Nitrifying Bacteria Mixtures Work - provided....
04/07/10 20:05 Filed in: Nitrifiers, Nitrifying bacteria, Starting a new aquarium, One & Only Nitrifying Bacteria
You read or hear from ‘experts’ that nitrifying bacteria mixtures don’t work so don’t waste your money. That statement may have been true 10 years ago but is not today. I will explain why. But first let me acknowledge that I do manufacturer and sell a mixture of nitrifying bacteria. However, unlike every other company selling these products, I have been conducting research on nitrifying bacteria for nearly 20 years, did my Ph.D. on nitrifying bacteria in aquaria and have published my work in peer-reviewed scientific literature. No other company can make those same claims. So I ask you: who’s bacteria would you rather buy? A brand developed by a scientist (who is also life-long fish hobbyist) who has been studying, published and developing nitrifying bacteria for aquaria for nearly 2 decades or one of the brands that has a big marketing department behind them?
Let’s me explain why some mixtures work and why you still hear that “they don’t”.
The right bacteria are different – for years there were only a couple of brands of nitrifying bacteria mixtures on the market. They contained the traditional species mixture of nitrifying bacteria and they did not perform very well. This soured many long time hobbyists and storeowners on nitrifying bacteria mixtures and it is hard to change someone’s opinion. My published research showed that the bacteria responsible for nitrification in aquaria were new species that had never been identified or cultured (subsequent research by other university researchers confirmed and extended my findings). My discoveries lead to the development of BioSpira® (trademarks are owned by their respective companies) and later to DrTim’s Aquatics® One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria. Many companies now claim their mixtures now contain these bacteria but they offer no proof and for years some even denied my research was valid so one needs to be careful trusting their claims.
Nitrifying bacteria can live in a bottle: for awhile – many think that nitrifying bacteria cannot live in a bottle and will say the reason is because nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores like other bacteria. This is a half-truth. Nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores but that doesn’t mean they can’t last in a bottle (thing about it – if nitrifying bacteria could not survive poor conditions how would they have survived for millions of years?) They can live in a bottle but under optimal conditions the time period is about one year. The nitrifying bacteria don’t die in the bottle, their activity level drops and eventually it becomes so low that there is little measurable positive effect when they are poured into the aquarium water. Provided the nitrifying bacteria in the bottle were not subject to bad environmental conditions (see the next paragraph) they can last about 1 year in a bottle.
No special preservation chemical or substance has been demonstrated to extend this time period. Refrigerating the bacteria is the only thing that has been shown to measurably extend their shelf life.
The solution for the hobbyist is to make sure the bacteria you buy has an easy to understand date label on the bottle. At DrTim’s Aquatics, we label each bottle with an easy to read “best by” date.
Nitrifying bacteria are sensitive to environment conditions – even when the bacteria in the bottle are the correct species there are certain environment conditions that harm and even kill the bacteria while they are in the bottle leading to their inability to accelerate the establishment of nitrification. The first condition is being exposed to temperatures outside the range they can survive. If the liquid in the bottle freezes the nitrifying bacteria are killed. It don’t matter the brand – freezing kills the nitrifying bacteria. High temperatures also can kill or damage nitrifying bacteria. If the bottle is exposed to 110°F for a day or so the bacteria can be killed. Prolonged exposure to temperatures over 95°F drastically reduces the shelf life of nitrifying bacteria.
Unfortunately, the normal way aquarium products are distributed is awful for nitrifying bacteria. The process is that a pallet of product is shipping by common carrier to the distributor’s (or chain store’s) warehouse. The product is not shipped in any special containers to protect against heat or cold and the truck is not temperature controlled. Once at the warehouse the pallet is checked in and stored in warehouse without any temperature control. The product can be in a warehouse in the middle of Texas or Arizona in the summer time or Chicago or update New York in the wintertime – neither are great conditions for nitrifying bacteria.
When an order is received the bacteria are packed just like filters or pumps - without any temperature protection. In fact, some distributors pack their trucks on Friday and leave them outside all weekend so they are ready to leave very early Monday morning. Think about the temperature in the trailer of a truck left this way in the Midwest in the wintertime – it does not matter what’s in the bottle chances are high the nitrifying bacteria are not going to survive.
If you are ordering nitrifying bacteria from the internet make sure the company you are placing the order with is shipping the bacteria in temperature controlled/protected box during the coldest and hottest times of the year. You might have to pay a little extra but it will ensure you get a viable product.
At DrTim’s we pay close attention to the weather and ship to our customers at every level (distributors, stores, hobbyists, etc.) in Styrofoam boxes with gel packs or heat packs (depending on the time of year).
Some people thing that nitrifying bacteria must be kept cold all the time but this is not true. The easiest way to think about how you should handle nitrifying bacteria is to treat them just like fish in a bag. You wouldn’t leave a bag of fish in your car in direct sunlight so don’t do that to your bacteria but they’ll do fine in the car for the ride home without any special container or gel ice (assuming the inside of the car is not freezing or over 110°F!!).
Consumers have some responsibility – Assuming the bottle of nitrifying bacteria contains the right mix of species and the bottle has been handled correctly before the consumer bought it we’re home free and everything should work, right! Well, not exactly. Consumers do are a responsibility/role in making sure the nitrifying bacteria works. They are the last ones in the chain. Over the years I have spoken to many customers and the few that have not had a perfect experience using nitrifying bacteria fall into a few groups:
1) The group that decided not to add the nitrifying bacteria until the ammonia (or nitrite, especially) concentration is off the scale. These people tried to save a little money but in the end they pay a lot more. They stocked the tank heavily and are feeding a lot and now they (and their fish) are in big trouble. The problem is that the correct species of nitrifying bacteria are sensitive to high levels of ammonia or nitrite. I will address this in more detail in another article but published results show that a major difference between the traditional nitrifying bacteria and the correct one for the aquarium are that the traditional nitrifying bacteria are for sewage treatment situations which have much much high concentrations of ammonia and nitrite. The aquarium species of nitrifying bacteria do not tolerate these high levels of ammonia or nitrite.
