Beneficial Bacteria

[rdd1952]

Having just switched the sand in my 29 gallon tank (along with a good cleaning of the tank walls) and experiencing no mini cycle, it started me wondering. Is there really any substantial bacteria present on the tank walls, on decorations, plants or in the substrate (tanks with UGF excluded)?

I changed 100% of the sand substrate (play sand to Tahitian Moon Sand), scrubbed the walls good to remove any algae (even used a razor blade to scrape the algae on the back where I couldn't clean with the plants in the tank), thouroughly rinsed the tank clean with tap water and even rinsed all the plants very good (even rubbing leaves vigorously between fingers to remove all snails) in very hot tap water. I figure this would have removed all bacteria from the tank except for what was present in the filter. I was concerned about a mini cycle but after 72 hours, I saw not ammonia or nitrite (tested twice daily during that time).

I know bloozoo2 said she had a similar experience when she moved house. Has anyone else seen this or the opposite when there was a mini cycle?

 

[Bloo]

Indeed I can confirm that on this thread again however it might be worth mentioning in the same breath that my tank was already 2 years old at that point so very well established. Though I did not replace my substrate, I washed it very thoroughly under warm water until it ran clear and then replaced in the tank. All (at the time plastic ) plants were thoroughly washed too and any rock ornaments and bogwood received a good rinse. The only thing that remained entirely untouched was the filter.
100% water was replaced too.
No cycle was experienced and no fish lost.

 

[plecoguy]

most of your bacteria is in your filter. when i was breeding discus i had a tank with no gravel or anything, just barebottom and to induce breeding i was doing 100% waterchange everyday while scrubbing all sides and bottom of tank. if you have a good enough filter, then you can do that with no problem. if you are underfiltered a bit...i wouldnt try it

 

[annka5]

Nitrifying bacteria need oxygen, so need a waterflow, so makes sense that the filter is the most convivial place for them to be -it's also what the filter was designed for!
They will multiply faster and so wouldn't surprise me if there was very little "food" (ammonia, nitrite) left for bacteria anywhere else.

 

[trace1]

when i changed my 125litre tank from gravel to sand i had a bit of a mini cycle & lost 1 black molly but saying that my tank had only been running since july so maybe thats why. was thinking of moving the same tank but don't want to upset anything again. but i have got to fit in the 240 litre that i will be getting inside the next week

 

[leafs]

I recently had to move my 29 gal and I did experience a mini cycle, but I didn't even remove my gravel plants or wood. What I did was empty all but an inch of water and I left my plants and gravel in. Then I moved the tank and refilled it with new water. I made sure my filter was kept running in my spare tank to save the bacteria. The only thing I can think of as to why I had a mini cycle was the tank walls dried out in the process of moving. I don't think that it was because I emptied most of the water because there isn't much bacteria in the water to begin with. I'm still not sure why it happened.

 

[Bloo]

I recently had to move my 29 gal and I did experience a mini cycle, but I didn't even remove my gravel plants or wood. What I did was empty all but an inch of water and I left my plants and gravel in. Then I moved the tank and refilled it with new water. I made sure my filter was kept running in my spare tank to save the bacteria. The only thing I can think of as to why I had a mini cycle was the tank walls dried out in the process of moving. I don't think that it was because I emptied most of the water because there isn't much bacteria in the water to begin with. I'm still not sure why it happened.

How long has your tank been established ?

 

[leafs]

I recently had to move my 29 gal and I did experience a mini cycle, but I didn't even remove my gravel plants or wood. What I did was empty all but an inch of water and I left my plants and gravel in. Then I moved the tank and refilled it with new water. I made sure my filter was kept running in my spare tank to save the bacteria. The only thing I can think of as to why I had a mini cycle was the tank walls dried out in the process of moving. I don't think that it was because I emptied most of the water because there isn't much bacteria in the water to begin with. I'm still not sure why it happened.

How long has your tank been established ?

