OP
OP
NeonBlueLeon
Fishaholic
I was doing more searching today about ammonia in the tank, and I came across some interesting facts about our beneficial bacteria friends.
Nitrosomona bacteria take around 3-4 hours to reproduce (split into two cells) and nitrobacter take around 11 hours. Most seasoned aquarists know that the second colony of bacteria (nictrobacter) take longer to establish than the first colony (nitrosomona). This is very contrasting to the rate that E. coli can reproduce, which is around 30 minutes.
They described the reasoning to such a slow reproduction rate in terms of chemistry. There are chemical reactions that take place very fast, and produce lots of energy. One reaction everyone is familiar with is combustion, or burning. When you burn something, a flame is produced and you can feel the heat. What actually forms is water and carbon dioxide. Contrastingly, the chemistry that nitrosomona and nitrobacter use produce much lower amounts of energy, which results in much slower reproduction rates!
I guess that is why cycling a tank can take up to a few weeks. Imagine if nitrosomona and nitrobacter could reproduce as fast as E. coli. We could have fully cycled tanks in a day!! I am trying to find the scientific article I saw this in, but in my foolishness, I lost the source. I'll post it when I find it!
Nitrosomona bacteria take around 3-4 hours to reproduce (split into two cells) and nitrobacter take around 11 hours. Most seasoned aquarists know that the second colony of bacteria (nictrobacter) take longer to establish than the first colony (nitrosomona). This is very contrasting to the rate that E. coli can reproduce, which is around 30 minutes.
They described the reasoning to such a slow reproduction rate in terms of chemistry. There are chemical reactions that take place very fast, and produce lots of energy. One reaction everyone is familiar with is combustion, or burning. When you burn something, a flame is produced and you can feel the heat. What actually forms is water and carbon dioxide. Contrastingly, the chemistry that nitrosomona and nitrobacter use produce much lower amounts of energy, which results in much slower reproduction rates!
I guess that is why cycling a tank can take up to a few weeks. Imagine if nitrosomona and nitrobacter could reproduce as fast as E. coli. We could have fully cycled tanks in a day!! I am trying to find the scientific article I saw this in, but in my foolishness, I lost the source. I'll post it when I find it!
