Will Archaea reduce the phosphorus level?
Archaea often store potassium, sodium, phosphate and other minerals. They have adapted their enzymes so that they often use sodium as a co-factor; rather than the trace minerals used by most bacteria. In addition, Archaea cells are usually 1/10th or less the radius (r) of most bacteria cells. The volume of a cell is calculated on r3. If you cube 1/10th, you get 1/1000th. Therefore, in a given volume of liquid, one can get a thousand-fold more Archaea cells than bacteria cells. As a result, independent labs have reported 1014 or more Archaea cells per milliliter. More Archaea cells per milliliter and more phosphorus in each cell can result in more phosphorus being removed from wastewater.
