Kenneth Wingerter
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 28, 2019
- Messages
- 389
- Reaction score
- 578
The only thing you know you're putting in your tank is the pollution from a decomposing shrimp. You're not adding any bacteria (aside, maybe, from god-knows-what is living on the shrimp). The decomposing organic matter is not promoting the growth of nitrifing bacteria, as a few people such as yourself might believe, because nitrifying bacteria cannot utilize organic matter as a carbon source (they are largely autotrophic). Polluting your tank for the purpose of adding that little bit of organic nitrogen is not so effective, because you'll have to wait for ammonifying bacteria to rot the material and thereby convert it to inorganic forms of nitrogen that nitrifying bacteria can actually use. Makes more sense to just add some ammonium chloride along with the actual bacteria you're trying to culture. Faster and doesn't degrade your water quality. Makes sense to me, and to the vast majority of modern aquarists.
If polluting your tank with dead shrimp "works" for you, fantastic. You do you. But to suggest that the posters above are dumb or are somehow getting duped for using proven products such as Dr. Tim's, TurboStart, etc. makes no sense. The mail delivery by horseback analogy provided above provides a sufficiently apt argument, so I could leave it at that. But I must point out that to state that you know what you're putting in your tank with a dead shrimp is not only untrue, it doesn't even sensibly further your argument. Especially when many of the microbial products out there ACTUALLY DO tell you what your adding, down to the list of species. Finally, comparing proven microbial products made by honest and competent companies with Vibrant (a product which appears to contain no bacteria) neither serves to bolster your argument nor does it even make sense.
Not trying to be a jerk here, or sound like one... It's just that you answered your own question in the OP. Yes, to "cycle faster," and yes, to "have a more diverse beneficial bacteria population." Though your "lol" at the end of that suggests you have some evidence to refute those ideas? Have you had some experiences with a specific cycling product to suggest it doesn't work? Is there some specific microbial species, or biological process, or aquarium husbandry technique associated with the use of these products that you've found to be ineffective? Just trying to understand where people with these sorts of arguments are coming from. The "I come from a time" line is less than convincing. Experience is gauged by breadth, not by duration. I mean, I too come from that time, a time when the only corals anyone kept were dead and bleached decor. And it sucked. My suggestion is to consider objectively and rationally some of the advancements available to you, and to not disregard them without all due research. At the very least, if you actually have any evidence of "hype and lies," please stop teasing us here. Bring it.
