Beneficial Bacteria

[clay]

i have seen this beneficial bacteria capsule at my lfs and they wont tell me what it is for. they say that they use it in their planted tanks but their plants in those aquariums look terrible. i have some amazing plants in my tank but if i can improve on them i need to know this. help?

 

[Geoff1991]

Probably root tablets or something...

 

[aaronnorth]

not quite sure what you mean.
When we refer to beneficial bacteria, we mean Nitrosomonas which converts ammonia into nitrite, and also nitrospira, which converts nitrite, into nitrate.

If they wont tell you what it is for then i would be wary. i might be a stick containing nutrients and that is all i can think off.

 

[loraxchick]

beneficial bacteria has little to do with plant health. it really is what takes the ammonia (which is caused by organic stuff in the tank decomposing...things like fish poo, food, rotting plant material etc.,) and turns it into nirtite. there is a secondary beneficial bacteria that then takes the nitirite and breaks it down into MUCH less harmful nitrAte. when these two colonies of bacteria have established themselves in your tank so that when you test you get readings for ammonia at 0 and nitrite at 0, this is when your tank is said to have "cycled". ammonia and nitrite is poisonous to your fish and in high enough concentrations in the water can kill your fish (often the leading casue of death in newly set-up tanks with high bioload(lots of fish)...the bacteria take time to establish themselves and in that time the levels build up. also called new tank syndrome. lots of waterchanges will help keep the levels down enough for the fish to survive the cycle. (thats why lots of folks recommend fishLESS cycleing using bottled ammonia- no fish in there so no harm done to the livestock)

those "bacteria in a bottle" things are gimmicks to make money. they do not "instantly cycle" your tank. they have a very limited shelf life as the bacteria will use up the nutrients in the package and once their "food" is al used up, the colonies will die off. dont waste your money on them.