Goop

[Oddball59]

I\ve been seeing great reports about this fairly new English mage bacteria in a bag for fast cycling a new tank. Made by Nitrico. Anyone experienced it. They put it in the bag when you order it and you must introduce it within 24 Hrs. It sounds better than say Fritz ir API, they reckon fish can be added within a couple of days. I've read this is true. Anyone here tried it? You open it up and smear it on your filter material.

Nitrico Bacterial Goop - Nitrico

Instant Cycle for your aquarium. Live Nitrifying Bacteria to add to your aquarium to complete your cycle and maintain healthy waste free water for your fish. Nitrico live filtration bacteria products eliminate the need for cycling of your aquarium allowing the introduction of new fish into a new...

nitrico.co.uk

 

[sharkweek178]

I just don't trust any product that claims to be an "instant cycle".

 

[AJ356]

It works beautifully. Used it many times, and no amount of debates on what exact bacteria does this or that, or scientific papers, are going to change the fact that this stuff works, and works very well.

 

[JuiceBox52]

typically bacteria in a bottle can be a wonderful tool to jump start your cycle and cut the time down but be wary of the "instant cycle" claims and continually test and perform water changes until you are certain the cycle is complete

 

[Oddball59]

typically bacteria in a bottle can be a wonderful tool to jump start your cycle and cut the time down but be wary of the "instant cycle" claims and continually test and perform water changes until you are certain the cycle is complete

Thanks JB... I agree but there does seem to be good evidence posted that this is the real deal, but of course I'll test, lots of plants, then test some more lol.

I've looked at your beautiful art too, and your passion... as someone who lost his son at only 18yrs to Ewings sarcoma, a rare bone cancer I really appreciate your work and it resonates with me. I write, books, poetry... try to help others through the terrible times in teen cancer. The fatality rate is 90+ percent. It left me broken, but my writing is very cathartic and I'm hoping my fish tank will also help. As a Buddhist I feel a great responsibility towards the fish as sentient beings.
Your art is truly phenomanl

 

[TwoTankAmin]

As far as I can tell Goop is merely filter media rinsed or sqeezed out into a new tank. Add enough and it will be an instant cycle, With the proper bottled bacteria there is a slight delay. The bacteria in the bottle are in a state of cdormancy when you pout them into a tank. The prresence of ammonia wakes them up and they get right to work. But the is a bit of a delay between when your pour them into the tank with ammonia and when they are actually working at full strength.

With filter medie additions you are adding liave active bacteria that does not need to wake up.

There are two main differences between added Dr. Tim's for example and adding filter squeezings. First, the bottle bacteria is specific about the tank size it is good for. However, we have no idea how much bacteria we may be adding with filter squeezing and I am not sure how accurate Goop is no matter what they claim. My guess is they just use more than is needed to be sure it works as advertise on a given size tank.

Next, am maybe more importantly, bottled bacteria contains no nasties. if is grown in a nasty-free environment and goes into the bottle with mor germs or parasites. Fitler squeezings will certainly contain bacteria and likely parasites as well in lower levels. Most healthy fish can fight off such minimal numbers with the natural immunity. Stressed or weak fish cannot do this. The risk is even greater when the squeezings come from someone eles's tank.

I have read their site information and they do not do two things. The first is they do not tell you how they culture the bacteria, The second is they do not identify the specific strains of bacteria in the bottle. If they are basically culturing in an established aquarium with fish etc, of of they use squeezings a s astarter from wich they culture the bacteria, they are likely violating a patent on the Nitrorpira in their product. And established tank, in fresh, brackish or salt water will have Nitrospira.

I have seeded tanks and my bio-farm both ways- using dr. Tim's and or filter squeezings. Both work. But I am cheap about it. When I use the One and Only I buy about 1/2 or less of what I actually should and then cuclture the rest myself in the biofarm by adding ammonia until I have what I need fully ready.

 

[Oddball59]

Thanks for your reply, I have seen videos of their production plant and it looks cool to me, They do say, I've called them ;-) and they recomend squeezing the goop onto filter material in your filter and "massaging" it in. Do you not have seasoned hardscape and filter sponges to transfer to new projects in your bio farm?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

My bio-farm is exclusively for doing one of two things. I use it to cycle multiple filters to go into several tanks. What I am doing would be using a 40 gal. breeder tank to hold a dozen or more Poret cubefilters which will be going into 8 tanks from 10 to 50 gals and which total 220 gals.

So, wanting to cycle the filters to handle 3 ppm of ammonia, and using 15 filters (did that last summer), I need to have the bio-farm clear a bout 20 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours. Of course I cannot add that much ammonia all at once. At the end of the "cycle" I am adding it 3 times in 24 hours at the rate of 6-7 ppm (api test kit). that is over the 6.4 red line. But at the point I am dosing that high the bacteria very rapidly lower the concentration to a safe number. I am also changing a lot of water and I have several bags of crushed coral in the tank to hold up the KH. The bacteria use inorganics carbons like the ones from carbonates and bicarbonates which is what most of KH is made up of in our tanks.

If you think it is easy to mess up a cycle, try doing it as above and you will learn what I did. it isn't as easy as it sounds. But ofr years I set up summer tanks which then came down in the fall, They needed to be cycled and the bio-farm is actually less work. ANd then I also used to sell fish I breed and other things at weekend events for fishy folks. I would be a vendor or I would do room sales. I always brought real tanks and cycled filters for that. So I learned to cycle filters as the event tanks are always bare bottom and little of no decor.

The other use I have for a bio-farm is to keep cycled media cycled. Fam filters and hang-om filters are both kept ready to got that way. I usually need this when upgrading tanks or doing a mojor re-arrange, eithe can take days or a week or two. In this case I still have to dose ammonia add crushed coral and change water, But it is usually a smaller undertaking. The summer tanks get some sand on the bottom, but no live plants. There may be a cave or two and some wood. Most of the bacteria is in the filters.

