Re: Bio-Spira Cycling Questions 11/8/07
Bob,
<John>
Again, thanks.
<Welcome>
Yes, I've read on the use of DSB's and plants on WWM. But, Since I vacuum the gravel so frequently (recall I have two comets and a Pleco) I didn't think that this would work for me.
<Could "tie in" a sump... another tank outside... or use a canister filter with an anaerobic to hypoxic media...>
I have also desperately tried to do plants, but I have not been successful because both the comets and the Pleco love to eat them and uproot them.
<The sump... could be lighted... perhaps on a reverse daylight photoperiod with the main display>
I'm searching for java fern, which I've heard neither comets or Plecos like, and also have short 4" bamboo here in my local pet store chain. But, I'm not knowledgeable on bamboo so I'm going to do more research on that before I just add it to the aquarium.
Again I'm not sure if you can say, but I was curious which products you think were for show?
<Principally the continuous read assay devices>
I've been seriously looking at the Matrix and de*nitrate, but don't know really the differences between the two. I was thinking it might be better just to have an all-in-one product like Matrix, but then again, sometimes all-in-one means less performance for all functions involved. Decisions, decisions. I've also got the Purigen, but I'm not so sure this is working as well as I had hoped.
And about my water... I do filter it through a PUR faucet before I cook and drink it, but unfortunately my ice maker is not filtered. What can nitrates to do a human!?!?
<A few things... that are best avoided>
Perhaps it might explain my sudden not-feeling-so-well.
<I don't like this>
Thank you,
John
<I do hope/trust you're joshing re the NO3... the federal standards for potable water have back-slided in the U.S.... I would get/use (I do) a reverse osmosis device. Bob Fenner>

Ceramic media, & air pumps FW  – 08/26/07
Hello Neale,
I bought the ceramic cylinders yesterday to be used as filter media. I wanted to ask you how should I place them inside the power filter and how many of then I'm supposed to use? Should I also bury some cylinders in the gravel and use them to jump start an eventual new tank?
I also wanted to ask you if using an air pump inside the tank is really beneficial or not.
As always, thanks a lot for your helpful insights.
Giuseppe
<Greetings Giuseppe. How you use the ceramic media depends somewhat on the design of your filter. Some filters have "compartments" that you stuff with the media of your choice. If this is the case here, place the ceramic media in the last compartment (i.e., the one that water enters last of all) for best results. This will stop it getting clogged with solid waste quickly, allowing the media to perform as biological media better. If your filter doesn't have compartments, then place the media in a media bag (or something similar, like the "foot" from a pair of stockings) and stuff it somewhat after the mechanical filter media (again, so that it doesn't get clogged too quickly). There's no "wrong" way to use media, just more or less efficient ways, so if this all seems to complicated, just cram the ceramic hoops in wherever you can. The filter should have some instructions explaining this. You likely can't use "too much" or the filter won't go back together. As for burying them in the gravel -- pointless. If you have spare, buy another filter and put them in there. Otherwise, leave them somewhere dry to use at another time. The gravel in a tank without an undergravel filter is basically "dead" as far as biological filtration goes, and the ceramic media won't do anything useful and won't get significantly colonised with bacteria. Better to remove 50% of the media from the filter after a few months, and use those to "seed" a new filter in a new aquarium. You can replace up to 50% of the filter media from a mature filter and not lose too much biological filtration capacity. Obviously you add new media after you do this. This process is called "cloning" a filter, and it's how I set up all my tanks, and totally removes the cycling process. Now, as for air pumps: here's the deal. Air pumps don't put oxygen into the water. That's a myth. What they do is improve circulation. By doing this, de-oxygenated water at the bottom of the tank is brought to the surface, where CO2 diffuses out and oxygen diffuses in. That's really all air pumps do. Obviously, an air pump connected to an airstone at the bottom of the tank will be more useful than the same pump connected to an airstone that's bubbling away at the top of the tank. Do you need an airstone? Generally not. A decent filter should be providing adequate circulation on its own. This wasn't always the case in the past, where air-powered filters were common, but modern electric filters generally offer a lot of circulation. The ideal for regular community fish is 4x the volume of the aquarium in turnover per hour. For goldfish, cichlids, plecs, etc. this goes up to around 6-8x per hour, and for marines anything from 10x upwards is required. Your filter should have a "gallons per hour" or "litres per hour" quote on it somewhere; compare this to the volume of the aquarium, and draw your own conclusions as to whether you need to add extra circulation. Cheers, Neale>

