Re: NANFA-L-- Denitrifying bacteria question

jlw-in-dune.net
Thu, 3 Feb 2005 10:03:28 -0700

No one. Tim Hovanec .... yea, I'd misspell my own name if I'm not careful.
Tim is the head of research for Marineland (MRL). Amongst other applications
you may be familiar with, his research has lead to the invention and
distribution of Bio Spira, which are packets of bacteria for starting an
aquarium. Most other brands are more or less snake-oil or placebos, but bio
spira does the trick. Other brands (TLC comes to mind) have very, very high
concentrations of the soil bacteria which do work in water -- just not really
well. Of course, they all have the same instructions: Starts your tank in just
four weeks. We all know that you can start (i.e., "cycle") the tank with any
ammonia source in that amount of time. :) Bio Spira, since it contains the
right bacteria, starts the cycle on day one and works really well. It's
expensive, but, IMNHO, well worth it for novices or people who want to "just add
water." Wow. MRL should pay me...

My original response may have sounded a little trite - I'm sorry, it wasn't
intended as such. The bacteria which break down Ammonia are Nitrospira (Hence
the name "Bio Spira"). On land or in soil, the bacteria are Nitrosomona, and
anything else is likely a typo or misspelling. Nitrobacter break down nitrite.
If you want to read a lot of dry information on it, you may be able to find
Hovanec's original papers. If you don't have a background in biology, they're
going to be really dull. If you do, they'll just be dull. :)

You can probably poke around Marineland's website (marineland.com, I think) and
find quite a bit on Tim and his bacteria work. It'll probably be a little more
mainstream, and of course marketing based (Tim proved that bio spira is the only
bacteria that work! For just PENNIES per gallon, this miracle bacteria will
SAVE YOUR FISH! :)

Joshua

uoting Bob Bock <bockhouse-in-earthlink.net>:

> Who's Tim Hovanac?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: jlw-in-dune.net
> Sent: Feb 3, 2005 11:20 AM
> To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
> Subject: Re: NANFA-L-- Denitrifying bacteria question
>
> In aquaria...
> It's neither. :) Tim Hovanac showed that they're not present in
> significant
> quantities underwater, and that another bacteria (as far as I know,
> unidentified) is likely responsible.
>
> Joshua.
>
>
> Quoting Bob Bock <bockhouse-in-earthlink.net>:
>
> > Can anyone tell me whether it's "nitromonas" or "nitrosomas" that's
> involved
> > in oxidizing ammonia?
> >
> > On the web, I've seen references to both.
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