Temp Ranges For Bacteria

[chrisbassist]

I'm currently cycling a tank for my wife to put a betta in.

The heater that came with it is useless. But rather than not working the thermostat is set rather high.

The lowest temp setting gives a Reading (with a decent thermometer) of 34 degrees C. I realise we're going to have to take the heater back or get a new one before adding any fish but how about the cycle? I know it's above the ideal temp but how much would it slow it down?

 

[Curiosity101]

The problem with high end temperatures is that if it's high enough then it'll de-nature proteins and so the bacteria will die. I don't know how high it is that the bacteria can survive but basically the graph would look something like this...

And if 34C is past the optimum and into the denaturing area then it wont just slow the cycle it'll stop the cycling alltogether.

Having said all that, I don't think it would stop the cycle at all cause discus tanks run at around 31C don't they? 3C is quite a big different but the bacteria cope across a large temp range... 34C seems a feasible top end. If you can though, leave the lid off of the tank to keep it a bit cooler or just don't use the heater at all.

You could always seed from your tank anyways so it really shouldn't take too long even at room temps to get it cycled and ready

 

[tom130691]

low 30's high 20's would be best for bacteria growth mine cycled in around 10 days (with 2 fish in) at 28C

 

[chrisbassist]

cheers,
it hasn't stopped, I know it's processing some, but I was wondering if buying a different heater sooner would speed things up, but prob not by the looks of it.

as for seeding, I'd prefer my tank to mature a little more before i risk mini cycles in there. It's only been stable with no ammonia readings for a week, so don't want to mess it up yet.

looks like i'll be getting a new heater the day before the fish (or possibly same day, since I know it takes around 12 hours for water temp to drop to a more suitable 24/25... so I can arrange that sort of cooling period)

I know how long it takes because I spotted a minor case of ich in my tank, and turned off the heater, let the temp fall a little bit, then I moved over the infected for treatment, (only 2 neon tetras, not a big bio load) unfortunately one still died from the stress, the other one cleared up in a day, and went back to the main tank in less than a week... (kept doing water changes to prevent too much build up too)

 

[waterdrop]

Amongst hobbyists there's always been interest in seeing just how high you can go with the temperature during fishless cycling and what the characteristics of the cycle will be from doing that and what it would look like (what would go wrong from a symptomatic standpoint) once you hit the upper limit.

I wish I could remember more details but it was in some sort of discussion with Hovanec that I remember hearing it expressed that there were problems going warmer. It was that interaction that got me settled into the 84F/29C optimal peak point of the curve.

My guess would be that 34C is unlikely to be significantly bad and it would be better to go ahead with the ammonia and doing it rather than worrying about that taking it off optimal.

WD