Odd Nitrite generator

[TonyMar]

Hi, I recently put some "Lucky Bamboo" (not bamboo but it's Dracaena sanderiana) in a small plastic pot, holes in the bottom, some pebbles holding up the bamboo. The pots are 1" into the water in my 10 and 30 gal freshwater tanks. Both tanks are experiencing very high nitrites, Low Am and medium Nitrates. I pulled out the pots of bamboo and put them in water that is 0, 0, 0, (tested with API Master). 24 hours later the water with the bamboo is .25 Nitrite.
How can a plant be producing nitrites? (I Googled the heck out of that and could find nothing).
This is just too strange for me.
Thanks, TonyMar
(My first post, this is a great site, really fantastic info)

 

[Kujiraya]

Two different explanations, depending on when Dracena was fertilized last time:

i) Most obvious explanation - Dracena fertlized with ammonium nitrate / ammonium sulfate plant fertilizer. You submerge plant in fish tank. Sudden increase in ammonium levels. Your tank now halfway through "mini-cycle". Tank have enough beneficial bacteria to change ammonium to nitrite, but not have yet enough beneficial bacteria for change increased nitrite to nitrate. Moderate nitrate could be from fish and also added nitrate in ammonium nitrate plant fertilizer.

(to be continued)

 

[Kujiraya]

(continued from above)

ii) Much more esoteric explanation: plants use up nitrate, yes, we all know! But what plant biochemical processes involve nitrate in plant physiology? One answer is via plant enzyme "nitrate reductase" inside plant tissues, converting nitrate to NO. NO important for signal / regulate plant physiology. However, with your Dracena submerged in your fish tank, this not normal place for it, as Dracena is not aquatic! So Dracena leaches NO into water, where it reacts with water to form nitrite.