So if you’re experiencing ammonia or nitrite levels of 5 ppm or higher you need to do a water change before adding the nitrifying bacteria. Adding the nitrifying bacteria at the beginning gives them the best chance for success because they are not inhibited by high concentrations of ammonia or nitrite.
2) The next problem group is those people that overdose with ammonia removing chemicals. Overdosing the various types of these chemicals inhibits the nitrifying bacteria. Yes, some manufacturers say this is not possible but the results from talking to many hobbyists with problems getting nitrification to establish along with my own research say they are wrong.
If your ammonia level is high the safest thing to do is change some water – don’t just add more (and double or triple dose) with a chemical. And definitely don’t start adding more of another chemical. I have had more than one hobbyist who has bought (or maybe it is more correct to say ‘been sold’
) so many chemicals solutions to add to their new aquarium that it is a wonder anything can live in the ‘water’. Keep is simple – use one brand of ammonia-chlorine-chloramine remover (yes, I recommend DrTim’s Aquatics AquaCleanse), add the nitrifying bacteria (One and Only, of course) and a few fish (one medium sized fish per 2-3 gallons) and feed a little 2 or 3 times day. Monitor ammonia and nitrite and you’ll see they stay out of the toxic range and after a few days you can start to increase the numbers of fish.
This is a lot easier than changing water each day, netting dead fish and having a lousy experience setting-up your aquarium.
3) The group that plays it safe. They don’t add a nitrifying bacteria mixture but they think that’s ok because they also don’t add fish or ammonia during the start-up period. They just wait two weeks or so and then figure everything is cycled and ready to go. Of course, they have done nothing but extend the cycling period two weeks. The system needs an ammonia source whether from fish or ammonium chloride to feed the bacteria and get nitrification started.
4) The last group is those that decided their fish were sick and dosed the tank with antibiotics along with nitrifying bacteria during the cycling period. Just to be clear - nitrifying bacteria are bacteria and antibiotics will kill them too. I have had more than one customer call us to say they’re having problems getting their tank cycled only to learn, after much prodding to tell us everything they did, to say “well come to think of it my fish looked sick so I also added this antibiotic”.
Nitrifying bacteria mixtures do work. But like everything else there are reputable brands (based on real science) and there are cheap, worthless brands. Also, just like fish and corals, nitrifying bacteria are living organisms and can be killed or drastically harmed by poor conditions or mistreatment.
Applied correctly and treated well nitrifying bacteria mixtures in a bottle work and can dramatically reduce new tank syndrome and get your tank up and running with no hassles. Good fishkeeping.
Let’s me explain why some mixtures work and why you still hear that “they don’t”.
The right bacteria are different – for years there were only a couple of brands of nitrifying bacteria mixtures on the market. They contained the traditional species mixture of nitrifying bacteria and they did not perform very well. This soured many long time hobbyists and storeowners on nitrifying bacteria mixtures and it is hard to change someone’s opinion. My published research showed that the bacteria responsible for nitrification in aquaria were new species that had never been identified or cultured (subsequent research by other university researchers confirmed and extended my findings). My discoveries lead to the development of BioSpira® (trademarks are owned by their respective companies) and later to DrTim’s Aquatics® One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria. Many companies now claim their mixtures now contain these bacteria but they offer no proof and for years some even denied my research was valid so one needs to be careful trusting their claims.
Nitrifying bacteria can live in a bottle: for awhile – many think that nitrifying bacteria cannot live in a bottle and will say the reason is because nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores like other bacteria. This is a half-truth. Nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores but that doesn’t mean they can’t last in a bottle (thing about it – if nitrifying bacteria could not survive poor conditions how would they have survived for millions of years?) They can live in a bottle but under optimal conditions the time period is about one year. The nitrifying bacteria don’t die in the bottle, their activity level drops and eventually it becomes so low that there is little measurable positive effect when they are poured into the aquarium water. Provided the nitrifying bacteria in the bottle were not subject to bad environmental conditions (see the next paragraph) they can last about 1 year in a bottle.
No special preservation chemical or substance has been demonstrated to extend this time period. Refrigerating the bacteria is the only thing that has been shown to measurably extend their shelf life.
The solution for the hobbyist is to make sure the bacteria you buy has an easy to understand date label on the bottle. At DrTim’s Aquatics, we label each bottle with an easy to read “best by” date.
Nitrifying bacteria are sensitive to environment conditions – even when the bacteria in the bottle are the correct species there are certain environment conditions that harm and even kill the bacteria while they are in the bottle leading to their inability to accelerate the establishment of nitrification. The first condition is being exposed to temperatures outside the range they can survive. If the liquid in the bottle freezes the nitrifying bacteria are killed. It don’t matter the brand – freezing kills the nitrifying bacteria. High temperatures also can kill or damage nitrifying bacteria. If the bottle is exposed to 110°F for a day or so the bacteria can be killed. Prolonged exposure to temperatures over 95°F drastically reduces the shelf life of nitrifying bacteria.
Unfortunately, the normal way aquarium products are distributed is awful for nitrifying bacteria. The process is that a pallet of product is shipping by common carrier to the distributor’s (or chain store’s) warehouse. The product is not shipped in any special containers to protect against heat or cold and the truck is not temperature controlled. Once at the warehouse the pallet is checked in and stored in warehouse without any temperature control. The product can be in a warehouse in the middle of Texas or Arizona in the summer time or Chicago or update New York in the wintertime – neither are great conditions for nitrifying bacteria.
