Re: NANFA-L-- Denitrifying bacteria question

James Smith (jbosmith-in-gmail.com)
Thu, 3 Feb 2005 17:15:25 -0500

BTW, I didnt mean to say that Stability was better than bio spira.. I
have 2 of the big bags of bio spira in my fridge too :)

Jim

On Thu, 3 Feb 2005 17:14:04 -0500, James Smith <jbosmith-in-gmail.com> wrote:
> Seachem has a new product called Stability which has nitrospira
> bacteria in it, has a shelf life of 4 years and does not require
> refridgeration. I'm testing it now for the first time, but so far so
> good.. the ammonia is gone from the tank I used it in-in-least, and
> even nitrates have dropped in other tanks.
>
> Jim
>
>
> On Thu, 3 Feb 2005 12:31:21 -0500, marxxx <marxxx-in-earthlink.net> wrote:
> > I do think that cycling is very important. The process of taking a handful
> > of gravel or filter media from one tank to another is an accelerated cycle
> > (and a fabulous thing to do for your fish). Really, this is putting live
> > bacteria in the new tank. They multiply very quickly (I believe they double
> > every 24 hours as long as there is enough food... ammonia in this case).
> >
> > This is all completely eveident by using test kits. The ammonia level will
> > rise very quickly-in-the start of the cycle. The ammonia is broken down into
> > nitrite, and the nitrite is then broken down into nitrate. When the ammonia
> > level falls, and the nitrates are present, the cycle is complete. Nitirite
> > is toxic as is ammonia (nitrate is normal, but can become harmful with a
> > high concentration). The toxicity of ammonia is intensified by high ph
> > water. The higher the ph, the more toxic the ammonia.
> >
> > I have started new tanks and just added fish. There are some species that
> > can hadle this just fine. I suspect much of the success of this method (not
> > cycling) may be attributed to the quality of the water they start in (low
> > ph, soft water).
> >
> > There is also a correlation between the cycle and the lowering of ph. This
> > is mainly present in softer water with less of a buffer. In hard water, the
> > buffer is greater, and the ph may take a very long time to drop. The point;
> > if a tank is not properly cycled it can also cause the ph to crash. I would
> > think this is likely to happen when water has not been changed for an
> > extended period, and the bio load is signifigantly increased very quickly
> > (adding a bunch of new fish). A ph crash can shock and kill the fish.
> > Unfortunatley, I don't remember all the details abuot this...
> >
> > I hope all this makes sense...
> >
> > Mark
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Peter Unmack" <peter.lists at>
> > To: "nanfa-l" <nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, February 03, 2005 12:28 PM
> > Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Denitrifying bacteria question
> >
> > > G'day folks
> > >
> > > I'm not sure if the purpose of all this bacteria discussion is relative to
> > > marine or freshwater aquaria, but having kept fish for over 20 years I
> > > believe most of the stuff about cycling freshwater tanks is extremely
> > > overblown. I've never done it, and never will as I have never personally
> > > experienced a situation that needed it. However, I will preface that by
> > > saying that I rarely ever set up a completely new tank with everything
> > > totally fresh and clean. I always either add a handfull or so of gravel
> > > from an established filter to a new filter (I usually use a goldfish bowl
> > > undergravel filter in a plastic goldfish bowl sized container that I put
> > > in the tank, ugly but effective and cheap), or-in-least add some water
> > > from an aquarium that is well established and healthy. But I have at
> > > times started new tanks, added a whole pile of fishes (way more than you
> > > should), and fed the crap out of them from day one and all have done very
> > > well. Granted some fish may be more sensitive than others though. I have
> > > had problems with ammonia once when I did a water change (I usually always
> > > change 70-90% of the water if I am going to bother doing a water change)
> > > and totally cleaned out the filter-in-the same time. I didn't age my
> > > water (which typically had only very small amounts of chlorine) and a few
> > > days later lost the fish. But that was due to my own complete stupidity
> > > rather than a lack of bacteria I suspect.
> > >
> > > Tootles
> > > Peter Unmack
> > > Canadian River, Oklahoma
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