I'm probably going to be crucified for this hair brained idea, but here it goes.
My old man, is a waste water treatment chemist. So he basically runs a "Giant" acquarium of "bacteria". He has to keep the critters properly fed, the Ph balance correct, and of course the temperature. I was wondering, that given that the bacteria in a fish tank appear to function identically to those in a waste water treatment plant(and in all likelyhood they could be the same critters since they have to neutralize ALOT of ammonia from the urine of a few thousand people), would it be possible to stock a tank with bacteria with a small amount of "efluent(mostly treated sewage), thus possibly skipping the whole need for a "cycle" to grow the bacteria.
My dad at one point ran a waste water plant that had outdoor pools, and what was so interesting about was how life thrived near the treated sewage, where it was released back into the river. Basically the treated sewage having been aerated(to keep the aerobic bateria alive), full of organic matter(bacteria), and nutrients caused the fish populations to explode in the river. Essentially the stuff at the bottom of the food chain thrived, thereby causing everything else to do well. The sewage treatment plant actually looked a bit like a park as a matter of fact(we used to have chase of fisherman from sewage treatment plant grounds). Definitely interesting, as they used to have people complaining about the smell of the plant(which it actually didn't smell like ****, more like a swamp) until they came to the plant and saw the grounds and how well all the wildlife was doing because of the treated wastewater.
So, back to the topic. Has anyone ever tried to "culture" bacteria strains or go to an outside source to more quickly acquire bacteria to neutralize the ammonia? I'm also looking at possibly getting a fish tank(something small like 10-15 gallons), and was curious about this idea because if I could get a few fish and my tank and set them up it'd be much more convinient. Getting some treated sewage would be very easy, and infact I have the means to actually look at the bacteria and make sure they're the ones I'm after(my dad's got a microscope for observing the bacteria/nematodes etc.). Perhaps if I took like a 1/2 gallon of bacteria packed H2O, fed them some sugar(used to keep them alive when there isn't enough poop flowing into the plant for food), and mixed it with say the remaining water(say 9 gallons or so), let it sit overnight, then add the fish, there should already be enough bacteria to handle the ammonia load(as this treated sewage has ALOT of bacteria, I mean so much the water is actually clouded due to them).
However this is all theory, and I haven't had an aquarium since I was a kid(although that one did thrive, and we ended up having to move and gave to a friend, in fact all of our original livestock are still going strong over 10 years later due to breeding). This is just a nutty idea afterall.
My old man, is a waste water treatment chemist. So he basically runs a "Giant" acquarium of "bacteria". He has to keep the critters properly fed, the Ph balance correct, and of course the temperature. I was wondering, that given that the bacteria in a fish tank appear to function identically to those in a waste water treatment plant(and in all likelyhood they could be the same critters since they have to neutralize ALOT of ammonia from the urine of a few thousand people), would it be possible to stock a tank with bacteria with a small amount of "efluent(mostly treated sewage), thus possibly skipping the whole need for a "cycle" to grow the bacteria.
My dad at one point ran a waste water plant that had outdoor pools, and what was so interesting about was how life thrived near the treated sewage, where it was released back into the river. Basically the treated sewage having been aerated(to keep the aerobic bateria alive), full of organic matter(bacteria), and nutrients caused the fish populations to explode in the river. Essentially the stuff at the bottom of the food chain thrived, thereby causing everything else to do well. The sewage treatment plant actually looked a bit like a park as a matter of fact(we used to have chase of fisherman from sewage treatment plant grounds). Definitely interesting, as they used to have people complaining about the smell of the plant(which it actually didn't smell like ****, more like a swamp) until they came to the plant and saw the grounds and how well all the wildlife was doing because of the treated wastewater.
So, back to the topic. Has anyone ever tried to "culture" bacteria strains or go to an outside source to more quickly acquire bacteria to neutralize the ammonia? I'm also looking at possibly getting a fish tank(something small like 10-15 gallons), and was curious about this idea because if I could get a few fish and my tank and set them up it'd be much more convinient. Getting some treated sewage would be very easy, and infact I have the means to actually look at the bacteria and make sure they're the ones I'm after(my dad's got a microscope for observing the bacteria/nematodes etc.). Perhaps if I took like a 1/2 gallon of bacteria packed H2O, fed them some sugar(used to keep them alive when there isn't enough poop flowing into the plant for food), and mixed it with say the remaining water(say 9 gallons or so), let it sit overnight, then add the fish, there should already be enough bacteria to handle the ammonia load(as this treated sewage has ALOT of bacteria, I mean so much the water is actually clouded due to them).
However this is all theory, and I haven't had an aquarium since I was a kid(although that one did thrive, and we ended up having to move and gave to a friend, in fact all of our original livestock are still going strong over 10 years later due to breeding). This is just a nutty idea afterall.
. I'm a mechanical engineer by training(graduate next year) who moonlights with chemistry stuff(being volunteered by the old man as an assistant to help him with his senior projects for his degree).