When an order is received the bacteria are packed just like filters or pumps - without any temperature protection. In fact, some distributors pack their trucks on Friday and leave them outside all weekend so they are ready to leave very early Monday morning. Think about the temperature in the trailer of a truck left this way in the Midwest in the wintertime – it does not matter what’s in the bottle chances are high the nitrifying bacteria are not going to survive.
If you are ordering nitrifying bacteria from the internet make sure the company you are placing the order with is shipping the bacteria in temperature controlled/protected box during the coldest and hottest times of the year. You might have to pay a little extra but it will ensure you get a viable product.
At DrTim’s we pay close attention to the weather and ship to our customers at every level (distributors, stores, hobbyists, etc.) in Styrofoam boxes with gel packs or heat packs (depending on the time of year).
Some people thing that nitrifying bacteria must be kept cold all the time but this is not true. The easiest way to think about how you should handle nitrifying bacteria is to treat them just like fish in a bag. You wouldn’t leave a bag of fish in your car in direct sunlight so don’t do that to your bacteria but they’ll do fine in the car for the ride home without any special container or gel ice (assuming the inside of the car is not freezing or over 110°F!!).
Consumers have some responsibility – Assuming the bottle of nitrifying bacteria contains the right mix of species and the bottle has been handled correctly before the consumer bought it we’re home free and everything should work, right! Well, not exactly. Consumers do are a responsibility/role in making sure the nitrifying bacteria works. They are the last ones in the chain. Over the years I have spoken to many customers and the few that have not had a perfect experience using nitrifying bacteria fall into a few groups:
1) The group that decided not to add the nitrifying bacteria until the ammonia (or nitrite, especially) concentration is off the scale. These people tried to save a little money but in the end they pay a lot more. They stocked the tank heavily and are feeding a lot and now they (and their fish) are in big trouble. The problem is that the correct species of nitrifying bacteria are sensitive to high levels of ammonia or nitrite. I will address this in more detail in another article but published results show that a major difference between the traditional nitrifying bacteria and the correct one for the aquarium are that the traditional nitrifying bacteria are for sewage treatment situations which have much much high concentrations of ammonia and nitrite. The aquarium species of nitrifying bacteria do not tolerate these high levels of ammonia or nitrite.
So if you’re experiencing ammonia or nitrite levels of 5 ppm or higher you need to do a water change before adding the nitrifying bacteria. Adding the nitrifying bacteria at the beginning gives them the best chance for success because they are not inhibited by high concentrations of ammonia or nitrite.
2) The next problem group is those people that overdose with ammonia removing chemicals. Overdosing the various types of these chemicals inhibits the nitrifying bacteria. Yes, some manufacturers say this is not possible but the results from talking to many hobbyists with problems getting nitrification to establish along with my own research say they are wrong.
If your ammonia level is high the safest thing to do is change some water – don’t just add more (and double or triple dose) with a chemical. And definitely don’t start adding more of another chemical. I have had more than one hobbyist who has bought (or maybe it is more correct to say ‘been sold’
) so many chemicals solutions to add to their new aquarium that it is a wonder anything can live in the ‘water’. Keep is simple – use one brand of ammonia-chlorine-chloramine remover (yes, I recommend DrTim’s Aquatics AquaCleanse), add the nitrifying bacteria (One and Only, of course) and a few fish (one medium sized fish per 2-3 gallons) and feed a little 2 or 3 times day. Monitor ammonia and nitrite and you’ll see they stay out of the toxic range and after a few days you can start to increase the numbers of fish.This is a lot easier than changing water each day, netting dead fish and having a lousy experience setting-up your aquarium.
3) The group that plays it safe. They don’t add a nitrifying bacteria mixture but they think that’s ok because they also don’t add fish or ammonia during the start-up period. They just wait two weeks or so and then figure everything is cycled and ready to go. Of course, they have done nothing but extend the cycling period two weeks. The system needs an ammonia source whether from fish or ammonium chloride to feed the bacteria and get nitrification started.
4) The last group is those that decided their fish were sick and dosed the tank with antibiotics along with nitrifying bacteria during the cycling period. Just to be clear - nitrifying bacteria are bacteria and antibiotics will kill them too. I have had more than one customer call us to say they’re having problems getting their tank cycled only to learn, after much prodding to tell us everything they did, to say “well come to think of it my fish looked sick so I also added this antibiotic”.
Nitrifying bacteria mixtures do work. But like everything else there are reputable brands (based on real science) and there are cheap, worthless brands. Also, just like fish and corals, nitrifying bacteria are living organisms and can be killed or drastically harmed by poor conditions or mistreatment.
Applied correctly and treated well nitrifying bacteria mixtures in a bottle work and can dramatically reduce new tank syndrome and get your tank up and running with no hassles. Good fishkeeping.
Reduce Stress in your Aquarium
Fish and corals react to stress in many of the same ways that humans do. Stress can reduce their ability to fight off disease, result in poor body condition and cause loss of color. If the stress agents in the aquarium are not removed the animal will eventually be invaded by opportunistic bacteria or develop a viral infection and the die.
So what are the common stress agents in an aquarium? The most common is poor water quality. But poor water quality is a rather general term as what may be poor for one animal could be fine for another so one needs to know some basics about the animals they are keeping. Also the stress may be a series of problems that finally affect the fish or corals. For example, nitrifying bacteria prefer a higher pH value (between 7.5 and 8.5) and as the pH drops below this range the bacteria do not perform as well at removing ammonia. As the pH drops below 7 and close to 6 the bacteria may stop functioning and ammonia can start to build up in the aquarium water. Constant low levels of ammonia have been shown to stunt fish growth and open fish up to bacterial diseases. So the problem (the stress agent) in this case is the ammonia but the reason for the ammonia is the low pH of the water. Raising the pH by doing a partial water change will solve this problem but I know of cases where hobbyists try to ‘treat’ the ammonia rather than fix the pH. Low pH is a common stressor in aquaria but easily eliminated by doing regular partial water changes.
