Tank water for seeding

ok ive got a question that a few may be able to answer but im putting it out anyways. every one in the know should know about new tank syndrome but i am wondering how to seed a new tank w/o risking cross contamination. i have access to .45u and .22u filters but at that size it will block the beneficial bacteria.....is there any good solution to this? i am guessing if the animals were kept in a container till they passed some stool this might be an acceptable way to establish friendly bacteria to their new water systems but since some new ones are getting antibacterial treatment then this may not be a good method. also if they have parasites then it will risk introducing them into the system. should they be treated more like horses and cattle and just go through a few worming cycles? what is a reliable method to use to 'clean' live plants? ..any ideas here?

Use the commercial fish product "Cycle" to establish the bacteria, and aquatic live plants should help purify the water as well. I am not sure what you mean by "clean" plants though...do you mean removing parasites etc?

Check this link out:

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/startover/fishless.shtml

yeah for the plants i mean how to make sure they arent vectors for new pathogens -plus when plants do well and i need to use them in other set ups-how do i lower the risk of possibly moving one disease or even unfriendly bacteria from the old tank to the new one?

This link tells you how to disinfect plants:

http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/plants/Hudson_Mailorder_Plantshtml.htm


When plants are doing well, I suggest just rinsing them in water.

The cultures sold to cycle aquariums do not contain the correct bacteria to run the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium. For full details see
Hovanee, T.A.; Taylor, L.T.; Blakis, A.; DeLong, E.F.; 1998; Nitrospira like bacteria associated with nitrite oxidation in freshwater aquaria; Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 64: 258-264
Burrell, P.C.; Phalen, C.M.; Hovanee, T.A.; Identification of bacteria responsiable for ammonia oxidation in freshwater aquaria, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 67: 5791-5800

Additionally PCR analysis of the ribosomes of Nitrobacter failed to indicate the ability to oxidize nitrite.

Ed

interesting articles, ed....will look them up....btw, are you a scientist too?

I worked in the zeolite and silicate industry for a brief period as well as pharmaceutical manufacturing (and hated it). Now I'm the Lead Keeper at the Philadelphia Zoo's Reptile House. (so I'm sort of a herpetologist now)and pretty happy. I'm putting in for a grant to do some field work on hellbenders next year and hope to get enough data and go to the next conference and present the data.

If you just want to read the summaries of those articles check out Ecology of the Planted Aquarium, Echinodorus Press. You can usually get a cheap copy off of e-bay.

Ed