Beneficial bacteria in our ecosystem

[FishQueen]

I recently got a bottle of Tetra SafeStart from Amazon - I'm in Florida, so it was a hot day, around 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The bottle arrived the next day, but I didn't get to it right away, so it sat in the heat for a couple of hours. When I finally brought it in, the bottle was really warm. Now I'm worried - will it still work after being in the heat like that? I need an answer by tomorrow.

[bettaMagenta]

I dug up some info from Tetra's site that might help you out. Apparently, they say the best temperature for TSS is between 40 and 80 degrees. Freezing and extreme heat will destroy it, but refrigeration is okay - not necessary, though. They also mention that you can test the water any time, but it's best to wait at least 48 hours. That's when they expect TSS to start making a difference.

Honestly, I don't think the temps you mentioned would kill the bacteria, but I do question how effective it'll be if you add fish too quickly. I mean, 48 hours is already a pretty tight timeline, and adding them after just a couple hours? That's even more questionable.

I found another part that says you should ideally set up the tank, let it run for 24 hours, and then add TSS just before getting your first fish. Within two hours, you should add the fish. It all seems a bit rushed to me, and it makes me wonder if Tetra's really a reliable supplier.

[FishQueen]

I dug up some info from Tetra's site that might help you out. Apparently, they say the best temperature for TSS is between 40 and 80 degrees. Freezing and extreme heat will destroy it, but refrigeration is okay - not necessary, though. They also mention that you can test the water any time, but it's best to wait at least 48 hours. That's when they expect TSS to start making a difference.

Honestly, I don't think the temps you mentioned would kill the bacteria, but I do question how effective it'll be if you add fish too quickly. I mean, 48 hours is already a pretty tight timeline, and adding them after just a couple hours? That's even more questionable.

I found another part that says you should ideally set up the tank, let it run for 24 hours, and then add TSS just before getting your first fish. Within two hours, you should add the fish. It all seems a bit rushed to me, and it makes me wonder if Tetra's really a reliable supplier.

I used Tetra SafeStart in my 5-gallon tank and it worked like a charm - I had a tiny nitrite issue, but after adding it, the nitrites were gone in just a couple of days. Now I'm setting up a shrimp tank for a friend, so fingers crossed it'll do the trick again.

[FishQueen]

I decided to test the Tetra SafeStart, so I filled a 1-gallon tub with dechlorinated tap water about 36 hours ago and added the right amount. Since my tap water has 0.50 ammonia, I was hoping it'd be zero this morning, but it's 0.25 now. I'll still use it, but I'm also relying on plants and some established filter media to help it along.

[TwinTankman]

Tetra's instructions for Safe Start are somewhat lacking in detail - I was being kind, they're actually awful. They've taken a very good product and made it hard to use. Dr. Hovanec, who actually discovered the bacteria in Safe Start or Safe Start Plus, explains it much better. He worked as the chief scientist at the Marineland labs when he developed it, and the patents were shared between Marineland and him.

When Marineland was bought out, the parent company moved the patent to Tetra, creating Safe Start. However, Dr. Hovanec didn't want to go with Marineland, so he took over the Marineland facility in CA and started his own business.

On the other hand, Dr. Hovanec's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria contains the same strains of live bacteria, but his instructions are much more detailed and easy to follow. The bacteria are pretty hardy, but they do have their limits. If you let them freeze, they die, and if you let them get too warm, they also die.

Tetra's warning not to expose Safe Start to temperatures above 30°C or below 2°C is on the safe side, but Dr. Hovanec explains it better. According to him, the bacteria tolerate heat very well and only suffer when exposed to temperatures over 130°F for several days. They don't survive freezing, though. I'm not sure about that 130°F number, I'm wondering if it was a typo and should be 120F (49C). I've contacted Dr. Hovanec about it.

As an FYI, there are multiple strains of Nitrosomonas, and some are more thermotolerant than others. For example, a study found a thermotolerant ammonia-oxidizing bacterium that could grow at temperatures up to 48°C.

[FishQueen]

Tetra's instructions for Safe Start are somewhat lacking in detail - I was being kind, they're actually awful. They've taken a very good product and made it hard to use. Dr. Hovanec, who actually discovered the bacteria in Safe Start or Safe Start Plus, explains it much better. He worked as the chief scientist at the Marineland labs when he developed it, and the patents were shared between Marineland and him.

