Bacteria farming

[jetajockey]

Since I have a bunch of newly setup tanks and even more to set up, I decided to try a bacteria farm.

Hopefully eco will respond with some insight.

This is the setup so far

29 gallon tank

No decor
aragonite layer to buffer water
4 sponge filters of various composition and size
1 magnum HOT filter stuffed with sponges and padding
1 magnum 350 canister filter stuffed with sponges and padding

Plan: Dosing 4ppm-ish of ammonia as needed, once this needs to happen on a daily basis (i.e. cycled) I am going to stick one of the filters into a new tank and see how it goes. If all goes well then I am going to continue the bacteria farm and cycle 40+ tanks with this method.


My only setback currently is that I don't have an ammonia test at home, so I'm going to wing it for a few days till I can get one.

Any comments or suggestions?

 

[mfdrookie516]

So, you're going to do something similar to what that one company does that sells seeded sponge filters? Only, for the store not to sell (yet anyways?)?

 

[jetajockey]

Yup, pretty much. This is for personal use though, but yeah, basic concept. I may give him a call and ask him specifics but he mentioned before that it was a stocked tank, so the only difference is that I'm using ammonia to get a huge bacteria colony going rather than a bunch of large fish.

 

[ridewithme38]

So, you're going to do something similar to what that one company does that sells seeded sponge filters? Only, for the store not to sell (yet anyways?)?

Wait? Theres a company that sells seeded sponge filters?

 

[jetajockey]

yeah, angelsplus has been selling them for years. They have been mentioned several times on a lot of cycling threads. I tested them out a while ago and they worked great.

 

[ridewithme38]

yeah, angelsplus has been selling them for years. They have been mentioned several times on a lot of cycling threads. I tested them out a while ago and they worked great.

Just ordered two(20ppi & 40ppi). How do they ship them to keep the bacteria alive?

 

[jetajockey]

Just regular UPS ground packed in a big fish bag with some water. The bacteria does fine usually, it's a lot hardier than people often give it credit for. As long as it stays wet it's good for a while.

 

[ridewithme38]

Just regular UPS ground packed in a big fish bag with some water. The bacteria does fine usually, it's a lot hardier than people often give it credit for. As long as it stays wet it's good for a while.

Awesome!

Good luck with your indevor also! Running a fishless cycle is rough, but when it does finally take hold, you'll have some great clear, bacteria filled sponges!

 

[mfdrookie516]

I think your method is better than theirs... since you eliminate the possibility of passing a disease from the seeded filters to the new tanks. Gotta wonder why they don't use the same method. I'd like to see some pictures. I am just imagining a tank full of filters that would probably look a bit odd... with crystal clear, highly oxygenated water.

EDIT: After thinking about it... you might not rule out passing a disease... though I'm sure you wouldn't do so willingly. You're not going to fishless cycle the thing are you? You're going to seed it from one of your already established tanks?

 

[jetajockey]

I think your method is better than theirs... since you eliminate the possibility of passing a disease from the seeded filters to the new tanks. Gotta wonder why they don't use the same method. I'd like to see some pictures. I am just imagining a tank full of filters that would probably look a bit odd... with crystal clear, highly oxygenated water.

EDIT: After thinking about it... you might not rule out passing a disease... though I'm sure you wouldn't do so willingly. You're not going to fishless cycle the thing are you? You're going to seed it from one of your already established tanks?

Ah, I forgot to mention, this is an already established 29g, I just took a 5" grass pickerel out of it. =]

The disease thing is kind of a moot point to me, I mean if you sell fish to people they run the same risk as a seeded filter would. The main reason for dosing ammonia instead of stocking the tank is so that I have a known amount of conversion going on, so in essence I could end up making a super bacteria farm that chews through 20ppm or more ammonia a day, if that doesn't instantly cycle a tank I don't know what will.

