Hey, this might be a silly question but what does Beneficial Bacteria look like. Is it the brown looking stuff that accumulates on the media or is that fish waste? Does anyone have a link to a picture? Thanks
What does beneficial bacteria look like?
- Thread starter catfishacr
- Start date
Its extremely small, perhaps microscopic. Remember it can live inside ceramic and sintered glass.
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Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763
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Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763
My best answer is......maybe. BB is that color and will build up on filter media. It might be a poop bacteria mix.
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No, that is most likely waste. BB isn't something that you are going to notice. Most of the light brown algae you see is diatoms.
Letstalkfish is spot on, it nitrifying bacteria is so small that its should be basically invisible.
THE ONLY WAY TO TRULY KNOW IS TO TEST YOUR TANK WATER! API makes affordable and mostly accurate test kits that measure ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/ph for around 25-30$! This IMO is extremely important to the long term success of any aquarium! Sure you can skimp and do without but why not make sure, plus you can measure you peak Bio load and schedule water changes accordingly so you don't over exceed recommended levels of toxins or overdue unnecessary water changes! Ammonia obviously should be zero, as well as nitrites, and IMO nitrates shouldn't exceed 30-40ppm! Pothos plants will help tremendously decrease nitrates and are a simple and cheap investment (check the link below)
Here are a few microscopic images of BB:
And just so you know the order of events when it comes to the nitrogen cycle:
And of course a generic link explaining the principals more scientifically then I can ATM! http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Nitrifying_bacteria
Hope all that helps and like I said testing your water is the ONLY 100% way to know you have both beneficial bacteria colonizing in your Bio media! I find API CHEM STARS are the most efficient but also designed mainly for canister filters!
Cheers
×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763
THE ONLY WAY TO TRULY KNOW IS TO TEST YOUR TANK WATER! API makes affordable and mostly accurate test kits that measure ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/ph for around 25-30$! This IMO is extremely important to the long term success of any aquarium! Sure you can skimp and do without but why not make sure, plus you can measure you peak Bio load and schedule water changes accordingly so you don't over exceed recommended levels of toxins or overdue unnecessary water changes! Ammonia obviously should be zero, as well as nitrites, and IMO nitrates shouldn't exceed 30-40ppm! Pothos plants will help tremendously decrease nitrates and are a simple and cheap investment (check the link below)
Here are a few microscopic images of BB:
And just so you know the order of events when it comes to the nitrogen cycle:
And of course a generic link explaining the principals more scientifically then I can ATM! http://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Nitrifying_bacteria
Hope all that helps and like I said testing your water is the ONLY 100% way to know you have both beneficial bacteria colonizing in your Bio media! I find API CHEM STARS are the most efficient but also designed mainly for canister filters!
Cheers
×Go S. Vettel #1 Infiniti Redbull! 4x WDC!!! Congrats on another flawless title× <GET BETTER SCHUMI>
__________________________________________________________________
Cheap way to decrease nitrates and keep your fish healthy: http://monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=504763
Most of these bacteria are between 0.4 - 4 microns, you can fit 50 thousand individual bacteria on the head of a pin.
That's simply gunk in your pick, and too much gunk can smother the biofilm substrate where the bacteria live, the bacteria need to be constantly washed in oxygen rich water containing the chemical byproducts and constituents of fish waste metabolism.
That's simply gunk in your pick, and too much gunk can smother the biofilm substrate where the bacteria live, the bacteria need to be constantly washed in oxygen rich water containing the chemical byproducts and constituents of fish waste metabolism.
Algae or some other type of waste. Either way yes you can clean it, just dont use chemical or scrub too much because there is bb on the plastic.