When Marineland was bought out, the parent company moved the patent to Tetra, creating Safe Start. However, Dr. Hovanec didn't want to go with Marineland, so he took over the Marineland facility in CA and started his own business.

On the other hand, Dr. Hovanec's One and Only Nitrifying Bacteria contains the same strains of live bacteria, but his instructions are much more detailed and easy to follow. The bacteria are pretty hardy, but they do have their limits. If you let them freeze, they die, and if you let them get too warm, they also die.

Tetra's warning not to expose Safe Start to temperatures above 30°C or below 2°C is on the safe side, but Dr. Hovanec explains it better. According to him, the bacteria tolerate heat very well and only suffer when exposed to temperatures over 130°F for several days. They don't survive freezing, though. I'm not sure about that 130°F number, I'm wondering if it was a typo and should be 120F (49C). I've contacted Dr. Hovanec about it.

As an FYI, there are multiple strains of Nitrosomonas, and some are more thermotolerant than others. For example, a study found a thermotolerant ammonia-oxidizing bacterium that could grow at temperatures up to 48°C.

Thanks for the info.

So here's the update: I helped my friend set up two tanks - a 5-gallon one and another .5 gallon tank, which is a SpongeBob kit. Unfortunately, there was only one filter, so one tank is getting filtered and the other isn't. I added the beneficial bacteria, hoping it'll cycle properly. We also got some live plants and other stuff. They have 3 shrimp in each tank now.

[TwinTankman]

I reached out to Dr. H's site after posting my previous response. Based on the paper I mentioned earlier, my understanding has been that the bacteria shouldn't be exposed to temperatures above 100°F for any extended period. However, they responded that the experiment was lab-based and not representative of real-world conditions, and they stand by their claim that the bacteria can tolerate temperatures up to 130°F.

When the bacteria are bottled, they're in excellent condition, which affects their resilience in the face of adverse conditions. These conditions are harsh because the bacteria lack the necessary resources to thrive. To cope, they enter a state of dormancy, requiring minimal resources to survive. However, if left at room temperature for around six months, they start to die off. Refrigeration slows this process, and it would take roughly a year for significant decline to occur.

As individual bacteria die, the overall population can no longer process ammonia and nitrite at the same rate as when they were bottled. This doesn't mean they're all dead; it means they'll need time to reproduce and regain their capacity after being introduced to a system with ammonia and nitrite. The presence of ammonia triggers the bacteria to wake up and start working.

The amount of ammonia they can process depends on several factors, primarily the condition of the bacteria when they entered dormancy. For commercial products, the bacteria should be in top shape when bottled. However, this doesn't mean they'll immediately reach full strength after being added to a tank; it may take some time.

Dr. Hovanec's guidance on using the right bacteria to establish a cycle is insightful. He recommends combining ammonium chloride with his Live Nitrifying bacteria to cycle a tank in under a week. Cycling time can vary due to factors like temperature, the condition of the bacteria, and the amount used.

In your experiment, did you use a heater or airstone to agitate the water's surface? Oxygen is crucial, and the bacteria are also photophobic, so keeping the bucket in a dark place initially would be beneficial. These variables can significantly impact the outcome.

Cycling multiple tanks simultaneously, I prefer to use a bio-farm, jump-starting it with Dr. Tim's One and Only and some filter squeezings from my cycled tanks. This approach usually takes 10-14 days to complete. However, for a single tank, I can instantly cycle and fully stock it immediately by combining seeding bacteria with live plants that host the necessary bacteria.

We can't know how the bottled bacteria were treated before arriving at our homes. Despite the information provided, many factors are unknown, such as water temperature, KH, and pH. Ammonia's volatility and surface agitation can also affect the outcome. Two identical buckets with the same water and bacteria will yield different results if one has cooler water and no surface agitation.

Your experiment only showed that the bacteria were active, and the .25 reading was likely a result of their activity.

One last note: using bottled bacteria or seeding from an established tank accelerates the cycling process because both types of bacteria are present, allowing for a balanced conversion of ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate.