Bio-Load question

[catfishchaos]

Alright so no comments on the game plan?

more comments= less nervous

I'm going to start pulling rummies I think, cant find a breeder box so I'm going to sink a perware with some holes in it...

Apparently T_u_p makes a green smiley face

Edit: Unforeseen situation, Ammonia test is kaput I think I'll just re-add the rummy nose and do a 50/50 filter sponge swap (each filter has 4 sponges so I will be switching 2 from each).

I just love the amount of order and calmness in my life

[TwoTankAmin]

@catfishchaos you asked;

I might have access to safe start but I already have seachem stability handy, would this suffice

Am slow as usual, sorry. My answer to this question is always this. Whether one believes it is the bacteria or the archaea which convert ammonia to nitrite, most agree the Nitrospira bacteria are the only microorganisms which convert nitrite to nitrate in aquariums. It was recently discovered that some of them are also capable of converting the ammonia all the way to nitrate on their own. Whatever one chooses to believe are the dominant nitrifiers in tanks, or whatever combination of them for that matter, they all share one thing in common. They do not form spores as a means of reproduction. Therefore to reproduce them requires starting with live bacteria, not spores.

Then consider what SeaChen states about Stability:

Q: Bio-spira has to remain refrigerated in order for the bacteria to survive. Why does Stability not need refrigeration? If there's living bacteria in the solution, how do they stay alive for so long? Or is there something else besides bacteria in the product altogether?

A: The bacteria in Stability are alive but not active. They exist in a spore form. They can withstand extreme temperatures and do not require food to survive. When you add them to your aquarium they become active due to dilution.

The bacterias that require refrigeration are active. Refrigerating them slows down their life cycle and they require less food when cold. Because they are active they do require food, and that is packaged with them. They also will not survive extreme heat or cold and will die when they run out of food.

from http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Stability.html

So when I am asked which of the two opposing points of view I believe, it is not SeaChem's. You can make your own decision based on the current state of science on the various microorganisms. But I have never been able to find anything in the scientific literature so far which suggest that any nitrifying organisms found in either sw or fw tanks form spores. SeaChem is selling spores.

Here is a more interesting fact in this pdf download from SeaChem's site http://www.seachem.com/Library/SeaGrams ... ration.pdf
the second paragraph states:

Three genera of bacteria, omnipresent in the environment, can usually establish themselves in the aquarium and metabolize the inorganic nitrogen compounds that would otherwise accumulate there: Nitrosomonas, Nitrobacter, and Thiobacillus. Nitrosomonas convert aquarium ammonia to nitrite, which Nitrobacter convert to nitrate, which Thiobacillus and other denitrifying genera anaerobically convert to nitrogen gas.

Nitrosomonas do not form spores, Nitrobacter are not the correct NOB but they do not form spores. Nitrospira have been shown to be the ones which predomonate in low nitrite level environments such as aquariums, and they also do not form spores. What I find re the Thiobacillus is they do not form spores either.

Generalities about the Thiobacillus Genus1, 2, 3, 4
from http://web.mst.edu/~microbio/bio221_199 ... edius.html
More interesting is this The genus Thiobacillus
LA Robertson, JG Kuenen - The prokaryotes, 2006 - Springer
[size=85]https://static-content.springe ... png[/size]
Considering the second reference above and how old that SeaChem pdf is, are the Stability spores they think are Thiobacillus actually that?

One final note. I cannot find any support for SeaChems claims for Stability save their own in-house research which is unpublished as far as I can tell. So I leave it to others to explain what I may have missed here which would indicate Stability should be an additive of choice to aid with establishing nitrification in their aquarium. Hopefully, I think I have provided a decent source of info to be able to make an informed decision. However, I always stand ready to be re-educated when I am wrong in my understanding of things.