Why Can't You Buy The Bacteria To Make A Filter "mature"?

[Wanderer]

Wouldn't it be easier if the bacteria in a mature filter could simply be sold in a bottle? Why isn't it available?

 

[phantomlink]

The bacteria in our filter needs oxygen to survive, and a source of ammonia in order to go through the Nitrite/nitrate process. Without it ( or not much ) some of the good bacteria will die off and if you had a cycled tank, then lost most of your fish then added more out of nowhere, it would go through a mini cycle. Also live bacteria needs to be kept cold/very cool in order to make it last longer

 

[eggo]

Bacteria bottles, do they work?

 

[Axyadbad]

Well I bought some recently for my first every tank, called API Stress Zyme+ and I have to say it has definitely worked for me. Mine is processing 4 ppm of ammonia to nitrite in 12 hours. Nitrite is also being coverted into nitrate. This has all happened in 8 days..

Maybe I've been lucky, I don't know

 

[onidrase]

I did a small trial of API's Quick Start product, and it didn't do anything. The only factor that might have had effect are that the pH is very high, 8.4, as it's going to be a african cichlid tank.

What worries me most about using these bacteria in a bottle products is that some of them have "patented" bacteria or bacteria with names they don't want to release, which seems kinda like it's not just the regular trustworthy nitrifying bacteria we've always used as aquarists. I'd feel more inclined to buy more bottles of patented bacteria cause I'd think that's what's in my filter, rather than a more natural form. Of course, I'm no expert on the subject.

All in all, countless reviews of people say these products don't work, plenty of people buy them and come to this forum with a tank that started off with them, but still isn't cycled yet. I don't find any point in trying to take a short-cut when it comes to developing the most fundamental part of an aquarium, when there's a proven, sturdy way to do it with 2 dollars of ammonia, a test kit (which should be kept at arms reach anyway) an eye dropper, and a little patience.

 

[Gvilleguy]

My own curiosity on this matter will be addressed (or started) this week. I am getting a new 6.6 gallon tank in the mail tomorrow, and I also ordered 2 oz. of Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria. I'm going to try it and see how fast I can cycle the tank.

I have done two fishless cycles in my house:
1. From scratch - 72 days
2. With a small bit of established media - 30 days

So that's my baseline I'm comparing to when using this "bacteria in a bottle"...

 

[Wanderer]

I think the Stress Zyme was doing something.

I'm not happy today......because my fish are not happy. I did a test and the harmful nitrates were up. This hasn't happened before (where the harmful nitrates have shown positive on the tests). The only thng that I did different was I just ran out of Stress Zyme and didn't use it with yesterday's water change. I should get some Prime delivered tomorrow. I got some Wilkinson "Weekly Cleaner" which says it breaks down and converts nitrates and ammonia. I put that in and Ammo Lock.....did ample water changing today.

I'm worried I may lose my fish soon. They are not behaving as they normally do today. They didn't touch their food at first this morning until after I changed the water then they seemed a bit better I think. They have been all at the surface as if trying to get air as fish will do when they are sick. I haven't seen them act this way before. They just aren't being themselves.

The fish in the other tank seem to be doing better (the one with the least in). Although I removed one of them to a temporary make shift hospital tank as he looked very ill. Since I got him a red patch on his side seems to have gotten slightly bigger so I treated him in the makeshift tank with Disease Clear. There is no filter or heater but there is an air Pump and I used the "Weekly Cleaner" and some Ammo lock. The weather is hot so hopefully the water will stay within a healthy range for garra rufa.

I noticed a problem with the filter in the left tank (the one with the least fish in). The side of it is coming away slightly. It may have been like this for some time but gone unnoticed. So the water from inside the filter may be seeping through before it has had ample time to get filtered properly. Some of the media came through the bottom part and I had to rearrange everything again inside it. The bottom part with the sponges were just balancing on a small shelf I noticed, so I may place more sponges underneath just to give it extra support. We are going to find something to go accross the space between the filter compartments to push it back in and reduce the leaking a bit. When I rearranged the media, the water became very cloudy and I'm worried that I have lost some of the good bacteria. I tried to pour the cloudy water back in but a bit difficult because of the leaking side etc. The main tank was full of it so I did a big water change. I tested the water this evening again and it is still showing as having harmful nitrates in it even after adding the Weekly Cleaner product from Wilkinson. Funny enough though, they are not doing what the fish are doing in the other tank- staying at the surface as though gasping for air.

It is a bit heartbreaking; I can't do anything else for them now but wait and see.

 

[raptorrex]

Bacteria bottles, do they work?

Tee Hee. the font of all knowledge, Wiki.
take a read of Dr Tims own forum, its quite revealing.

opinion seems fairly even here. some see it work some dont.

in terms of statistics.
anything below 50% it can be said to prohibit the cycle.
50-60% is dumb luck. and offers no indication of its properties.
60-80% indicates it may work on occasion.
80%+ means its may well be viable.
90%= means it works.