I haven't read through everything on your website but of the pages I read, there are a couple things that I would have to disagree with. First, on the New Tank Syndrome page, you mention that nitrosomas break down ammonia and transform it to nitrite. That is correct. But you state that nitrobacters process nitrite into nitrate. Recent studies have found that there is only a very small amount of nitrobacters in the tank and that actually nitrospiras are the bacteria that process nitrite (thus the name for Bio Spira).
Second, you mention that adding gravel will help cycle the tank and the more you add the better. Unless the tank has an undergravel filter, there is only a minimal amount of nitrifying bacteria present in the substrate. In order for the bacteria to colonize and multiply, there has to be water flow to/past them to bring food (ammonia and nitrite). There is only a minimal amount of water flow to the gravel and that is at the surface.. The vast majority of the bacteria will always be in/on the filter media. Adding gravel will help but only minimally.
Next, you mention that the optimal temperature for bacteria is between 75 & 84 degrees. I'm not certain about that as I have only read one article that stated an optimal range and it was by Fritz Industries. That article also references the wrong nitrite oxidizing bacteria.
And lastly, on the page Cycling Your Tank, on day 2, you mention that you should not do water changes because it can prolong the time it takes to cycle. Actually, it is jut the opposite. Water changes will shorten the time required.
Here is a very good thread that shows the numbers behind it. If you cycle with fish, water changes are an absolute must to prevent unnecessary stress on the fish. The tank will cycle much faster if the level is never allowed to rise about .25 to .5 ppm than it will if the levels are allowed to go unchecked into the off the chart range. It is true that you will have to watch the levels when you add fish again as you could see a 1 to 2 day mini cycle but that will be the case either way.
Okay, well i honestly dont realy agree with the first part, I beleave that nitrobacters AND nitrospiras can be used to convert nitrite into nitrate, however, it is possible that if you allow an aquarium to cycle without the aid of say turbo-start by fritz, then yes, it very well could possibly be that nitrospiras are the main bacteria that converts the nitrites, however, i have used Turbo Start by Fritz 3 times in the past, and i sware, everytime i have used it, my tank was completly cycles in 5 days or less, i think most of the time, it was like 3 days. Now, Turbo Start does not contain any nitrospiras, it only contains nitrobacters & nitrosomas, so the nitrobacters must be working just fine at converting nitrites, because after using turbo start ive never had a nitrite increase ever.
So bascily, IMO, they both probabley work just fine, but the Natural way very well could possibly be nitrospiras that is grown better in aquariums, however with the aid of adding nitrobacters that is in a bottle, like in turbo start, it probabley work just as good as nitrospiras.
I hope you understand what im trying to say.
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Second, Yes, actualy, i do sort-of agree with you on that, but the last time i cycled a aquarium the natural way, during the nitrite to nitrate stages of cycling, i added about 10 lbs of used gravel from my friends aquarium, and the nitrites were gone the next morning, however, the night before, nitrites were at 1.0 ppm, however i also tried adding it during the begining of the cycle process, and it didnt do anything noticible... So IMO, it does work, but it may have different effects if added at different times during the cycle process.
As for the temperature, i have only experimented with temperature when doing a fishless-cycle, and it did have an effect when in the low-80's, i think i kept mine at 82 F during the cycle process, and it cycled just fine, on my second tank i did fishless cycle with, it had it in the 78 range, and i started both aquariums at the same time, and the tank with the 82 temp cycled completly about 4 days before the other tank did.
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Third, The water changes during the cycle, i never realy experimented with that, so i realy dont know much about that... I just post the information that i learned from researching / reading else-where.
Anyways, thanks for checking out my site, if anyone has anymore comments, please let me know.
/www.freewebs.com/drbogger/"]http