Other stress agents are the netting-bagging-transport of fish or corals from the fish store to your house, fragging corals, fish harassing other fish, and poor nutrition. Each of these can be eliminated resulting in healthier fish and corals.
A newly set-up aquarium can be full of stressors to fish and corals. A lack of a functioning biofilter can lead to high ammonia and nitrite concentrations, the process of getting the fish and corals from the store to the tank, just the change in water conditions from where the fish were to your new tank can all increase the stress level on the fish and corals.
Another factor to consider is that the very nature of most aquaria eliminates many natural stress relief agents that could help the fish deal with the stress agents they encounter. Hobbyist strive to have ‘gin clear’ water and an algae free aquarium down to cleaning the rocks and other decorations all of which eliminates things that can be helpful at relieving stress. Many algaes and the small organisms that feed on them that are eaten by fish or filter-feeding corals provide vitamins, minerals and other important products that help fish and corals fight stress when it arises.
One way to help your fish and corals fight stress, besides providing good water quality and nutrition, is by periodically adding a scientifically formulated stress relief product such as DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense. First Defense contains, among other things, a mixture of vitamins, immunostimulants, and a slime coat replacement substance all of which promotes healing and repair wounds.
First Defense can also stimulant feeding in fish that don’t seem interested in eating. You might be thinking, “How can it do that when the fish aren’t eating in the first place?” The answer lies in the basic physiology of fish. Freshwater fish are ‘saltier’ than the water they are in so aquarium water is automatically absorbed by osmosis through the skin and gills along with whatever is in the water. So adding the vitamins in First Defense to the aquarium water means those vitamins will be absorbed into the fish helping the fish fight stress.
Saltwater fish have the opposite situation compared the freshwater fish. Saltwater are continually losing their internal water to the aquarium so they must constantly drink aquarium water to replenish the water loss. Therefore, any vitamins, minerals and other stress relief agents in the water are ingested along with the water.
As mentioned earlier many stressors open the fish up to what are called secondary bacteria diseases. Secondary, in this case, means that the bacteria were not the initial stressor of the fish but now that the fish are stressed they are more susceptible to bacterial infection.
There are two ways First Defense helps to fight-off bacterial diseases. Firstly, bacteria need an invasion point or spot to gain entry into the fish. This spot usually occurs where the natural slime coat of the fish has been lost either by being rubbed off or the fish losing a scale. First Defense contains polymers that act to replace the slime coat and help ward off infection points.
Secondly, for bacteria and viruses to be effective they must overwhelm the natural defenses of the fish or coral. A simple explanation of how they attempt to do this is by not signally their presence to the fishes’ immune system until they have sufficient numbers to invaded and defeat the immune system. DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense contains immunostimulants that naturally turn on the immune system so it is not surprised by any bacterial or viral invaders and be ready to fight them.
Eliminating stress in your aquarium is not difficult: providing good water quality, a balanced diet and supplementing with DrTim’s First Defense will go a long way to maintaining a stress free aquarium environment. Good fishkeeping.
So what are the common stress agents in an aquarium? The most common is poor water quality. But poor water quality is a rather general term as what may be poor for one animal could be fine for another so one needs to know some basics about the animals they are keeping. Also the stress may be a series of problems that finally affect the fish or corals. For example, nitrifying bacteria prefer a higher pH value (between 7.5 and 8.5) and as the pH drops below this range the bacteria do not perform as well at removing ammonia. As the pH drops below 7 and close to 6 the bacteria may stop functioning and ammonia can start to build up in the aquarium water. Constant low levels of ammonia have been shown to stunt fish growth and open fish up to bacterial diseases. So the problem (the stress agent) in this case is the ammonia but the reason for the ammonia is the low pH of the water. Raising the pH by doing a partial water change will solve this problem but I know of cases where hobbyists try to ‘treat’ the ammonia rather than fix the pH. Low pH is a common stressor in aquaria but easily eliminated by doing regular partial water changes.
Other stress agents are the netting-bagging-transport of fish or corals from the fish store to your house, fragging corals, fish harassing other fish, and poor nutrition. Each of these can be eliminated resulting in healthier fish and corals.
A newly set-up aquarium can be full of stressors to fish and corals. A lack of a functioning biofilter can lead to high ammonia and nitrite concentrations, the process of getting the fish and corals from the store to the tank, just the change in water conditions from where the fish were to your new tank can all increase the stress level on the fish and corals.
Another factor to consider is that the very nature of most aquaria eliminates many natural stress relief agents that could help the fish deal with the stress agents they encounter. Hobbyist strive to have ‘gin clear’ water and an algae free aquarium down to cleaning the rocks and other decorations all of which eliminates things that can be helpful at relieving stress. Many algaes and the small organisms that feed on them that are eaten by fish or filter-feeding corals provide vitamins, minerals and other important products that help fish and corals fight stress when it arises.
One way to help your fish and corals fight stress, besides providing good water quality and nutrition, is by periodically adding a scientifically formulated stress relief product such as DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense. First Defense contains, among other things, a mixture of vitamins, immunostimulants, and a slime coat replacement substance all of which promotes healing and repair wounds.
Saltwater fish have the opposite situation compared the freshwater fish. Saltwater are continually losing their internal water to the aquarium so they must constantly drink aquarium water to replenish the water loss. Therefore, any vitamins, minerals and other stress relief agents in the water are ingested along with the water.
As mentioned earlier many stressors open the fish up to what are called secondary bacteria diseases. Secondary, in this case, means that the bacteria were not the initial stressor of the fish but now that the fish are stressed they are more susceptible to bacterial infection.
