flampton
Ecological Reefing
Well I’ve been on here for a month or two and I've found a really heavy misunderstanding of bacteria in the aquarium and what they're actually useful for. This is NOT another cycling thread! None of this is opinion unless I say IMO.
First before I begin I'll introduce myself. I have loved aquariums for a long time and my first tank was a 55g saltwater with a undergravel filter and dead coral skeletons. Haha that dates me a little bit. After growing up a bit more I received my masters and PhD in microbiology. My focus has been in the genetics and physiology of Gram-negative human pathogens. My focus has always been in this area because that's where the real edgey science is done. And in case you wondering its not because I think other microbiological fields can't do the top of the line science it is just that they don't have the money that we do.
Again back on topic. I'm going to break this down beginner style.
Okay first I need to introduce what bacteria are and eventually get to why certain bacterial 'types' are the most important in your aquarium. Second I need to introduce the most important concept upfront and that is if someone refers to bacteria you need to know what they're talking about. Why? Well just referring to something as a bacteria is unfortunately meaningless. That's like a doctor treating a human with malaria and then later telling her significant other that she was trying to kill one eukaryote to save the other eukaryote. Technically true but doesn't actually say much...
So for this first topic I'm only going to talk about how bacteria in our aquariums utilize their environment to make energy and acquire carbon.
Let us start with the easiest to understand. That is the
1. Chemoorganoheterotroph -these derive energy from breaking down various organic carbons and they acquire their carbon from these sources as well (they need to eat things). This population is dependent on you feeding the aquarium organic carbon, i.e. food)
2. Chemoautotrophs- these derive energy from the oxidation of electron donors in their environment and acquire carbon through fixing CO2. (Fixing CO2 is when an organism can take CO2 and make sugars from it)
3. Photoautotrophs- these derive energy from light and acquire carbon through fixation.
4. Photoheterotrophs- these derive energy from light and acquire carbon from organic sources.
And if this wasn't confusing enough these categories are not always fixed, as some organisms may switch categories under different environmental conditions.
Phew....Now let us start placing the various bacteria mentioned on the forums into categories.
Chemoorganoheterotrophs- The bacteria that utilize this methodology are the MOST abundant organisms in your aquarium. They're everywhere, on your rocks, in your rocks, in your water column, on your animals, in your animals. Everywhere! Now are they good, bad, indifferent for your aquarium? Well depends, haha! As this category is so diverse in this article I'll just break it down to the two main players we are interested in...
Bacterial pathogens- these feed on an animal you care about. In anthropomorphic terms these are bad guys. They hopefully will be in low abundance in the aquarium.
Bacterial pathogens part two- these feed on an organism you don't like...
'decaying' bacteria- these are the guys who break large 'dead' organics down to small organics. Basically they are by far the number one clean up crew in your tank. Any organic carbon that's not utilized by another animal in your tank these bacteria will eventually digest. I know you think you feed well but some way or another these bacteria will get a major piece of that pie. These are great until you have too many. These types of bacteria are sold in stores.
Okay now chemoautotrophs- This is the most well known on this board because this is were the so called cycling bacteria reside. The two basic types are the nitrifiers. They're found on the surfaces of the aquarium that have access to O2. When I discuss nitrogen in the next article I'll discuss how they fit into the dynamics of a cycling and a well established aquarium. These are also sold in stores.
Photoautotrophs- these are your favorite because this is where we find the cyanobacteria. These guys play an important role in your tanks food chain but access to high nutrients and low predators will cause blooms as you all are aware. They bring more carbon into your aquarium through fixation of CO2. They also produce oxygen by removing hydrogen from water molecules. Don't know anyone who sells cyanobacteria.
Photoheterotrophs-. These guys aren't talked about much. They're in your tank though and they play less of a role in the aquarium. They'll help with decay of organics as well. I know of at least one product that has a strain. Not an advertisement but as far as I am aware only one product, PNS probio, contains a photoheterotrophic strain.
Okay phew... Please let me know if the above helps you My next article will talk about carbon, nitrogen and phosphate flux in the aquarium in relation to the bacteria in your tank. If you have questions let me know below. If you see a mistake let me know as well.
Thanks for reading this far!
Eric
Edit:: haha I forgot to mention what bacteria are. They're single celled organisms that lack a nucleus of the domain bacteria. They can also be referred to as prokaryotes. We are eukaryotes- we have a nucleus. Sorry about that.
First before I begin I'll introduce myself. I have loved aquariums for a long time and my first tank was a 55g saltwater with a undergravel filter and dead coral skeletons. Haha that dates me a little bit. After growing up a bit more I received my masters and PhD in microbiology. My focus has been in the genetics and physiology of Gram-negative human pathogens. My focus has always been in this area because that's where the real edgey science is done. And in case you wondering its not because I think other microbiological fields can't do the top of the line science it is just that they don't have the money that we do.
Again back on topic. I'm going to break this down beginner style.
Okay first I need to introduce what bacteria are and eventually get to why certain bacterial 'types' are the most important in your aquarium. Second I need to introduce the most important concept upfront and that is if someone refers to bacteria you need to know what they're talking about. Why? Well just referring to something as a bacteria is unfortunately meaningless. That's like a doctor treating a human with malaria and then later telling her significant other that she was trying to kill one eukaryote to save the other eukaryote. Technically true but doesn't actually say much...
So for this first topic I'm only going to talk about how bacteria in our aquariums utilize their environment to make energy and acquire carbon.
Let us start with the easiest to understand. That is the
1. Chemoorganoheterotroph -these derive energy from breaking down various organic carbons and they acquire their carbon from these sources as well (they need to eat things). This population is dependent on you feeding the aquarium organic carbon, i.e. food)
2. Chemoautotrophs- these derive energy from the oxidation of electron donors in their environment and acquire carbon through fixing CO2. (Fixing CO2 is when an organism can take CO2 and make sugars from it)
3. Photoautotrophs- these derive energy from light and acquire carbon through fixation.
4. Photoheterotrophs- these derive energy from light and acquire carbon from organic sources.
And if this wasn't confusing enough these categories are not always fixed, as some organisms may switch categories under different environmental conditions.
Phew....Now let us start placing the various bacteria mentioned on the forums into categories.
Chemoorganoheterotrophs- The bacteria that utilize this methodology are the MOST abundant organisms in your aquarium. They're everywhere, on your rocks, in your rocks, in your water column, on your animals, in your animals. Everywhere! Now are they good, bad, indifferent for your aquarium? Well depends, haha! As this category is so diverse in this article I'll just break it down to the two main players we are interested in...
Bacterial pathogens- these feed on an animal you care about. In anthropomorphic terms these are bad guys. They hopefully will be in low abundance in the aquarium.
Bacterial pathogens part two- these feed on an organism you don't like...
'decaying' bacteria- these are the guys who break large 'dead' organics down to small organics. Basically they are by far the number one clean up crew in your tank. Any organic carbon that's not utilized by another animal in your tank these bacteria will eventually digest. I know you think you feed well but some way or another these bacteria will get a major piece of that pie. These are great until you have too many. These types of bacteria are sold in stores.
Okay now chemoautotrophs- This is the most well known on this board because this is were the so called cycling bacteria reside. The two basic types are the nitrifiers. They're found on the surfaces of the aquarium that have access to O2. When I discuss nitrogen in the next article I'll discuss how they fit into the dynamics of a cycling and a well established aquarium. These are also sold in stores.
Photoautotrophs- these are your favorite because this is where we find the cyanobacteria. These guys play an important role in your tanks food chain but access to high nutrients and low predators will cause blooms as you all are aware. They bring more carbon into your aquarium through fixation of CO2. They also produce oxygen by removing hydrogen from water molecules. Don't know anyone who sells cyanobacteria.
Photoheterotrophs-. These guys aren't talked about much. They're in your tank though and they play less of a role in the aquarium. They'll help with decay of organics as well. I know of at least one product that has a strain. Not an advertisement but as far as I am aware only one product, PNS probio, contains a photoheterotrophic strain.
Okay phew... Please let me know if the above helps you
My next article will talk about carbon, nitrogen and phosphate flux in the aquarium in relation to the bacteria in your tank. If you have questions let me know below. If you see a mistake let me know as well.Thanks for reading this far!
Eric
Edit:: haha I forgot to mention what bacteria are. They're single celled organisms that lack a nucleus of the domain bacteria. They can also be referred to as prokaryotes. We are eukaryotes- we have a nucleus. Sorry about that.
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