 

[Essjay]

Tropco not only sell Goop, they also sell mature sponges of the type used with air pumps (several different shaped sponges). Those sound similar to TwoTankAmin's bio-farm.

 

[Oddball59]

My bio-farm is exclusively for doing one of two things. I use it to cycle multiple filters to go into several tanks. What I am doing would be using a 40 gal. breeder tank to hold a dozen or more Poret cubefilters which will be going into 8 tanks from 10 to 50 gals and which total 220 gals.

So, wanting to cycle the filters to handle 3 ppm of ammonia, and using 15 filters (did that last summer), I need to have the bio-farm clear a bout 20 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours. Of course I cannot add that much ammonia all at once. At the end of the "cycle" I am adding it 3 times in 24 hours at the rate of 6-7 ppm (api test kit). that is over the 6.4 red line. But at the point I am dosing that high the bacteria very rapidly lower the concentration to a safe number. I am also changing a lot of water and I have several bags of crushed coral in the tank to hold up the KH. The bacteria use inorganics carbons like the ones from carbonates and bicarbonates which is what most of KH is made up of in our tanks.

If you think it is easy to mess up a cycle, try doing it as above and you will learn what I did. it isn't as easy as it sounds. But ofr years I set up summer tanks which then came down in the fall, They needed to be cycled and the bio-farm is actually less work. ANd then I also used to sell fish I breed and other things at weekend events for fishy folks. I would be a vendor or I would do room sales. I always brought real tanks and cycled filters for that. So I learned to cycle filters as the event tanks are always bare bottom and little of no decor.

The other use I have for a bio-farm is to keep cycled media cycled. Fam filters and hang-om filters are both kept ready to got that way. I usually need this when upgrading tanks or doing a mojor re-arrange, eithe can take days or a week or two. In this case I still have to dose ammonia add crushed coral and change water, But it is usually a smaller undertaking. The summer tanks get some sand on the bottom, but no live plants. There may be a cave or two and some wood. Most of the bacteria is in the filters.

Thanks for that comprehensive reply.... you've worked so hard. Do you still sell? I have to admit I don't have the knowledge and expertise you clearly have, it was very interesting. and intriguing. Do you sell your cycled media... sponges? I can't find any swap or sell meetings in my area. Be cool if there was. Thanks again Amin.

 

[Oddball59]

Yes

Tropco not only sell Goop, they also sell mature sponges of the type used with air pumps (several different shaped sponges). Those sound similar to TwoTankAmin's bio-farm.

Yes they have a large selection of sponges.

 

[Oddball59]

As far as I can tell Goop is merely filter media rinsed or sqeezed out into a new tank. Add enough and it will be an instant cycle, With the proper bottled bacteria there is a slight delay. The bacteria in the bottle are in a state of cdormancy when you pout them into a tank. The prresence of ammonia wakes them up and they get right to work. But the is a bit of a delay between when your pour them into the tank with ammonia and when they are actually working at full strength.

With filter medie additions you are adding liave active bacteria that does not need to wake up.

There are two main differences between added Dr. Tim's for example and adding filter squeezings. First, the bottle bacteria is specific about the tank size it is good for. However, we have no idea how much bacteria we may be adding with filter squeezing and I am not sure how accurate Goop is no matter what they claim. My guess is they just use more than is needed to be sure it works as advertise on a given size tank.

Next, am maybe more importantly, bottled bacteria contains no nasties. if is grown in a nasty-free environment and goes into the bottle with mor germs or parasites. Fitler squeezings will certainly contain bacteria and likely parasites as well in lower levels. Most healthy fish can fight off such minimal numbers with the natural immunity. Stressed or weak fish cannot do this. The risk is even greater when the squeezings come from someone eles's tank.

I have read their site information and they do not do two things. The first is they do not tell you how they culture the bacteria, The second is they do not identify the specific strains of bacteria in the bottle. If they are basically culturing in an established aquarium with fish etc, of of they use squeezings a s astarter from wich they culture the bacteria, they are likely violating a patent on the Nitrorpira in their product. And established tank, in fresh, brackish or salt water will have Nitrospira.

I have seeded tanks and my bio-farm both ways- using dr. Tim's and or filter squeezings. Both work. But I am cheap about it. When I use the One and Only I buy about 1/2 or less of what I actually should and then cuclture the rest myself in the biofarm by adding ammonia until I have what I need fully ready.

I suppose not revealing the precise bacteria is to protect their sales from would be competition. They do seem trustable, you tube interviews.... Yes I agree, the bacteria drawn from vats, and sent out the same day to be used the next day on arrival should be bug free. I think I'm pretty much sold on trying it to be honest. I don't know how long bacteria in a bottle, unrefrigerated and just stood on a shelf for who knows how long survives. The good stuff it seems to me is refrigerated, sent out and bottled by order. I'm wary of Dr Tims, because I'm not sure I'd get it right, and it does seem superseded in some ways by such as goop.

 

[Oddball59]

I just don't trust any product that claims to be an "instant cycle".

There does seem to be good evidence for the good products, I'm going to give it a go, and I'll post what happens on here, I'm just aquascaping a new four foot tank at the moment. I'm not greatly experienced as my job has kept me travelling for forty years (60 or more) countries, but I did live in Japan for a year and Singapore for a year and did have modest tanks then, which of course I had to give away when I left, but now I'm retired and am very excited to begin this, also soaking up good info from the fine folks on here.
I do agree about trusting bottled bacteria but I think there is a line between such as the Fritz stuff and API or sachem, where you don't know how long it's sat there? and the live refrigerated decanted from a vat and sent out to use within 24 hours.