There are two ways First Defense helps to fight-off bacterial diseases. Firstly, bacteria need an invasion point or spot to gain entry into the fish. This spot usually occurs where the natural slime coat of the fish has been lost either by being rubbed off or the fish losing a scale. First Defense contains polymers that act to replace the slime coat and help ward off infection points.
Secondly, for bacteria and viruses to be effective they must overwhelm the natural defenses of the fish or coral. A simple explanation of how they attempt to do this is by not signally their presence to the fishes’ immune system until they have sufficient numbers to invaded and defeat the immune system. DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense contains immunostimulants that naturally turn on the immune system so it is not surprised by any bacterial or viral invaders and be ready to fight them.
Eliminating stress in your aquarium is not difficult: providing good water quality, a balanced diet and supplementing with DrTim’s First Defense will go a long way to maintaining a stress free aquarium environment. Good fishkeeping.
Aquarium maintainance - it doesn't have to be hard
Maintenance – no one likes to do maintenance on aquariums or anything else. But maintenance on an aquarium does not have to be hard or time consuming. A few minutes each week with an hour or so once a month is all this is necessary for most aquaria. Plus DrTim’s Aquatics makes a few products that help reduce the time needed for maintenance. Here we’ll review the basics of aquarium maintenance and discuss ways to make it even easier to perform.
The main purpose of maintenance is to remove organic matter from the aquarium. In general, there are two types of organics – particulate and dissolved. Particulate organic matter is the stuff you can easily see that develops on the filter pads and in the gravel. Dissolved organics are much harder to see because they are, obviously, dissolved in the water!
A lot of organic matter is trapped on the filter pad so this is the first place to start. On a weekly basis remove the filter pad and rinse it well. Don’t worry about destroying any nitrifying bacteria as it is more important to get rid of the organic material. You’ll need to replace the mechanical filter every 4 to 5 weeks or so.
The next place where debris accumulates is on and in the gravel or coral bed. This material can be removed during monthly water changes by using a siphon type of gravel washer that churns the gravel in a large tube while removing the water and debris. If your tank is small and so you don’t have a lot of water to work with clean half the bottom of the tank one month and the other half the next month and switch back and forth like that. Regularly changing 25 to 33% of the water each month will go along way to ensuring lasting success of your aquarium.
The above simple tips are the standard tried and true ways to maintain your aquarium. They don’t take long and work well, especially when practiced on regular schedule, but there are a few other things you can do to make maintenance even easier and less time consuming.
As you probably have figured out by now removing organic material is important but why? Organics are sources of food for bacteria that work to break them down into ammonia and other substances and in the process consume oxygen that would be otherwise available to the fish and nitrifying bacteria in the aquarium. So organics are a drag of the entire aquarium system. But we can use bacteria to help control the rate of organic reduction and make it a constant process which is a good thing.
DrTim’s Aquatics Waste-Away™ is a highly concentrated mixture of sludge (organic) degrading bacteria that works on both particulate and dissolved organics. It is 100% natural and consists of bacteria specially isolated from aquaria. Other sludge busting products use bacteria from wastewater treatment facilities or other non-aquarium environments. Our bacteria prefer the aquarium environment and respond much better than competitive products. Adding Waste-Away to your aquarium on a weekly basis provides a controlled way to keep organics to a minimum and prevent radical changes in the aquarium water quality. Using way will help keep your filter pad cleaner longer and so you’ll not need to spend as much time clean it.
Also if you have a tank where getting to bottom substrate is hard to reach for whatever reason Waste-Away can replace the use of the gravel washer. Also organics can accumulate in the crevices and spots that you can’t see. Again, regular use of Waste-Away will remove the organics from these hard to reach spots and keep the tank better balanced.
There are some precautions to using Waste-Away. Since Waste-Away is so concentrated it can be overdosed so do not add more than the correct amount for your aquarium. Also if your tank has been set-up for a while when you first use Waste-Away you should start with only a half a dose initially. After a few days you can add the other half of the dose but start slowly. This is also important if you have not been cleaning the tank on a regular basis because if there are a lot of organics in the system and you add too much Waste-Away you might get a bacteria bloom. A bacteria bloom will turn the water cloudy white and, in extreme cases, can remove too much oxygen from the water resulting in fish deaths. So, again, please don’t overdose Waste-Away or for that matter any sludge busting bacterial mixture. Have some patience and make frequent small additions rather than just pouring a bunch into the tank.
Aquarium maintenance does not have to be hard nor time consuming. A little time each week along with the use of quality products will make the task easier. Your tank will look great, your fish healthier and you’ll get much more enjoyment. Good fishkeeping.
The main purpose of maintenance is to remove organic matter from the aquarium. In general, there are two types of organics – particulate and dissolved. Particulate organic matter is the stuff you can easily see that develops on the filter pads and in the gravel. Dissolved organics are much harder to see because they are, obviously, dissolved in the water!
A lot of organic matter is trapped on the filter pad so this is the first place to start. On a weekly basis remove the filter pad and rinse it well. Don’t worry about destroying any nitrifying bacteria as it is more important to get rid of the organic material. You’ll need to replace the mechanical filter every 4 to 5 weeks or so.
The next place where debris accumulates is on and in the gravel or coral bed. This material can be removed during monthly water changes by using a siphon type of gravel washer that churns the gravel in a large tube while removing the water and debris. If your tank is small and so you don’t have a lot of water to work with clean half the bottom of the tank one month and the other half the next month and switch back and forth like that. Regularly changing 25 to 33% of the water each month will go along way to ensuring lasting success of your aquarium.
The above simple tips are the standard tried and true ways to maintain your aquarium. They don’t take long and work well, especially when practiced on regular schedule, but there are a few other things you can do to make maintenance even easier and less time consuming.
As you probably have figured out by now removing organic material is important but why? Organics are sources of food for bacteria that work to break them down into ammonia and other substances and in the process consume oxygen that would be otherwise available to the fish and nitrifying bacteria in the aquarium. So organics are a drag of the entire aquarium system. But we can use bacteria to help control the rate of organic reduction and make it a constant process which is a good thing.
