Hi all,
People who have been following the <"Bacteria in a Bottle"> thread may have seen that I said I'd try and contact Tim Hovanec and ask him a few questions about bacterial supplements.
Dr Hovanec was kind enough to send a very thorough, and interesting reply, to the email, and has given me permission to post it on UKAPS
I'll post his reply first, before <"the question">, because I guess most people will much more interested in Dr Hovanec's comments (rather than my questions), and this is his reply:
People who have been following the <"Bacteria in a Bottle"> thread may have seen that I said I'd try and contact Tim Hovanec and ask him a few questions about bacterial supplements.
Dr Hovanec was kind enough to send a very thorough, and interesting reply, to the email, and has given me permission to post it on UKAPS
I'll post his reply first, before <"the question">, because I guess most people will much more interested in Dr Hovanec's comments (rather than my questions), and this is his reply:
cheers DarrelThank you for the email. Perhaps when we are allowed to travel sometime, I could give a talk to your club (right now I am giving Skype/zoom talks due to COVID) as I always like discussing bacteria !
The short answer to your question, and I am not trying to be flippant, is that the more we learn the more we don’t know.
By this I mean that there doesn’t seem to be ‘one’ answer that covers all aquarium situations.
There are definitely difference between freshwater and saltwater - I showed that back in 1998 ! More research such as Bagchi 2014 and the attached paper confirmed that.
Marine Comammox Nitrospira have not been found what that means hard to say at this point
There are few studies done on aquariums, more on aquaculture can one use aquaculture results for aquariums
As to your specific questions
Whether the production method for "One and Only" has changed?
One and Only has changed from my previous ‘invention’ which was BioSpira® or now Tetra SafeStart. I did not wish to incur any problems with my previous company which was acquired by the company that also owned Tetra and my lab shutdown. One and Only was a different product compared to BioSpira® from the start of DrTim’s Aquatics
Whether the assemblage of microbe present in the product has changed to reflect this new research?
I am not sure how this will sound but the ‘recent research’ is really not that recent it is just not widely published. The Comammox Nitrospira yes, but the AOA - no. However, as a private company there was no benefit to publishing research and to tell you the truth most people don’t seem to believe anything coming from a private company that sells bacteria. If you look at the forums the overwhelming opinion (at least by the very vocal minority of self-proclaimed experts) is that bacteria can’t live in a bottle, supplements don’t work and it is all just snake oil. I gave up fighting that long ago. This vocal minority seems to think science does not pertain to aquariums but it very much does and biology is complex - that’s the fun part!
That said, DrTim’s One and Only has had AOA’s since the beginning. I hedged the product by only making two types - freshwater and marine and adding AOB, AOA and Nitrospira to each. The exact details I will not disclose for obvious reasons but I am very good at growing these bacteria - I have been doing it for 25 years!. I have attached a recent paper by Urakawa and Sipos that details the assemblage make up on One and Only for your review it is mostly correct.
As to these questions
whether ammonia addition is necessary? - yes it is but the amount should be limited – never go above 5 mg/L ammonia-nitrogen or nitrite-nitrogen.
do bacterial supplements work? - mine do and the Tetra product is still pretty good but I have not been involved with that for 13 years. However, most of the products on the market are 100% crap. They do not contain nitrifiers at all. Just marketing BS in bottles covered with bright labels. I am in the process of writing a paper about this and you are welcome to check back periodically to ask if I am finished and I will gladly send you a copy.
is cycling as a concept useful? I am not sure what is meant by this. If you set-up an aquarium and add fish you are going to get ammonia and most likely the fish will die of ammonia poisoning (or nitrite poisoning) if you don’t intervene in some fashion. Of course, it is not a cycle because you are not, and don’t want to, create ammonia as in ammonia—>nitrite—>nitrate—>ammonia but I long stopped quibbling over the wording. You need nitrification and you need bacteria - I just call them nitrifiers in most cases to the general public. That said, my bacteria products are like any other living organism - they have preferences and just tossing them into some water does not guarantee success. The user has some responsibility to provide a decent environment.
I have attached some info for you to review - paper and video
Happy to answer any questions
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