Bottled Bacteria Put to the Test.

The only way to be effective is to buy 4 of the same fish that way it will be even across the board, right?

 

But even then you may get one or two that don't eat at all, or even not as much as the others. Too many variables. I think the only way is to use pure ammonia. Greg recommended .1 ppm, which seems reasonable. The whole idea here is to reduce variables, so I strongly suggest going this route!

 

Using pure ammonia would definitely give you solid raw data...... but then what would you do with that? How would we put that into practice? We'd know what a tank could handle, but not what a fish puts out, making the information kind of moot if you can't use it in practical application.

Saying "this product can handle 2 ppm of ammonia" would not mean as much to the general hobbyist as "this product could handle 4 damsels".

Thoughts?

 

Really conflicted on my opinion here. I see the validity of using fish, but I can't ignore how you might be subjecting fish to poor conditions. Also, it does take a lot of the control out of the experiment.

I lean towards using measured quantities, and no fish.

 

+1 exactly.

Here are my thoughts: Currently, most still add a raw shrimp or some other ammonia source and wait for weeks for the nitrifying bacteria to develop and multiply until there's enough to deplete the ammonia. With these products, we are adding a large amount of nitrifying bacteria to the tank, hence the idea that there's no waiting. Makes sense to me as long as it's the proper strain. Nonetheless, that's their claim, and that's what we need to know. I'm confident that you have a safe place for the fish if anything goes awry, so I repeat- my suggestion is to follow the directions and use the fish.

 

+1...

 

Safe? Maybe not. A place? Most definitely (see siggy

 

Whatever you decide to do, people will still interpolate the results in their own way. Can't wait for the results.

 

Well said, and may I add......The product sells itself as, and makes tons of money off of new hobbyists, as a miracle water cure. "Instantly add fish to your tank"

I think the original purpose of this test was not to see if it handles ammonia, but to see if in fact you Can Instantly add fish, and to what outcome we'll get. I say add fish, or else you'll never get the true results of a tested product.

(and by he way, subscribed....cant wait to see the results)

 

Those were my thoughts too, but both sides have great points.