Also if you have a tank where getting to bottom substrate is hard to reach for whatever reason Waste-Away can replace the use of the gravel washer. Also organics can accumulate in the crevices and spots that you can’t see. Again, regular use of Waste-Away will remove the organics from these hard to reach spots and keep the tank better balanced.
There are some precautions to using Waste-Away. Since Waste-Away is so concentrated it can be overdosed so do not add more than the correct amount for your aquarium. Also if your tank has been set-up for a while when you first use Waste-Away you should start with only a half a dose initially. After a few days you can add the other half of the dose but start slowly. This is also important if you have not been cleaning the tank on a regular basis because if there are a lot of organics in the system and you add too much Waste-Away you might get a bacteria bloom. A bacteria bloom will turn the water cloudy white and, in extreme cases, can remove too much oxygen from the water resulting in fish deaths. So, again, please don’t overdose Waste-Away or for that matter any sludge busting bacterial mixture. Have some patience and make frequent small additions rather than just pouring a bunch into the tank.
Aquarium maintenance does not have to be hard nor time consuming. A little time each week along with the use of quality products will make the task easier. Your tank will look great, your fish healthier and you’ll get much more enjoyment. Good fishkeeping.
Nitrifying bacteria aren’t Human
23/05/10 09:16 Filed in: One & Only Nitrifying bacteria | Starting a new aquarium | Nitrifiers, Nitrifying bacteria
What? Of course, nitrifying bacteria aren’t human everyone knows that. If that’s the case, which it is, then why do so many people insist on giving nitrifying bacteria human traits? What I am talking about is the continued insistence of many that nitrifying bacteria can’t possibly survive in a bottle because they will starve due to lack of food, if they don’t suffocate first due to lack of oxygen in the bottle. Therefore, no nitrifying bacteria mixture can work because they all come in a bottle.
Humans need oxygen and food to survive. Nitrifying bacteria need oxygen and food to reproduce – there is a difference.
So how can nitrifying bacteria live in a bottle? Well, first we have to make sure we are on the same page definition wise. For humans, the opposite of live is dead. So if a human being is not living they are dead. But bacteria are not human and have a third option which is a state of not living (meaning their metabolism is almost shut-off) but they are not dead. There are a few different terms for bacteria in this state but the most common term is “viable but nonculturable”. As stated earlier, in this state the metabolic activity of the bacteria is basically nonexistent and the bacteria can last a very long time in this condition waiting until conditions get better. This is one reason bacteria have been able to survive so long – they can shutdown and wait out bad environmental conditions.
One also reads a lot that since nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores (which is true) they cannot shutdown and go into a resting phase which is false. Nitrifying bacteria have a different way of maintaining their viability when conditions are poor which relates to the fact that they prefer to be attached to surfaces where they can develop a coating or shield of exoploymer substances (EPS) that protects them.
Once put into the bottle nitrifying bacteria no longer have access to food (ammonia or nitrite) and the oxygen level in the liquid in the bottle will drop. The bacteria will sense their environment is changing and they will start to go into the viable but nonculturable state. How long it takes the bacteria to reach this state depends on the temperature, their condition when first placed in the bottle and a few other factors.
So why do so many people think that nitrifying bacteria can’t survive in a bottle in the first place? The main reason is that many hobbyists have used bottled mixtures of nitrifying bacteria and seen poor to no benefits in terms of accelerating the establishment of the biological filter in their tank. Namely, their tank did not cycle any faster than if they had not used the nitrifying bacteria. So the thinking is that bacteria were good at the manufacturing facility but once placed in a bottle they quickly die and became useless. Of course, this scenario depends on one main factor – that the nitrifying bacteria are the right bacteria for the aquaria in the first place.
As my peer-reviewed published research has shown not all nitrifying bacteria are the same. The nitrifying bacteria in aquaria are different species than those in wastewater treatment facilities (which are species bottled by many companies) and are not the typical species everyone thought were responsible for nitrification in aquaria. Thus, to put it simply, manufacturers were growing and bottling the wrong nitrifying bacteria and no matter what they were stored in or even if they were fresh from the facility they were not going to work in the aquaria environment. So, in reality, the bottle had nothing to do with it.
Does that mean nitrifying bacteria can last forever in a bottle – no, they cannot but they can last for awhile. And by ‘last’ I mean start to working quickly once poured into the aquarium to start getting rid of ammonia and nitrite (‘last’ does not mean live or die). Based on my research and experience, assuming the bacteria are the correct species, the nitrifiers can last for up to one year in a bottle. This assumes the bottle (and the bacteria) were not frozen (that’s a sure killer because it breaks the cell wall) or exposed to temperatures above 104°F for very long (a day or so). Think of the nitrifying bacteria in a bottle as a group of rechargeable batteries that are slowly losing power. They have a full charge for awhile then slowly the power starts to drain until after a year there is very little power left.
DrTim’s Aquatics One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria are different than all other products as they are the result of over 15 years of my experience and research on nitrifying bacteria, are grown on a substrate so they have the EPS to protect them and bottled in peak condition. The results and the experience of those who have used DrTim’s Aquatics One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria, from home aquarists to professionals in the biggest public aquaria, speak for themselves – don’t accept any other. Good fishkeeping .
Humans need oxygen and food to survive. Nitrifying bacteria need oxygen and food to reproduce – there is a difference.
So how can nitrifying bacteria live in a bottle? Well, first we have to make sure we are on the same page definition wise. For humans, the opposite of live is dead. So if a human being is not living they are dead. But bacteria are not human and have a third option which is a state of not living (meaning their metabolism is almost shut-off) but they are not dead. There are a few different terms for bacteria in this state but the most common term is “viable but nonculturable”. As stated earlier, in this state the metabolic activity of the bacteria is basically nonexistent and the bacteria can last a very long time in this condition waiting until conditions get better. This is one reason bacteria have been able to survive so long – they can shutdown and wait out bad environmental conditions.