The only reason I probably won't sell/ship filters is because it's not cost effective for me to do so. If I find a way to make filters cheaply then I may consider it, but until then I'm stuck paying the same premium everyone else does.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yeah, I see the point. Obviously, I'm sure you wouldn't do this if that pickerel had ich when you moved it out... or some other disease. But yeah, I think you've got a solid plan. Be careful though. You don't want the bacteria bioload to get too big... lol

 

[jetajockey]

lol bacteria overstocking, 1 billion per gallon rule.



And yeah, if I was dealing with unhealthy fish the last thing I'd do is perpetuate that to the new tanks I'm setting up, lol.

 

[RedFlame]

Very interesting idea I might consider doing this myself if I continue to by tanks like I have been.

 

[Deckape]

Eco and I talked about this idea and trying to convince fish stores to do this very thing. Selling seeded media and the right ammonia would promote fishless cycling. I believe you have the venue to do just that. You're defiantly on to a good idea.

 

[eco23]

Absolute brilliance with the aragonite substrate. Something I would never have thought of, but a fantastic idea. With all that nitrification going on you'd have had to of done tons of water changes like it was a stocked tank, just so it didn't bottom out on you after a while.

Just a random (and probably unnecessary) thought...but what about adding a dose of something like Replenish to the tank? That way you've got the alkalinity taken care of with the aragonite (which is the most underrated aspect of cycling IMO), and Replenish would create a nutrient rich environment hopefully making it a more self sustaining and lower maintenance tank. At worst you'd just lose a bottle of Replenish.

I was a bit worried when you said at first that you were gonna stock the tank with a couple big fish, but I think you've got a perfect plan now. My worry was that if you had lots of filters but only an average bio-load, you'd obviously limit the amount of BB in the tank and not have the sponges as well seeded. By feeding it pure ammonia, you're giving customers more bang for their buck by creating a need for more BB to colonize in the tank and in the sponges you're eventually selling.

Are you going to perhaps make it kind of a plants-only DT? Seems like a win-win so you don't get lots of questions on why there's an empty tank with a bunch of sponges in it, and perhaps the plants will flourish in the environment.

 

[jetajockey]

Absolute brilliance with the aragonite substrate. Something I would never have thought of, but a fantastic idea. With all that nitrification going on you'd have had to of done tons of water changes like it was a stocked tank, just so it didn't bottom out on you after a while.

Just a random (and probably unnecessary) thought...but what about adding a dose of something like Replenish to the tank? That way you've got the alkalinity taken care of with the aragonite (which is the most underrated aspect of cycling IMO), and Replenish would create a nutrient rich environment hopefully making it a more self sustaining and lower maintenance tank. At worst you'd just lose a bottle of Replenish.

I was a bit worried when you said at first that you were gonna stock the tank with a couple big fish, but I think you've got a perfect plan now. My worry was that if you had lots of filters but only an average bio-load, you'd obviously limit the amount of BB in the tank and not have the sponges as well seeded. By feeding it pure ammonia, you're giving customers more bang for their buck by creating a need for more BB to colonize in the tank and in the sponges you're eventually selling.

Are you going to perhaps make it kind of a plants-only DT? Seems like a win-win so you don't get lots of questions on why there's an empty tank with a bunch of sponges in it, and perhaps the plants will flourish in the environment.

Yeah I can definitely add a micromix or replenish or whatever, I'll look more into that tonight, I'm sure it'll be a necessity.


This current plan really has no end goal of anything other than making some seriously loaded filters for my own tank startups in the store, I still have a dozen or two 20s as well as some 125s and more to set up in the near future, so I'm trying to be better prepared.

I really like the idea of a plant only DT, but not sure how well that will translate to real life.

As far as the store goes, the owner found one of his son's friends and he's planning to help out, he has a few years of experience with another fish store so I think that if he can get him in there full time it will hopefully keep the boat going in the right direction. With the traveling distance and time, I like being involved but I am very limited on what I can get done, so I really do hope it works out with that guy.


Either way, back to the seeded filters, this aspect of it is a new realm to me, so I'll keep with updates as it goes. I already dosed the tank with a few capfuls of blue ribbon ammonia and have the filters going.

 

[Wy Renegade]

Following along. I certainly like this idea a whole lot more than the idea of bacteria in a bottle.