"cycle" The Bacteria Solution

[dirtydog]

so its not even good for that really then

 

[WILDER]

No, left the test kit on the side give it abit longer, but dosn't look like there much ammonia in the stuff.

 

[andywg]

"Nitrifying bacteria do not form spores and cannot survive drying."

"Most liquid type bacterial products available in the pet industry contain little or no true nitrifying bacteria. Instead, they rely on their ability to maintain tolerable levels of ammonia until naturally occurring Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria can become established. Both of these liquid and dry products should be considered as biological aids to nitrification."

These 2 quote are from this site which has pretty good info on nitrifyiing bacteria.

I think what the second one is saying is that when you buy these products and put them in your tank, all you are adding is ammonia to feed the bacteria when they form. Hmm, sounds like what you do during a fishless cycle except a bottle of ammonia cost 49 cent as opposed to $5 for the cycling aids.

Though that site is also using the genera for the bacteria which are now considered to be incorrect, so be wary of taking everything at face value. It is now believed that Nitrospira spp convert nitrite to nitrate rather than Nitrobacter spp. While Nitrobacter spp are nitrite oxidising bacteria, they are not found in any appreciable amount in cycled aquarium water, whereas Nitrospira spp are.

For some quite good info, see here.

 

[PufferFishRule]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

 

[doresy]

well you guys are doing some really good research into Cycle. Hope this all has been useful, especially for newbies who are at the mercy of the LFS (some!) eager to relieve them of their hard earned.

Money is better spent on, say, a test kit don't you think

 

[rdd1952]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

 

[vinylman]

Which is, of course, the ideal position for a fishkeeper to be in, from a manufacturer's point of view.

 

[mark7616]

Get some Soll Bactinnettes

 

[oddball_lover]

I suppose it's not even the LFS's fault that they tell people to use Cycle... I guess shops get product descriptions from the manufacturers, so are just telling customers what the manufacturers have told them

 

[doresy]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

THAT, my friend, is a very good point!

 

[rdd1952]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

Actually I need to correct myself a little as this isn't 100% true. Lots of live plants can remove ammonia but that is not a problem as it is being done naturally.

 

[smurfyy_2k3]

the bacteria in Cycle doesn't become active until oxygen is introduced. Theres some kind of weird thing with bacteria which won't allow it to live unless it has direct contact with the air. So long as the bottle remains sealed, and the bacteria isn't introduced to the air, your bottle of cycle is safe.

However, this just further proves the point that Cycle is crap... once opened, it dies what a waste...

in a oxygenated environment or not once the bottle goes about 45c-50c the enzymes that the bacteria use to remove ammonia will become denatured and the bacteria will starve to death not to mention the bacteria will starve in the bottle any way

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

Actually I need to correct myself a little as this isn't 100% true. Lots of live plants can remove ammonia but that is not a problem as it is being done naturally.

plants remove nitrates not ammonia

 

[rdd1952]

They will also use ammonia and nitrite. Here is a pretty good article. You have to read all the way through as at first it is mainly talking about ammonium. Below is a direct quote:

"Aquatic plants, then, are much more than ornaments or aquascaping tools. They remove ammonia from the water. Furthermore, they remove it within hours."

 

[three-fingers]

I know and have experienced that these cycle products are rubbish (used to spends loads on stress zyme).
But I've heard that if you add the whole bottle of whatever cycling product your using on day 1, it can actually speed up a fishless cycle slightly, anyone else heard of this?

 

[andywg]

api products all the way!!! but for ammonia removal i use PRIME...works great!

Any thing that "REMOVES" ammonia is BAD for your tank. Your tank will never cycle and you will become dependent on expensive chemicals forever.

THAT, my friend, is a very good point!

Though it is not an entirely correct statement. Most chemicals to deal with ammonia bind to it to make it harmless to fish. It is claimed (though I have no scientific proof either way) that the ammonia can still be accessed by the filter bacteria and as such the tank will cycle.

plants remove nitrates not ammonia

Plants only remove nitrate if there is no ammonia available. Plants prefer to take on nitrogen in the form of ammonia than nitrate. Plant a tank heavily, do light to medium stocking and you have a tank that will never cycle and will also never show nitrate or nitrite.