One also reads a lot that since nitrifying bacteria don’t form spores (which is true) they cannot shutdown and go into a resting phase which is false. Nitrifying bacteria have a different way of maintaining their viability when conditions are poor which relates to the fact that they prefer to be attached to surfaces where they can develop a coating or shield of exoploymer substances (EPS) that protects them.
Once put into the bottle nitrifying bacteria no longer have access to food (ammonia or nitrite) and the oxygen level in the liquid in the bottle will drop. The bacteria will sense their environment is changing and they will start to go into the viable but nonculturable state. How long it takes the bacteria to reach this state depends on the temperature, their condition when first placed in the bottle and a few other factors.
So why do so many people think that nitrifying bacteria can’t survive in a bottle in the first place? The main reason is that many hobbyists have used bottled mixtures of nitrifying bacteria and seen poor to no benefits in terms of accelerating the establishment of the biological filter in their tank. Namely, their tank did not cycle any faster than if they had not used the nitrifying bacteria. So the thinking is that bacteria were good at the manufacturing facility but once placed in a bottle they quickly die and became useless. Of course, this scenario depends on one main factor – that the nitrifying bacteria are the right bacteria for the aquaria in the first place.
As my peer-reviewed published research has shown not all nitrifying bacteria are the same. The nitrifying bacteria in aquaria are different species than those in wastewater treatment facilities (which are species bottled by many companies) and are not the typical species everyone thought were responsible for nitrification in aquaria. Thus, to put it simply, manufacturers were growing and bottling the wrong nitrifying bacteria and no matter what they were stored in or even if they were fresh from the facility they were not going to work in the aquaria environment. So, in reality, the bottle had nothing to do with it.
Does that mean nitrifying bacteria can last forever in a bottle – no, they cannot but they can last for awhile. And by ‘last’ I mean start to working quickly once poured into the aquarium to start getting rid of ammonia and nitrite (‘last’ does not mean live or die). Based on my research and experience, assuming the bacteria are the correct species, the nitrifiers can last for up to one year in a bottle. This assumes the bottle (and the bacteria) were not frozen (that’s a sure killer because it breaks the cell wall) or exposed to temperatures above 104°F for very long (a day or so). Think of the nitrifying bacteria in a bottle as a group of rechargeable batteries that are slowly losing power. They have a full charge for awhile then slowly the power starts to drain until after a year there is very little power left.
DrTim’s Aquatics One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria are different than all other products as they are the result of over 15 years of my experience and research on nitrifying bacteria, are grown on a substrate so they have the EPS to protect them and bottled in peak condition. The results and the experience of those who have used DrTim’s Aquatics One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria, from home aquarists to professionals in the biggest public aquaria, speak for themselves – don’t accept any other. Good fishkeeping
.Setting up your aquarium
22/05/10 11:00 Filed in: Starting a new aquarium | Aquarium Water Quality | One & Only Nitrifying bacteria
Setting up a new aquarium can be intimidating and exciting at the same time. But while excitement is good, feeling intimidating is not so good. Taking the apprehension out of the process and helping you succeed in setting up your aquarium is the goal of this article.
Assuming you already have the aquarium where is the best place to put it? The location should not be in direct sunlight as this will encourage algae growth nor in an area where air from a heater or air conditioner will blow directly on the tank as this may cause water temperature fluctuations which are not good for the fish. Lastly, try not to put the tank in an area of the house where there is a lot of traffic as this may cause the fish to feel constantly stressed.
Now that the location is picked, it’s time to add gravel (or crushed coral for saltwater tanks), the filter, heater, light and other devices. The choice of which brand to use for these items is up to you but should be based on recommendations from your fish store, reviews and your wallet. Don’t make it too complicated and ask questions if you’re not sure how to decide between one and another. For most aquaria a gravel bed about 2 inches deep, a good heater set to 76 to 78 deg F and a filter that is sized for the aquarium is fine. The most important thing to know about the filter is how to service it. The aquarium filter will have to cleaned once in awhile and if it is too complicated you’ll tend not to clean it enough. So get one you can easily clean and understand. Lastly, add some decorations such as rocks, driftwood, ornaments etc to give the tank some personality.
Once everything it set-up it time to add water. In most areas, and for most aquaria, using tap water is fine but you’ll have to treat the water since most likely the water contains chlorine or chloramines which make it safe for drinking but dangerous for fish. DrTim’s Aquatics AquaCleanse will get rid of both chlorine and chloramine and destroy any ammonia in the water, too.
Next get the filter running and plug in the heater. The tank should run at least over night before adding fish to give the water temperature a chance to stabilize and just to make sure everything it ready.
At this point you have a decision to make regarding how to ‘cycle’ the tank. Cycling is name give to the process of establishing the beneficial bacteria (called nitrifying bacteria) that get rid of the toxic fish wastes. There are two ways to cycle a new aquarium either with a few fish or without fish in a process called fishless cycling (click here to learn more about fishless cycling). Either way, the cycling process can take 30 to 35 days to complete unless you add some nitrifying bacteria to the tank at this point. DrTim’s One and Only Live Nitrifying are the industry standard for nitrifying bacteria and used by professionals at more public aquariums than any other brand.
The simplest way to proceed is to add a bottle of One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria and a few hardy fish such as most bards, danios or many tetras. The exact number of fish depends on many factors (size being a big one) but a good starting point is one fish per two gallons. Also not all fish like newly set-up aquaria even when dosed with DrTim’s One and Only. At this point in the process stay away from Discus, Angelfish, and some tetras such as Rummy Nose, Neon and Cardinals. Feed a quality fish feed twice a day but just the amount the fish will eat quickly (about 3 minutes). After a week or so if the fish are eating well you can start to add more fish to the tank. Make sure to add some DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense stress relief for fish and invertebrates which helps these organisms fight disease and adjust to their new surroundings.