Before the move my tank was up for about 9 months. The mini cycle lasted about a week. Frequent water changes rectified the problem.

 

[bunjiweb]

Any porous area of your tank with good water flow will habour bacteria. So rocks, bogwood, plants, gravel, fake decor.

Ben

 

[penguinpimp1990]

Any porous area of your tank with good water flow will habour bacteria. So rocks, bogwood, plants, gravel, fake decor.

Absolutely,when i cycled my brackish tank i had crushed coral in one of the 2 mesh filter media bags in my aquaclear filter, and regular pea sized gravel in the other mesh bag. (with nothing else in the filter like mechanical or chemical filtration sponges,biomax, ect.)I didnt want to make another trip to the lfs to get some bio-media so I improvised. and the bacteria colony grew like crazy on it, MUCH better than any boimax, sponge, or those cermanic donuts things. I just have the coral and gravel sit in a bucket of tank water when the filters not on as not to let it dry out.

 

[plecoguy]

I recently had to move my 29 gal and I did experience a mini cycle, but I didn't even remove my gravel plants or wood. What I did was empty all but an inch of water and I left my plants and gravel in. Then I moved the tank and refilled it with new water. I made sure my filter was kept running in my spare tank to save the bacteria. The only thing I can think of as to why I had a mini cycle was the tank walls dried out in the process of moving. I don't think that it was because I emptied most of the water because there isn't much bacteria in the water to begin with. I'm still not sure why it happened.

ok, well when you added water back did you make sure to declorinate the water? what about temp, a difference in temp could have killed off enough bacteria to cause a problem as well. plus, running the filter on a different tank could have caused some of the bacteria to move off the filter to other parts of the spare tank, and if your filter is just enough to run your other tank it could have caused a problem there too. this summer i helped my work move 100+ fish tanks from our old store to the new. all the tanks sides dried out, the ones that had a HOB filter the gravel was removed, and the ones with UGF gravel and a bit of water was all that was left. we had no mini cycles or nothing...went very smoothly actually...it was just a pain to do.

 

[leafs]

I recently had to move my 29 gal and I did experience a mini cycle, but I didn't even remove my gravel plants or wood. What I did was empty all but an inch of water and I left my plants and gravel in. Then I moved the tank and refilled it with new water. I made sure my filter was kept running in my spare tank to save the bacteria. The only thing I can think of as to why I had a mini cycle was the tank walls dried out in the process of moving. I don't think that it was because I emptied most of the water because there isn't much bacteria in the water to begin with. I'm still not sure why it happened.

ok, well when you added water back did you make sure to declorinate the water? what about temp, a difference in temp could have killed off enough bacteria to cause a problem as well. plus, running the filter on a different tank could have caused some of the bacteria to move off the filter to other parts of the spare tank, and if your filter is just enough to run your other tank it could have caused a problem there too. this summer i helped my work move 100+ fish tanks from our old store to the new. all the tanks sides dried out, the ones that had a HOB filter the gravel was removed, and the ones with UGF gravel and a bit of water was all that was left. we had no mini cycles or nothing...went very smoothly actually...it was just a pain to do.

The water was declorinated and the temp was dead on. The filter is enough for a 50 gal tank so I don't think that was the problem. Why would bacteria move off the filter in the spare tank? I kept it wet through the whole process.

 

[penguinpimp1990]

Why would bacteria move off the filter in the spare tank? I kept it wet through the whole process.

because the bacteria is used to clinging on your bio-media at the speed that the filter is usually on, so when the speed is changed the bacteria loses its grip. it happens alot when adjusting the water flow/intake.

 

[leafs]

Why would bacteria move off the filter in the spare tank? I kept it wet through the whole process.

because the bacteria is used to clinging on your bio-media at the speed that the filter is usually on, so when the speed is changed the bacteria loses its grip. it happens alot when adjusting the water flow/intake.

Interesting. I didn't know that.

 

[Boxcar Muzzdogg]

Any surface in the aquariumn will have bacteria on it, even the glass