Readers cycling a reef tank won't experience phosphate block or fail to cycle within the stated time frames of common cycle threads, wanted to make sure we keep the perspective that bac don't need our help, they only need water in this case.
Perhaps one can set up a quarantine tank in the barest atypical approach using specific phosphate stripped media and water to pull it off, and degrade the cycle out a few extra months, but it will still happen if there's water. ** Without specific measures, all tanks cycle within predicted timeframes related to boosts they use or not, this is established already in large work threads.
Using too little surface area is the risk, not starving bac.
Those cycles using no boosts at all, no bottle bac no ammonia, still self cycle. That's how dry skeleton aquariums were brought up in the 70s/80s/90s before bottle bac. Everyone knew nature provided well, given only water and a wait to add fish.
I begin to digress... not about the testing approach but the slightest implication that aquarists can stall or prevent cycles outside of:
Temp extremes
Desiccation
Medication
that's it.
The reason we use bottled bac at all is not because they're required, it's so we can cycle faster than the already known unassisted time frame.
The seneye monitor is a nice luxury but given access to all areas of the tank, to remove dead fish, nothing other than the big three stated will retrograde a cycle.
Ammonia should never be seen as a compound that is tricky or surprises Us in reefing it is possible to start a reef and run it fully without ever testing for ammonia because of this predictable nature of bacteria and ammonia. People with old school rock stack scapes can have hidden dead fish within...a seneye can tell us things we couldn't see only because the carcass is cached away. But a bommie aquascape? You can see all you need to see.
I read some of the material above about nitrifiers and it must be said that nitrifiers existing in a reef aquarium are not the same as those isolated onto a cold glass slide for testing. In order for the article writers to make statements about nitrifiers they have to isolate them and make pure cultures away from other types of bacteria, that's when they appear weak. That's why something in a bottle appears to meet a need we can't meet otherwise.
Nitrifers as found in nature, as found in a reef tank with the messy preps we use, are bulletproof aside from the big three.
I promise not to derail the testing here I know that's the goal and I'm thankful we have a really good ammonia tester to make some feedback.
are frozen lakes without nitrifers? The info about nitrifers from Fritz web page says they don't survive cold temps.
Nitrifers in a frozen lake are fully viable, even in a koi pond with fish frozen into place. If the nitrifers were dead, then first thaw kills all fish because of ammonia spike.
Do nitrifers exist in arctic zones frozen year round?
Desert pupfish habitats get hotter than the stated temp range for bottle bac nitrifers as well, these are neat ways to re establish strength vs weakness to our biofilters, and to remind any reader who doesn't mind waiting with water for a couple months their bacteria do all that's needed forever.
