Bottled nitrifying bacteria.

[esoxlucius]

I came across this quite by accident and it grabbed me immediately. Time and time and time again we hear about the benefits, or otherwise, of off the shelf bottled bacteria.

Some swear by it, others have had no luck with the various brands whatsoever. I've never used it, never will, but that's only because I do things differently, no need to rush imo, I like to go down the natural route.

Anyway, basically the bacteria within the bottles is extremely temperature sensitive, but the companies who manufacture/store/ship these products don't take this into consideration at all.

The palletised shrink wrapped bottles, depending on where in the world they are, are often open to extreme swings in temperature. It goes without saying that some bottles of bacteria are going to die, others will live.

This correlates perfectly with what we already know with these products, they work perfectly for some, and not for others. It would seem these products DO work, but only if you got lucky and your particular bottle wasn't froze or boiled at some point in distribution! If you didn't get lucky then you'll probably be the ones rubbishing these products on forums. Interesting.

nitrifying bacteria, aquarium start up, One & Only, DrTim's Aquatics, Nitrospira

.

 

[tlindsey]

Anyway, basically the bacteria within the bottles is extremely temperature sensitive, but the companies who manufacture/store/ship these products don't take this into consideration at all.

This will keep me from buying any bottled bacteria for mainly for that reason.

 

[jjohnwm]

I always have extra sponge filters running in sumps and tanks, which allows me to quick-start a new tank without pouring mysterious potions into it that may or may not work. And, along with Esox, I like doing things the natural way and simply don't rush things along. Having said that, I moved to this province almost a dozen years ago and brought with me a few matured sponge filters; they allowed me to start my new tanks here with no muss and no fuss. I think I cycled one tank then, from scratch, using ammonia; haven't needed to do it again since then, and the last time previous to that one was about 8 or 9 years previous, when I did my very last fish-in cycle.

The folks who actually buy this stuff the way I buy milk, and dump it in with every water change or every re-scape or every new fish...kind of make me laugh...

 

[A201]

If the bottled bacteria really worked to instantly cycle a new aquarium setup, wouldn't the concoction be manufactured on a much larger scale. The profit potential would be significant.
The impatient consumer demand would be huge for such a product.
Years ago I remember seeing the jugs of green goo on the shelves of my favorite LFS. I don't believe it was a big seller & I haven't seen the bottled bacteria for sale in quite a while.

 

[Joshuakahan]

I came across this quite by accident and it grabbed me immediately. Time and time and time again we hear about the benefits, or otherwise, of off the shelf bottled bacteria.

Some swear by it, others have had no luck with the various brands whatsoever. I've never used it, never will, but that's only because I do things differently, no need to rush imo, I like to go down the natural route.

Anyway, basically the bacteria within the bottles is extremely temperature sensitive, but the companies who manufacture/store/ship these products don't take this into consideration at all.

The palletised shrink wrapped bottles, depending on where in the world they are, are often open to extreme swings in temperature. It goes without saying that some bottles of bacteria are going to die, others will live.

This correlates perfectly with what we already know with these products, they work perfectly for some, and not for others. It would seem these products DO work, but only if you got lucky and your particular bottle wasn't froze or boiled at some point in distribution! If you didn't get lucky then you'll probably be the ones rubbishing these products on forums. Interesting.

nitrifying bacteria, aquarium start up, One & Only, DrTim's Aquatics, Nitrospira

.

I think they work for me, but I use them a long with seeding

 

[nbmjhk6]

I, personally, have had extremely good luck with both Fritz Zyme7 and Tetra Safestart. Both have cycled my tanks in less than a week and have never had any issues with ammonia or nitrites. I've set up 15 tanks now so it's a decent sample size.

 

[Redshark1]

I am not certain that bottled bacteria can do any good. Plus it would be a very inefficient way of getting bacteria into your tank.

What I am certain about is that the bacteria needed will colonise your aquarium naturally and you cannot stop this happening. They are in the air, water and on surfaces added to the aquarium and they are exactly the type you need.

All you need is your first aquarium to be colonised then you can seed any further aquaria that you set up.

 

[tlindsey]

in less than a week

Wow never heard of that fast.
Welcome aboard

 

[abominus]

I, personally, have had extremely good luck with both Fritz Zyme7 and Tetra Safestart. Both have cycled my tanks in less than a week and have never had any issues with ammonia or nitrites. I've set up 15 tanks now so it's a decent sample size.

welcome to MFK

 

[Trouser Cough]

I've used bottled bacteria before. W/out testing it was tough to tell if it worked and w/ out a good idea of how it had been handled the shelf life could be a major problem. A little too much voodoo for me so I do something similar to what John does.

I sometimes will snag a sponge out of a previously running filter or more often will take something out of a tank... an ornament, log, etc. and let that seed the new colony. I just set up a tank a couple nights ago. For that tank I happened to have an ammonia reducing packet laying on the bottom of a grow out tank for the prior couple months. I took it out of the grow out, tossed it in the sterile new tank and immediately added a half dozen rosey reds.

Occam's Razor.