Call me old school, back in the day we placed a deli shrimp in a tank to kick start the cycle. When tank reached 1.5-2 ppm ammonia we pulled it out and waited sometimes weeks to months for bacteria to colonize and drop ammonia and nitrites down to 0 to make tank safe for livestock.
With recent research and technology which is still growing, there are some companies out there that claim No new tank syndrome, fast cycle or instant cycle.
Personally i dont think such bacteria can survive manufacturing process, trucking, shipping, warehousing. rotation, non proper storage and variant temperature exposures. Some may not even carry the right strand of bacteria needed to produce the claims stated.
In order to put my personal mind to rest i have decided to conduct a simple study.
Setup few tanks, dose ammonia, dose bacteria from bottle and watch them do their job.
Do this test 3 times over to get the best of 3 results and for more consistent results.
While conducting these studies comparing ammonia kits is also another type of a side study. Most common ammonia kits according to few polls i have researched are Red Sea, API and Seachem or Salifert kits. (popular in order stated)
In order to get the best and fresh bacteria off the makeline i reached out to many manufacturers and some returned back to me and committed to ship free samples of their products.
Final Review:
After all the comments and concerns and have had most vendors contacted me, finally i have come to conclusion to setup an experiment to just show how fast these bottles will work to bring ammonia down and maintain ammonia 0 over 1 week.
Experiment as follows:
Equipment:
5 gal tanks with dry reef sand and equal amount of ceramic rings. Each tank will have HOB with filter and ceramic rings. temp will be 74-76F at all times and ATO installed to keep salinity stable at 1.023.
Course of Action:
Day 1: Going to start in each Tank with 2 ppm ammonia first day and by few hrs later (2-4hrs) place the dose of bacteria according to manufacturer.
Test ammonia nitrites nitrates 24 hrs later.
Day 2: Test for ammonia nitrites and nitrates. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 3: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 4: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 5: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Soon as ammonia tests zero i will add 0.5ppm to 1ppm ammonia daily for 5 days to see if ammonia returns.
this study will be conducted 3 time to get the best and consistent results.
Products to be tested: (in order they came in)
Group 1:
1. Fritz Turbo Start 900 (on board)
2. Dr Tim One and Only (on board)
3. Prodibio Start Up (on board)
4. Seachem Seed (on board)
Group 2:
1. Instant Ocean Bio Spira (on board)
2. Microbe Lift Nite Out 2 (on board)
3. ATM Colony (no response)
4. Fluval Cycle (REJECTED on free sample, DID NOT respond for buying fresh bottle)
I recommend all hobbyist to show the manufacturers that participated in providing free samples a great appreciation for their commitments and their work in our industry and helping the environment. They all sound very confident about their products and have research and years to prove it. I myself when i started my hobby 25-30 yrs ago things were very different and i was very skeptical of such products i guess you can call me old school. This is a great learning experience for myself and i am sure the data points are going to more interesting for all of us.
I like to add that this experiment is not to put one product down or over the other. simply want to see which product works in what length of time.
First Group:
1. Fritz TurboStart 900
2. Dr. Tim One and Only
3. Prodibio Startup
4. Seachem Seed
Second Group:
1. Instant Ocean Bio Spira
2. Microbe Lift Nite Out 2
3. Fluval Cycle
4. ATM Colony
For Updated results see post #2 on page 1.
With recent research and technology which is still growing, there are some companies out there that claim No new tank syndrome, fast cycle or instant cycle.
Personally i dont think such bacteria can survive manufacturing process, trucking, shipping, warehousing. rotation, non proper storage and variant temperature exposures. Some may not even carry the right strand of bacteria needed to produce the claims stated.
In order to put my personal mind to rest i have decided to conduct a simple study.
Setup few tanks, dose ammonia, dose bacteria from bottle and watch them do their job.
Do this test 3 times over to get the best of 3 results and for more consistent results.
While conducting these studies comparing ammonia kits is also another type of a side study. Most common ammonia kits according to few polls i have researched are Red Sea, API and Seachem or Salifert kits. (popular in order stated)
In order to get the best and fresh bacteria off the makeline i reached out to many manufacturers and some returned back to me and committed to ship free samples of their products.
Final Review:
After all the comments and concerns and have had most vendors contacted me, finally i have come to conclusion to setup an experiment to just show how fast these bottles will work to bring ammonia down and maintain ammonia 0 over 1 week.
Experiment as follows:
Equipment:
5 gal tanks with dry reef sand and equal amount of ceramic rings. Each tank will have HOB with filter and ceramic rings. temp will be 74-76F at all times and ATO installed to keep salinity stable at 1.023.
Course of Action:
Day 1: Going to start in each Tank with 2 ppm ammonia first day and by few hrs later (2-4hrs) place the dose of bacteria according to manufacturer.
Test ammonia nitrites nitrates 24 hrs later.
Day 2: Test for ammonia nitrites and nitrates. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 3: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 4: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Day 5: Add 1 ppm ammonia test 24 hrs later. (if bottle recommends addition of bacteria then dose accordingly)
Soon as ammonia tests zero i will add 0.5ppm to 1ppm ammonia daily for 5 days to see if ammonia returns.
this study will be conducted 3 time to get the best and consistent results.
Products to be tested: (in order they came in)
Group 1:
1. Fritz Turbo Start 900 (on board)
2. Dr Tim One and Only (on board)
3. Prodibio Start Up (on board)
4. Seachem Seed (on board)
Group 2:
1. Instant Ocean Bio Spira (on board)
2. Microbe Lift Nite Out 2 (on board)
3. ATM Colony (no response)
4. Fluval Cycle (REJECTED on free sample, DID NOT respond for buying fresh bottle)
I recommend all hobbyist to show the manufacturers that participated in providing free samples a great appreciation for their commitments and their work in our industry and helping the environment. They all sound very confident about their products and have research and years to prove it. I myself when i started my hobby 25-30 yrs ago things were very different and i was very skeptical of such products i guess you can call me old school. This is a great learning experience for myself and i am sure the data points are going to more interesting for all of us.
I like to add that this experiment is not to put one product down or over the other. simply want to see which product works in what length of time.
First Group:
1. Fritz TurboStart 900
2. Dr. Tim One and Only
3. Prodibio Startup
4. Seachem Seed
Second Group:
1. Instant Ocean Bio Spira
2. Microbe Lift Nite Out 2
3. Fluval Cycle
4. ATM Colony
For Updated results see post #2 on page 1.
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