The Good Bacteria

[The-Wolf]

As we all know the nitrogen cycle is needed to have a healthy established tank.
we all mention good bacteria, but are you aware of their names?

Nitrosomonas oxidize NH3 (ammonia) to NO2 (nitrItes).
Nitrobacter oxidize the NO2 to NO3 (nitrAtes).
Colletively known as Nitrifying bacteria.

The bad bacteria, or more specifically, the bacteria we try not to get in aquariums
are called Anaerobic. that is because they don't require O2 (oxygen) to respire they use NO3.

It may strike you as odd that we, as aquarists, try and avoid the final phase of the cycle (letting anaerobic bacteria change NO3 to N2 (nitrogen), but they also produce other gasses like CH4 (methane) which can be very detrimental to aquatic life. It is best to do regular water changes to get rid of the NO3, and stir your substrate too as pockets of anaerobic bacteria are undisired.


References
http/users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/...rogenCycle.html
http/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane

 

[pseud]

Good to know the names of the bacteria when your LFS tries to tell you not to do a 25% weekly water change or you'll lose the bacteria. (and yes, I told tem about the filter)

 

[rdd1952]

Good to know the names of the bacteria when your LFS tries to tell you not to do a 25% weekly water change or you'll lose the bacteria. (and yes, I told tem about the filter)

After my change of substrate this past weekend, I am convinced that there is only a minimum amount of bacteria present any where other than the filter. I changed all the substrate, scrubbed the walls good (even used razor blade scrapper on some of the tough algae on the back of the tank) and even cleaned the plants good to make sure I had no snails left. Basically, that removed all the bacteria in the tank except for what was on the filters. That was Saturday evening and as of Tuesday morning (60 hours later), I still have not seen even a trace of either ammonia or nitrite. Fish and shrimp are doing great and seem to love the new tank setup.

 

[lljdma06]

Neat thread Wolf,

What prompted it?

This is only one of the reasons why I'm so happy to have planted tanks, I dig around in the gravel all the time!

Just curious. Thank you for the information.

 

[The-Wolf]

What prompted it?

mainly to help myself remember the names of the bacteria
but "what's good for the goose...."

 

[Bloo]

Good to know the names of the bacteria when your LFS tries to tell you not to do a 25% weekly water change or you'll lose the bacteria. (and yes, I told tem about the filter)

After my change of substrate this past weekend, I am convinced that there is only a minimum amount of bacteria present any where other than the filter. I changed all the substrate, scrubbed the walls good (even used razor blade scrapper on some of the tough algae on the back of the tank) and even cleaned the plants good to make sure I had no snails left. Basically, that removed all the bacteria in the tank except for what was on the filters. That was Saturday evening and as of Tuesday morning (60 hours later), I still have not seen even a trace of either ammonia or nitrite. Fish and shrimp are doing great and seem to love the new tank setup.

I totally agree. When I moved house a year ago I did exactly the same. I even did a 100% water change. And nothing. No change, swing or anything whatsoever. But my filter was kept running with the fish for about 3 hours and then moved into the sparkly new clean tank

 

[Xtech]

It may strike you as odd that we, as aquarists, try and avoid the final phase of the cycle (letting anaerobic bacteria change NO3 to N2 (nitrogen), but they also produce other gasses like CH4 (methane) which can be very detrimental to aquatic life. It is best to do regular water changes to get rid of the NO3, and stir your substrate too as pockets of anaerobic bacteria are undisired.

I read from Peter Hiscock that it was good to leave a dirty sponge in the filter for anerobic bacteria to eat some of the nitrates. Is this a good idea to do?

 

[mattbeau]

interesting because people are actually trying to make Anaerobic bacteria cultures

the idea is by having a long coil, nitrosoma and nitrobactor will find its self in the tube. As water passes the long distance of tubing (around 25 ft) the oxygen will have been completely used up then Anaerobic bacteria moves in using nitrate instead. theres also some designs that use tall cylindars that keep water and sand suspended. Anaerobic is found naturaly in the substrate of any natural pond or lake, so I wouldn't find it too disturbing to try to complete the cycle.


theres a few ideas and some people have been successfull, but for the most part it is bound to fail anyways and you risk poisoning your tank

I was going to try this but have decided to go with a heavily planted tank instead

it would be interesting to find a way to build a completely self sustaining ecosystem though.