Water Changes Affecting Cycle, FW  – 06/15/07
Hi Crew,
<Hello.>
Just a quick question about water changes and cycling.
<OK.>
I was on a forum the other night and someone asked a question about cycling his freshwater tank. The L.F.S. he had purchased the tank from had unfortunately sold him 4 fish at the same time as the new tank.
<Common problem. Actually, depends on the size of the tank and the fish being bought. Four mollies to mature a 55 gallon fish-only marine tank would work rather well. But four mollies in a 20 gallon freshwater tank would be a disaster.>
The person had to his credit, realised he was in trouble and read up on cycling. He had then managed to source a mature filter pad from one of his friends.
<In theory this works very well. It's called "cloning" a filter, and it's my preferred method. But you do need to be moving the mature media from one tank to another without killing the bacteria by drying them out or shocking them water chemistry changes.>
He said that he had seen a nitrate spike after ammonia and nitrite had appeared and was wondering whether this confirmed his tank was cycling.
<Nitrate (and indeed ammonia/nitrite) levels are almost never the nice smooth curves you see in aquarium books. There's fluctuations to them for a variety of factors. In other words, provided the ammonia and nitrite stay at zero, and your nitrate level stays below some danger value (realistically, around 50-100 mg/l for most freshwater fish) then there isn't any real reason to worry about the precise value or how it compared to the reading you got last week.>
I replied telling him that indeed this did mean his tank was in the process of cycling and it was a good sign. I told him to carry on performing his scheduled water changes, and gave him a list of symptoms of stress to watch out for.
<Very good.>
I told him to observe, and if he noticed any signs of stress, perform a large water change.
<Correct.>
This is where the question comes. I then told him that the emergency water change may slow the cycle slightly, but was not significant and was preferable to sick or even dead fish!
<Absolutely.>
I checked the post a few hours later and one of the moderator's had posted a reply after me stating that 'water changes will NOT AFFECT THE CYCLE'.
<Almost certainly correct.>
I replied stating that a large water change would decrease the available nutrients for the bacteria and therefore would marginally affect the cycling time.
<Hmm... not convinced. The multiplication of bacteria depends on other things than just ammonia/nitrite availability, such as time, temperature, pH, oxygen, surface area of the media, etc. In other words, there's the biological law that processes are restricted by the thing in least supply. If the bacteria haven't had time to reach maximum population size, then it doesn't really matter if they have 0.25 mg/l ammonia to play with or 25 mg/l ammonia. Fundamentally, you're looking at a process that is constantly changing. The ammonia and nitrite in the water are the stuff the bacteria *haven't* had time to use. They're "leftovers" if you will. If you remove 50% or 75% of the water and so dilute these leftovers, the bacteria aren't going to starve. The fish are constantly producing more ammonia, and the nitrifying bacteria are producing more nitrite in due course. Think of it like a conveyor belt in a sushi bar: even if you take away most of the dishes on the conveyor belt at once, the sushi chef will be adding new ones all the time, so before long the belt will be filled up again, and the diners won't be hungry. They might have to wait a little longer to get the exact dish they want, but they won't starve.>
He replied stating that the bacteria have a limited reproductive rate, and that a concentration of 0.25 ppm ammonia, would be no different than a concentration of 3.00 ppm ammonia, with regards to cycling speed.
<I'd be dubious about actual values, but in terms of theory, this makes sense.>
I decided to leave it at that as I didn't really want to enter into an argument. However I am interested to know whether I was right or wrong.
<I'd tend towards agreeing with the moderator.>
I have seen members of the WWM crew state that water changes will slow the cycle and was wondering if any of them have a reasoning behind this statement or whether it is from gathered experience.
<Water changes are good, even during cycling, and are critical if you're cycling with fish. Anything above ammonia = 0.25 mg/ is lethal to fish, so you have to do water changes at that point anyway. Any possibly benefits of leaving the ammonia at higher levels will be more than offset by the sick fish. So while an interesting academic discussion, in sheer practical terms somewhat irrelevant.>
I look forward to your views/opinions.
Thanks and keep up the good work,
Matt.
<All very interesting. Thanks for sharing. Cheers, Neale>

Bio-Spira + Amquel = Uncycled Tank  3/9/07
<Hi, Pufferpunk here>
I started a new tank using Bio-Spira (75 gallon tank).  I got a little crazy with the Amquel, which resulted in a lower pH and now I'm wondering what else its resulted in.  
<Amquel shouldn't lower your pH.  If you read the directions on the Bio-Spira package though, it says not to use any ammonia-removing products with it.  The bacteria in Bio-Spira needs ammonia to live.>
My ammonium
<ammonia?>
went up and went down.  My nitrites started down, went up, then up again, then up again and now I have no idea where the reading should be but it's a real pretty shade of purple.  The nitrates stayed low until recently, now it's on the rise but the nitrites are holding steady.  My fish are eating, swimming, seem relaxed but I'm extremely worried and willing to do anything in my power to keep those beautiful dollar bills swimming.  I'm mainly writing to find out if Amquel is skewing my test on the nitrites.  Please let me know.  About the only thing left to buy is snake oil and the only thing stopping me is finding the salesman.
<Now why would you want to go and do that? Using anything other than Bio-Spira to cycle your tank, will only hinder the cycle.  Get another package of Bio-Spira and add to your filter, after doing an 80% water change to remove the nitrites & Amquel.  You tank should be fine within 24-48 hours.
Next time, please be sure to correct your capitalization & punctuation, before sending out your email to us.  I have to correct them before they are posted in our FAQs.  Very time consuming.  Another Crewmember might have returned this email unanswered, for correction.  Thanks, PP>