Re: Mulm, whats the bacteria and how quick does it die?
craynerd said:
Thanks Tom,
I`m actually a Chemistry teacher so have access to microscopes in the Biology lab, how would you suggest i prepare the mulm sample for looking at under a microscope and what should i expect to see ? (I can’t just go try since I’m on summer holiday)
Good, using pond water or mulm makes for excellent micriscope usage skills.
I do this for my students as a way to get them familiar with lookign for critters and focusing etc for scopes and making a wet mount slide.
I have them do a "hanging drop", then lightly place the drop on the slide and then lightly and genetle lay the cover slip over, too much/just dropping on the drop is like slamming a giant brick wall on the critters.
You should see many inverts, diatoms, other algae, BGA etc.
It's more than bacteria!!!!!
If you are saying that mulm is not a replacement for PS but that PS is not needed either, then is PS a waste of time, what are you actually buying? Lots of people i talk to seam to swear by it, but they haven`t a bloody clue what’s in it or what it does!?!
Can you also advise me further about the EI dosing that you recommended.
I have noticed the ADA ferts Step 1 is mainly a mix of trace. Therefore, if we are doing EI dosing, should we really be dosing NPK right at the start?
Thanks for all your help Tom, your posts are very informative on all the forums that i see you frequent.
Chris
PS is mainly NO3/PO4, it as well as AS has some small amount of NH4, but NO3 is pretty mobile, and is not a cation(neither is PO4).........so it will not bind well.
AS and PS have aboyut the same amount of NH4 initially, but the NH4 washes off the pumic in PS and is also quickly converted to NO3 in the presence of O2.
The folks that make such claims about PS have not done a simple thing: use a control. See if the effect they see are actually from PS or is it from the AS.
If you use both, you cannot tell what is causing what.
If you use AS and then AS and + PS and you dose EI, you will not see any difference. This is to be expected.
If you do not dose anything to the water column at all, then the PS+AS will help and do better.
Why shouldn't it? You are adding nutrients to one tank and none to the other........
That is just plain common sense.
But PS has some use for folks that are clueless about KNO3 dosing/EI etc, and for LFS's displays etc that are too busy to add things.
But if you know about EI/KNO3 etc, there's little need to do this.
This idea about adding nutrients to the substrate is many decades old, see the buffalo dung thread. It was worm casting before that, then lamb manure, then cow patties, garden soil, etc.
The issue is really seeing what is actually causing the effect and helpign plants grow and what methods do this easily and consistently over time.
All soil/PS/Manure type substrate wear out over time, Amano freely admits to this and redoes the tanks about 1-2 years, if you use EI in conjuction, you get a much longer life out of them, or you can forego them altogether and supply most of the nutrients through the water column.
As long as you add enough plants and mulm from the start up, you can dose EI right away. You might need quite as much, but 1/2 should be fine and o 2x a week 50-70% water changes for the first 2 weeks or so.
Add algae eaters etc.
Normal stuff for new tanks etc.
Regards,
Tom Barr