old
washing machine corroded so badly that the agitator slipped. The
repairman attributed it to sulphur in the well. I found this strange due
to the high hardness/ pH - how could there be acid... but who knows what
detergents do?

Steve