New Small Tank - Nitrite Spikes

[Thyra]

From what I read earlier in this forum and than researched it to be sure it was fact, most of the ammonia is secrete via the fish gills, not in their excrement. Am I not correct in saying the good bacteria live on the nitrites that bacteria make from the ammonia, which would therefore be in the tank's water everywhere. Now I am going to go further and assume something - in order for them to colonize I would think they would have to stick to something and that is where the wet/dry surface comes in and if you could have a surface meeting that criteria and was porous it would be even better.

I have a grandson that is working on his doctorate in biology. There, of course, aren't many grants to study aquarium microbiology, but they are doing a lot of other studies and one thing they are discovering is that a lot more bacteria then was thought, can go completely dormant when their environment doesn't support their life style. They then become activated when their normal criteria is met. I am personally very curious about this, but do not have the resources to study it myself - besides even if I had access to a lab, I have very little experience with slides and microscopes. lol

 

[Purple]

Please take the following instructions away from the tank – and shred them …...

One 25 % water change does not make it right – change as much as you need to as often as you need to

Changing the filter pad every two weeks is another mistake – never change the pad – just rinse it out in tank water ONLY when it starts getting grubby and restricting flow

If you can get your filter pad into two parts (scissors) then the half that is closest to the input can be cleaned often, leaving the other half full of bacteria.

 

[Aquatic.Sylph]

"..The following advice..." = bad advice? *confused*

 

[KcMopar]

From what I read earlier in this forum and than researched it to be sure it was fact, most of the ammonia is secrete via the fish gills, not in their excrement. Am I not correct in saying the good bacteria live on the nitrites that bacteria make from the ammonia, which would therefore be in the tank's water everywhere. Now I am going to go further and assume something - in order for them to colonize I would think they would have to stick to something and that is where the wet/dry surface comes in and if you could have a surface meeting that criteria and was porous it would be even better.

I have a grandson that is working on his doctorate in biology. There, of course, aren't many grants to study aquarium microbiology, but they are doing a lot of other studies and one thing they are discovering is that a lot more bacteria then was thought, can go completely dormant when their environment doesn't support their life style. They then become activated when their normal criteria is met. I am personally very curious about this, but do not have the resources to study it myself - besides even if I had access to a lab, I have very little experience with slides and microscopes. lol

Yes, you are on the right track!! This bacteria does much better if exposed to a wet/dry trickled area then the substrate. It does live in the substrate quit well if you have good flow in your tank. also note that there is anaerobic bacteria which lives without oxygen and feeds off of nitrate!! Yes very Kewl if you can create an area with barley any flow. This is very hard to do. I have a piece pvc, 4"x5' tall. Its full of bio balls top to bottom. I have a pump which puts water into the bottom a very slow rate, its controlled with a ball valve. At the top there is a pipe that drains back to the tank, two of them actually, one higher then the other for a safety to prevent over flow because the top is vented to vent the gas exchange. It been up for few months with the flow kinda high to produce normal nitrogen cycle bacteria to make nitrate as the end product, now as of last week I have cut the flow back to a trickle. I am hoping that the oxygen will be used up well before the water gets to the top so anaerobic bacteria will form and help eat the nitrates in the water. I hope its an experiment that works out. I am fearful that I might need two or three of these tall pipe in series to make anaerobic bacteria. I will be able to test the output of my pipe against the water in the tank as a test for nitrate levels. In theory the pipe should have less nitrate then the display tank.