To really be sure everything is progressing you can invest in some test kits to measure ammonia and nitrite and make sure they stay within safe concentrations.
Now at this point you may be saying to yourself “this sounds so simple why do people have so many problems with a new aquarium?”
There a few reasons for the problems people have with new tanks. The most common reason being that they did not add any nitrifying bacteria at the start or they added an ineffective brand. Not all brands of nitrifying bacteria are the equal. The principals at DrTim’s Aquatics discovered the true species of nitrifying bacteria in aquaria (see the scientific papers here) and have a long history of providing the right mix of nitrifying bacteria for success – don’t trust any other brand. Secondly, people make a decision not to add the nitrifying bacteria at the start but wait until they start to see high levels of ammonia or nitrite. This is a mistake and will cost you more money and time while increasing your frustration level because at high levels on ammonia or nitrite actually inhibit the nitrifying bacteria and cause them to work slower.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and add DrTim’s Aquatics Live Nitrifying bacteria at the start on the process. Also don’t overfeed the fish and don’t vacuum the substrate for the first 3 weeks which gives the bacteria a chance to attach to the gravel or coral. You can read more about what happens during the first 30 days of a new aquarium here.
Setting up a new aquarium does not have to be a chore – have some patience, don’t overfeed and use DrTim’s One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria and you’ll soon be thinking about getting another aquarium! Good fishkeeping.
Assuming you already have the aquarium where is the best place to put it? The location should not be in direct sunlight as this will encourage algae growth nor in an area where air from a heater or air conditioner will blow directly on the tank as this may cause water temperature fluctuations which are not good for the fish. Lastly, try not to put the tank in an area of the house where there is a lot of traffic as this may cause the fish to feel constantly stressed.
Now that the location is picked, it’s time to add gravel (or crushed coral for saltwater tanks), the filter, heater, light and other devices. The choice of which brand to use for these items is up to you but should be based on recommendations from your fish store, reviews and your wallet. Don’t make it too complicated and ask questions if you’re not sure how to decide between one and another. For most aquaria a gravel bed about 2 inches deep, a good heater set to 76 to 78 deg F and a filter that is sized for the aquarium is fine. The most important thing to know about the filter is how to service it. The aquarium filter will have to cleaned once in awhile and if it is too complicated you’ll tend not to clean it enough. So get one you can easily clean and understand. Lastly, add some decorations such as rocks, driftwood, ornaments etc to give the tank some personality.
Once everything it set-up it time to add water. In most areas, and for most aquaria, using tap water is fine but you’ll have to treat the water since most likely the water contains chlorine or chloramines which make it safe for drinking but dangerous for fish. DrTim’s Aquatics AquaCleanse will get rid of both chlorine and chloramine and destroy any ammonia in the water, too.
Next get the filter running and plug in the heater. The tank should run at least over night before adding fish to give the water temperature a chance to stabilize and just to make sure everything it ready.
At this point you have a decision to make regarding how to ‘cycle’ the tank. Cycling is name give to the process of establishing the beneficial bacteria (called nitrifying bacteria) that get rid of the toxic fish wastes. There are two ways to cycle a new aquarium either with a few fish or without fish in a process called fishless cycling (click here to learn more about fishless cycling). Either way, the cycling process can take 30 to 35 days to complete unless you add some nitrifying bacteria to the tank at this point. DrTim’s One and Only Live Nitrifying are the industry standard for nitrifying bacteria and used by professionals at more public aquariums than any other brand.
The simplest way to proceed is to add a bottle of One and Only Live Nitrifying bacteria and a few hardy fish such as most bards, danios or many tetras. The exact number of fish depends on many factors (size being a big one) but a good starting point is one fish per two gallons. Also not all fish like newly set-up aquaria even when dosed with DrTim’s One and Only. At this point in the process stay away from Discus, Angelfish, and some tetras such as Rummy Nose, Neon and Cardinals. Feed a quality fish feed twice a day but just the amount the fish will eat quickly (about 3 minutes). After a week or so if the fish are eating well you can start to add more fish to the tank. Make sure to add some DrTim’s Aquatics First Defense stress relief for fish and invertebrates which helps these organisms fight disease and adjust to their new surroundings.
To really be sure everything is progressing you can invest in some test kits to measure ammonia and nitrite and make sure they stay within safe concentrations.
Now at this point you may be saying to yourself “this sounds so simple why do people have so many problems with a new aquarium?”
There a few reasons for the problems people have with new tanks. The most common reason being that they did not add any nitrifying bacteria at the start or they added an ineffective brand. Not all brands of nitrifying bacteria are the equal. The principals at DrTim’s Aquatics discovered the true species of nitrifying bacteria in aquaria (see the scientific papers here) and have a long history of providing the right mix of nitrifying bacteria for success – don’t trust any other brand. Secondly, people make a decision not to add the nitrifying bacteria at the start but wait until they start to see high levels of ammonia or nitrite. This is a mistake and will cost you more money and time while increasing your frustration level because at high levels on ammonia or nitrite actually inhibit the nitrifying bacteria and cause them to work slower.
Save yourself a lot of headaches and add DrTim’s Aquatics Live Nitrifying bacteria at the start on the process. Also don’t overfeed the fish and don’t vacuum the substrate for the first 3 weeks which gives the bacteria a chance to attach to the gravel or coral. You can read more about what happens during the first 30 days of a new aquarium here.
Setting up a new aquarium does not have to be a chore – have some patience, don’t overfeed and use DrTim’s One and Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria and you’ll soon be thinking about getting another aquarium! Good fishkeeping
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