nitrifying bacteria question

[dixiedog]

Are our friends, Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas, killed off by freshwater immersion?

I ask because:

I use sponges from an Aquaclear 110 HOB filter in between the baffles of my sump for mechanical filtration. I rinse them thoroughly in tapwater once or twice a week. But now, temporarily, I want to set the HOB filter up on a QT tank, using these sponges.

Are my sponges already colonized by nitrifying bacteria, or have I been killing it off with each FW rinse?

Thanks in advance for your expertise.

 

[Whys]

That's a good question. I would guess much of the bacteria is still there. Fresh water dips of liverock to remove hitchhikers is not an uncommon practice. I have to assume hobbyists wouldn't do it if it essentially killed the liverock. I would say that mostly you are removing some of the bacteria by removing some of their growth medium, so how many are removed would depend on how well you rinse the sponge.

JM.02

 

[therealfatman]

Marine species of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas differ from those that live in freshwater. How much fresh water marine species can tolerate I have no idea, but I have always recomended that a marine aquarist use old tank water from their last water change for cleaning filter media such as you are washing.

Rinsing live rock in fresh water by submerging the rock in fresh water will definitely kill some of the bacteria. How much depends on the amoune t of time thw rock is submerged. I choose to put live rock on some visqueen (plastic sheeting any just spray it enough with a spray bottle full of salt bwater to keep just the surface wet. I only try to remove crabs and such not other hitchhikers. Given enough time the crawling walking hitch hikers comes out of their holes. What is an hour or so when the rock only needs to be sparayed every ten to fifteen minutes or so.

Commercial suppliers that sell premium rock put the rock on slatted shelf and have timed automatic misters and leave the rock on the rack for several days.

 

[Aquarist007]

Re: nitrifying bacteria question

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15029030#post15029030 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by dixiedog
Are our friends, Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas, killed off by freshwater immersion?

I ask because:

I use sponges from an Aquaclear 110 HOB filter in between the baffles of my sump for mechanical filtration. I rinse them thoroughly in tapwater once or twice a week. But now, temporarily, I want to set the HOB filter up on a QT tank, using these sponges.

Are my sponges already colonized by nitrifying bacteria, or have I been killing it off with each FW rinse?

Thanks in advance for your expertise.

I believe 3-5 days is all you need on the display tank to recolonize the sponges. Then transfer the hob over to the qt without washing the sponges.

 

[tmz]

I think freshwater rinsing will certainly surpress the bacteria . How much depends on how thoroughly they are rinsed I suppose. Even when lowereing sg for hyposalinity treatment most recommend a two day time period to drop from normal seawater sg of 1.026 to 1.009 to minmize harm to the biofilter. I always rinse seeded sponges( those that have bacteria) that I plan to use for nitrification in a bucket of tank water.

 

[Aquarist007]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15082721#post15082721 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by tmz
I think freshwater rinsing will certainly surpress the bacteria . How much depends on how thoroughly they are rinsed I suppose. Even when lowereing sg for hyposalinity treatment most recommend a two day time period to drop from normal seawater sg of 1.026 to 1.009 to minmize harm to the biofilter. I always rinse seeded sponges( those that have bacteria) that I plan to use for nitrification in a bucket of tank water.

that's a great idea--thanks for the tip

 

[wooden_reefer]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15077546#post15077546 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by therealfatman
Marine species of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas differ from those that live in freshwater.

I have read that there is no marine vs fresh water species of Nitrobacter and Nitrosomous. They are the same. I am not sure how knowledgeable that author was. It has been over 20 years ago that I read it.

However, I know that if an established freshwater tank is coverted to saltwater in stages, it retains much of the nitrification capacity.

 

[englishreefer]

You said that you rinse your sponges in tap water. I personally agree with pretty much whats been said above.

However please remember that chlorine in your tapwater will most likely almost destroy whatever populations of bacteria your sponges are holding.

 

[dixiedog]

It's a well. I should have mentioned that.