Bottled Bacteria Put to the Test.

Maybe I'll have to do it both ways. Hah!

 

Interesting

whilst I have no qualms about following directions and then testing the claims with the fish ( because I have used Cycle and in fact Mb7 myself and am convinced of the effectiveness of these products and feel sure the others will be equally as valid)

what would be interesting is finding out which of the products is the most effective

as stated before, fish are different, even 2 fish of the same species and the same size, may contribute differing amounts in terms of waste
and general health of 4 fish, is going to be difficult to establish, you buy 4 damsels, one of them has a health issue, and that clouds your testing

thus to make the experiment more controlled, using a given volume of ammonia, and then testing each tank to see which one processes it most efficiently, would be my choice of method for proving initial cycle capability


corals may be a better option also ? if you have lighting for these tanks?

if you chose a coral with multiple heads, that you could frag and divide by the 4 tanks
you remove the question about any individual with health issues

it would then be a case of seeing which of the corals in the 4 tanks looks the best etc
or if any of them seem scrunched up or closed down more than the others ( indicating possibly water quality issue in that set up)


not sure any of this helps?

 

How about we consider rounds? Round one, i will follow the directions on the bottle and add the fish. If we have to pull the fish due to ammonia or nitrite, that product will be chopped and will not go on to round two.

The products that make it to round two, I'll test with pure ammonia.

There will be some considerable variables, but this is a hobbyist level "experiment" and we do the best we can.

I feel these products wouldn't have had a place in the past when there was real live rock. You could throw a whale into a 28g and you'd never see ammonia. I haven't gotten behind the dry rock movement yet, although that's really all that's available. I haven't seen real live rock in years.

Basically an important piece to the puzzle is missing and that is the ability to determine the ammonia output of any given fish. SO irritating.

 

Steve..... I don't have any corals O.O. I think I just heard several people faint. And yes, thanks, your input helps. This isn't going to be an easy or a cheap test, I want to do it the best way possible and I need y'all for that.

 

I think the rounds idea is a good one Renee

no corals, I had never considered that, despite fact I know the fish species you keep
which should have given me a clue .

Steve

 

:O haha, I was going to say that is a great idea, Steve! But I guess that won't work. lol

I think doing the test in multiple "rounds" should work out quite well for you though.

 

We're going to have some low light corals in the 210g. Low light = no glass film algae, so we light only enough to be pleasing to the eye.Then I only have to get my hands in there every few months to freshen up the glass. You can imagine why I'd want to keep my hands out as much as possible We've also moved so much in the past 5 years, we decided in was just to hard too tear apart a reef each time.

 

If you are going to do the round idea, why dont you use the pure ammonia first and then see what happens. Then you are starting with an even test amount. Then see who goes from the second round from there.

 

The problem I have with using pure ammonia is that fish do not produce it at all- it's a matter of organics breaking down once produced.

Perhaps a better option is to ghost feed the tanks? You would get the same effect as feeding a fish without the health issue (or risk), and have better control, as well. Just a thought.

 

But isn't pure ammonia better than the other ammonia to cycle a tank? Ammonium chloride to Ammonium hydroxide?