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  • Results 1 to 14 of 14

    Thread: Do you believe nitrifying bacteria will die if dried out?

    1. #1
      Cecil is offline Senior Member
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      Do you believe nitrifying bacteria will die if dried out?

      The credible sources i.e. biocon labs http://www.bioconlabs.com/nitribactfacts.html I have read say if the surface they live on is dried the bacterial will die and does not form spores. However I seem to have evidence to the contrary. I have dried out media and the used it again and cycling is faster vs. brand new media. In fact much faster.

      Opinions? Thoughts?
      The risk I took was calculated, but man am I bad at math!

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    2. #2
      kevin32 is offline Inactivated
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      It will still rebuild that could be temperature sensitive

    3. #3
      ricshaw is offline Senior Member
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      I have dried out media and the used it again and cycling is faster. That does not mean the nitrifying bacteria did not die.

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      coolwon is offline Senior Member
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      The condition of the slime coat or biofilm would be a guessing game I guess.

      Thanks very much for the write up

      Garfield
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      kevin32 is offline Inactivated
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      Quote Originally Posted by ricshaw View Post
      I have dried out media and the used it again and cycling is faster. That does not mean the nitrifying bacteria did not die.
      So what are your thoughts why is helps cycle faster?

    6. #6
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      The dried out media would have left sticky sugars on it's surface that has an appropriate ionic charge to attract nitrifiers in the water column to it's surface. Also, once the used media is submerged, microbial protozoans and microscopic worms are attracted to these sticky sugars as a food source. These microbes will produce a slime coat which also has an appropriate ionic charge to attract more nitrifiers on the surface on the media. When storing used media, it would be beneficial to store it in a dark cold room at 4C because some beneficial heterotrophic bacteria can go dormant. It is these heterotrophic bacteria that produce these sticky sugars. Some of these heterotrophic bacteria sporulate. Nitrifiers does not.
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    7. #7
      ricshaw is offline Senior Member
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      Quote Originally Posted by kevin32 View Post
      So what are your thoughts why is helps cycle faster?
      The bio film.

    8. #8
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      Quote Originally Posted by KoiRun View Post
      The dried out media would have left sticky sugars on it's surface that has an appropriate ionic charge to attract nitrifiers in the water column to it's surface. Also, once the used media is submerged, microbial protozoans and microscopic worms are attracted to these sticky sugars as a food source. These microbes will produce a slime coat which also has an appropriate ionic charge to attract more nitrifiers on the surface on the media. When storing used media, it would be beneficial to store it in a dark cold room at 4C because some beneficial heterotrophic bacteria can go dormant. It is these heterotrophic bacteria that produce these sticky sugars. Some of these heterotrophic bacteria sporulate. Nitrifiers does not.
      Abit more technical than I am going to say...
      What do you need to eat to be healthy? Exactly what you are made of... Freeze dried human is nutritious. Same thing for bioifilm, and it has no qualms about munching down on a relative. Wet or dried.
      "Those aren't poodles. They're Dobermans with afros."

    9. #9
      BWG is offline Senior Member
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      Freeze dried people? Soylent Green?
      Attached Images Attached Images   

    10. #10
      *Ci*'s Avatar
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      I ‘believe’ that plenty of bacteria survive drying (and even freezing or freeze drying) and remain dormant. Think yeasts for bread or wine, bacteria present on surfaces or airborne that come alive when fermenting etc.
      Think about where nitrifying bacteria come from when first setting up a pond or aquarium? They don’t need to be added, they are all around in some sort of stasis until they find their preferred watery environment where they can come alive and reproduce into a living colony. A dried up filter gets a jump start because of the abundance of dormant bacteria present.
      Last edited by *Ci*; 11-30-2018 at 09:27 AM.
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    11. #11
      kevin32 is offline Inactivated
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      Quote Originally Posted by GoldieGirl View Post
      I ‘believe’ that plenty of bacteria survive drying (and even freezing or freeze drying) and remain dormant. Think yeasts for bread or wine, bacteria present on surfaces or airborne that come alive when fermenting etc.
      Where do nitrifying bacteria come from when first setting up a pond or aquarium? They don’t need to be added, they are all around in some sort of stasis until they find their preferred watery environment where they can come alive and reproduce into a living colony. A dried up filter gets a jump start because of the abundance of dormant bacteria present.
      I've used kitty nitrifier. Comes refridgerated and works great to cycle ponds

    12. #12
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      I have been told by people who know way more than me that the biofilm encapsulates itself and goes dormant when in unfavorable conditions like being dried out.

      Not nearly so techno-neato an explanation as Koi Run's, but along the same lines.
      Mary

    13. #13
      danzcool is offline Senior Member
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      Biocon labs sells filtration equipment and bacteria... Of course they are going to say the bacteria die... and the strain they sell may very well not survive, as it's meant to be of a temporary nature requiring you to buy more and "refresh" the system. I tend to believe along the lines of a majority will die, but a minority will go dormant. And the bacterial lifecycle is so short that it doesn't take much time to be back up.
      Koiphen member since 05-13-2004

    14. #14
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      FWIW … Last December, it got down to 15 F one night and the filter outlet for my quarantine tub froze up and caused the filter to overflow. That morning, I found the three tub koi in 3” of water and ice and was able to rescue them to another pond. I just shut down the quarantine tub and drained the filters, leaving the media in there all winter. In the spring, I restarted filters with a relatively light koi load, and the filter did fine right away, with no ammonia or nitrite problems.

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