Click on pictures and underlined links to see the Amazon Page for those items.
Our second experiment will be using commercial products to jump start the aquarium versus more natural, long term methods. Our plan is to use 4 x 2.5 gallon aquariums, as we will get the greatest swing in Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate in a smaller setting.
We're using API Quick Start and Tetra SafeStart as our commercial products for this test. a Third aquarium will house Biomedia that comes from an already cycled tank. There will also be a Control aquarium which will not be seeded.
Our testing prodecure will be to test for Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates about every 3-4 hours from each aquarium and present that information here.
All aquariums will be stocked with live fish, if any aquarium presents dangerous levels of toxins, we will stop that part of the experiment, as we do not want to sacrifice any fish.
Right Aquarium: Control Aquarium
2nd to Right: Media Aquarium
2nd from Left: Tetra Safestart
Left Aquarium: API Quick Start
Testing Kit: API Freshwater Test Kit
Each aquarium will have 2 Neon Tetras and an airstone for circulation.
EXPERIMENT SCHEDULE AND NOTES - This experiment began at 2/7/16 in the evening, numbers were not gathered then as the water we used would have read nothing. The fish were fed a small amount after every test. it is important to know that temperatures remained between 74-76 degrees until the heater failed and ultimately ended the experiment. Though this caused the experiments to be 'Inconclusive' There maybe some information drawn from out records. Bear in mind we were using the API Freshwater Kit, so anytime you see a number such as 0.25-.5 it simply means the numbers were somewhere between the corresponding numbers on the color chart. Given our small operation we cannot be more accurate than this. Also note that with the API Freshwater Kit, Nitrates are guaged from 0.0 to 5.0 parts per million, which does not allow us the same prescision with as with testing for ammonia and nitrites.
*All Measurements are in Parts Per Million
2-8 -16 11;00 AM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia 0.25 0 0.25 o
Nitrite 0 0.25 .25-.50 0
Nitrate 0 0 0 0
9:00 PM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia 0.25 0.25 0 0
Nitrite 0 0.25 0.25 0.25
Nitrate 0 0 0 0
2-9-16: 11:00AM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia. .25-.5 0.25-.5 0 0
Nitrite 0 0.25 0.25 0.25
Nitrate 0 0 0 0
9:00 PM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia .5 .25 .25 0
Nitrite 0 0.25 .25 0.25-.5
Nitrate 0 0 0 0
** At this point the .5 Ammonia spike in the control aquarium prompted me to perform a 30% water change in all the aquariums. I did this for the safety of the animals and to remain consistant across all the tanks. At this point, it would have changed the validity of the experiment, but I decided to keep going.
2-10-16: 11.00AM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia 0.25 .25 -.5 0-0.25 0
Nitrite 0 0-.25 0.25 0.25-5
Nitrate 0 0 .25-.5 0.25-.5
9:00PM
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia .25 .25 .25 0
Nitrite 0 0.25 0.25 0.25
Nitrate 0 0-.5 0-.5 0-.5
** During the night, the space heater that was keeping that portion of the room warm failed. The temperature outside was cold (Don't recall what is was reading) but the next morning the room was obviously too cold the continue the experiments, as it not only put the fish in danger, but would also affect the bacteria propgration. The fish were removed and one last test was taken before breaking downt the tanks.
Factors: Control Media Safe Start API Quick Start
Ammonia .25-.5 0-0.25 0-0.25 0
Nitrite .25 .25-.5 0 0
Nitrate 0-.5 0-0.5 0-.5 0-.5
*** An Observation: Using the API kit, it can be difficult to tell the exact amounts for relative levels of some compounds. in the case of the Nitrates The Control Tank and the BioMedia Tank were equal in color. While Safe Start was Darker than both the Biomedia and Control Tank. The darkest color was the API Quick Start, which suggest that Quick Start have plenty of viable bacteria over the other commercial tank as well as both Control and Media. Visit our Journal for additional thoughts on this.
END NOTES: Because of the water changes and the failing heater, this experiment wasn't satisfactory for my needs. However, alot can be gleaned about the production and viability of the commercially available products compared to the traditional methods of seeding a tank. Keep in mind that these were small tanks, with small fish, and in a well oxygenated environment, giving the bacteria every chance to colonize, so if you feel these numbers seem sped up, as It seemed to me, there maybe other explenations. Cross colonization either by the backwash and spurtz of the airstones or equipment that was used on each aquarium.
We will be doing this experiment again at a later time. Hopefully going for at least two weeks. A test isn't conclusive unless you can repeat it and get the same results. More on that at a later time.