Question on cycling

Well, there is going to be population flux to begin with, so that isn't going to be the biggest factor. They will reduce their numbers to a manageable load regardless. Plus, a handful of good, back-to-back water changes will dilute that artificially induced concentration when all is said and done. Beyond that, I don't think the OP was intending to raise concentrations that high anyway. I think the original intention was likely just 10ppm or so.
 
Yeah, I understand they adjust themselves to the number needed to deal with the 'food' present. I was saying that there is a maximum amount of 'food' that a given tank can process (hence troubles with overstocking) so unless monitored closely it may result in an excess of nutrients. I tend to agree with everyone else anyway. Mother nature generally can't be messed with, without some adverse effects.

Matt.
 
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I've just realised my scenario would apply more logically to overfeeding the bacteria once established, not establishing them quicker. My apologies.

Matt.
 
I think that by attempting to recreate a tiny, overstocked, artificially lit little piece of a coral reef in a glass box in our house, we are already messing with nature just a little. :) I guess the point is to manipulate and work with the processes to attain our own ends.
 
Carissa said:
I think that by attempting to recreate a tiny, overstocked, artificially lit little piece of a coral reef in a glass box in our house, we are already messing with nature just a little. :) I guess the point is to manipulate and work with the processes to attain our own ends.
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All the more reason not to mess with it any more, we're already pushing our luck lol!

Matt.
 
Well, that's why I'm doing my research ahead of time - I want to formulate a logical plan first and then stick with it. Changing things all the time from one thing to another when one doesn't work wastes time and usually bombs...better to get the science straight first so you know what you're doing rather than trying random things to achieve good, efficient results. However I'm not scared of adding potassium nitrate to the tank - I already know it won't hurt anything since both potassium and nitrates will already be in the existing setup at some point, so in this case I have nothing to lose by adding it, no stock to risk, and I'll end up doing a water change after the cycle anyway so I won't even waste water by trying. Unless anyone can come up with a logical reason why this would be harmful to try.
 
All good points. If you move forward with that attitude, you'll go far in this hobby! You should write a tank blog so we can see how it works out. Always interesting when someone trys something new. Good luck with the tank.
 
Again, no it won't harm anything at all, but it won't likely do you as much good as you are thinking. No harm in trying it, however.

Some people who have extensive coral populations have used it as a means to prevent nitrogen limitation when corals begin to lighten up.
 
After doing some more reading up, it seems that my plan might be flawed. Reason being that what I read seems to have been saying that in higher concentrations of nitrate, the anaerobic bacteria will not function at peak efficiency. Does anyone know if this is true or not? At any rate, I think what I will do is add enough nitrate to bring it up to only 1 or 2 ppm, and see what happens. There's no need for more than this, anyway. The article I was reading was talking about the detriments of having extensive biological filtration (wet/dry trickle filter, specifically). The claim was that live rock can deal with the minute amounts of nitrate that are produced, as they are produced right on the rock; but if you have a filter competing with the anaerobic bacteria on the live rock, it will not work as efficiently, leaving you with nitrate buildup in the water.

After thinking about this, maybe what they were saying was that the filter, by competing with the live rock for ammonia, takes much of the nitrification out of the specific area where the denitrification bacteria are (the live rock). But I don't see why this would matter, since the water itself would end up saturated with nitrates anyway. Hmmm.
 
Do you have a link to the article? Anaerobes will function regardless of nitrate concentration. However, they are not as great in number as their anaerobic neighbors. Therefore, if you favor nitrification too much (like a wet/dry filter, etc.), then they will not be able to keep up with the nitrate that is being produced as a byproduct. That is only part of it. The delocalization of nitrifying bacteria does have some effect on anaerobic rates, because they would have more and quicker/easier access to the byproducts. However, this part, as you noticed, probably has less to do with it than having a hulking wet/dry filter churning out nitrate... do you see where I am going (seems like I'm rambling...)?
 
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