Increase of Nitrites in old tank?

[Roan Art]

Then, what are the needed bacteria? NITROMAX (a cycling product) states the bottle contains much-a-lot-zillion nitrosoma and nitrobacter in each bottle.

Nitrobacter and nitrosoma are saltwater bacteria, not freshwater. That's the problem.

I think it's nitrospira? that does it in freshwater. Bio-Spira:Nitrospira.

Looking up the actual names. I always forget those.

"closely related to Nitrospira moscoviensis and Nitrospira marina."

Have to wait for RTR cause most of this stuff is too technical to read fast and I have to put my son down for his nap.

Roan

 

[RTR]

Nitrococcus and Nitrospira are the FW nitrification bacteria which actually establish in FW tank filters. The others are nitrification bacteria, granted, but they do not or cannot establish indefinite lifespan colonies in FW tanks.

In practice, we really do care what their names are, just that they establish and do the job we need to have done. But when a company advertises incorrect bacteria in their purported cycling products, it does kind of make you wonder. Do they really know? Or did they use some antique reference stating the old (and incorrect) names and produce a solution of those to sell to unsuspecting hobbyists? And is this a part of why the things do not really work? The rest of why is packaging and storage conditions.

Biospira does work, so long as it is in date, and has been properly stored.