Could Ammonia Temporarily Maintain Mature Filter

[markandhisfish]

ok so heres my problem . i will sonn be doing a complete strip down ( total draining of tank included for substrate change etc) and stocking change in my tank from sevs and angels with sand to gravel and a planted discus setup. however while im doing all of this my filters wont have any bioload to keep the bacteria colony alive. i estimate this could be for anything from 2 to 24 hours .

i know that ammonia works in establishing the filter during cycling but could i use it to maintain the bacteria colony when no bio-load is avilable via fish etc? ( i would have the filters running on a big bin of water with a heater in it and dose it with ammonia)

 

[chrisbassist]

I can't see any reason why not.

The bacteria won't know (or care) about any difference in the ammonia source, as long as its feeding.

so long as the level isn't any more than 7ppm.

at 8ppm or above, the wrong bacteria will form instead, but, I'm guessing with already established bacteria it should eat through enough of it not to make too much difference long term, since it'll bring it down quick enough not to attract that type of bacteria.

I'm afraid I have no real sources or that, so If anyone could provide some scientific evidence instead of the more anecdotal stuff on the forums, I would be grateful

 

[jacko32]

yeah this would work fine all you need to do is work out the volume of water the filter will be in then use the calculater on here to find out your dosage level

 

[chrisbassist]

OK, so heres the breakdown:

Ammonia + Oxygen -> Nitrite + Water
OR
2 NH3 + 3 O2 -> 2 HNO2 + 2 H2O

THEN
Nitrite + Oxygen -> Nitrate
2 HNO2 + O2 -> 2 HNO3

So from that I conclude, (without any experiments or anything) that as long as there is ammonia the process can continue, meaning the bacteria will survive, regardless of ammonia source.

I'll look for more info though.

 

[chrisbassist]

http/www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html

I'd ignore the bits referencing specific products, but these guys are a scientific lab dedicated to filtration...


although I'm a little bit dubious that they won't even list an author for the info, but the bits I already knew are accurate, so maybe the rest is?

 

[Bignose]

There is no difference between ammonia made from an animal or ammonia made from a chemical process (in industry, it is almost always known as the Haber process http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process ). It is all NH3 in the end, the bacteria don't care so long as it is NH3.

 

[thedc5]

I was under the impression the bacteria will be fine for at least a day? in the case of power outages etc as long as its not allowed to dry out.

 

[chrisbassist]

Actually, would the op do everyone a favour?

Add ammonia to 5ppm and test 12 hours later. See how much you've gotten through? That way we'll be able to see what kind of ppm you need to get through for a fully stocked tank with a fishless cycle.

If you could post the results of that in the when is a cycle finished thread here along with your stocking and tank size (before the big swap) then it would probably help in there.

 

[markandhisfish]

yeah chris sure i will do that no probs ( assuming my tank is fishless for that long of course) thanks for the replies everybody i figured that as long as it was ammonia it wouldnt matter wether it was from a fish or a bottle , i just wanted to double check .

 

[chrisbassist]

cheers mark

 

[Bignose]

I was under the impression the bacteria will be fine for at least a day? in the case of power outages etc as long as its not allowed to dry out.

Yes, the die-off rate of cycling bacteria is pretty low. The colony will lose around 10% of its population a day. When food is plentiful, it will roughly double every day as well, so losing 10% or even 20% in one day should be quickly recoverable once food is returned to it.

 

[markandhisfish]

i still think i will keep the bacteria fed , as it will probably be a few days with no bio-load .