Adding bacteria

salty_dawg

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Oct 13, 2020
Messages
290
Reaction score
181
Location
sacramento
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My tank is 2 years old I got sick and lost a bunch of coral and let my tank go for a while I’m getting it back on track now I did a huge water change and bottomed out my nutrients now I’m having Dino’s or diatoms not sure but I added a tomini tang because I’m under stocked and I was thinking to add some bacteria to boost my system . My question is if I started my tank with Fritz turbo can i add MicrōBacter7 2 years later for a bacteria boost? I read different bacteria could be bad but my system is cycled and 2 years old
 
My tank is 2 years old I got sick and lost a bunch of coral and let my tank go for a while I’m getting it back on track now I did a huge water change and bottomed out my nutrients now I’m having Dino’s or diatoms not sure but I added a tomini tang because I’m under stocked and I was thinking to add some bacteria to boost my system . My question is if I started my tank with Fritz turbo can i add MicrōBacter7 2 years later for a bacteria boost? I read different bacteria could be bad but my system is cycled and 2 years old
Yes you can add it, it won't crash your system, it may or may not help though. It certainly won't hurt.
 
Yeah I just figured the bacteria must be kind of weak since I had diatoms appear after that water change
 
Adding bacteria to a low nutrient tank may not help as much as you think.
Diatoms grow with Silicates, so I assume you may be talking about Dinos or cyano.

Dinos or cyano can grow due to low nutrient levels. Typically bacteria in a bottle grow using nutrients. Therefore if you have low nutrients, my experience has been bacteria in a bottle when used alone, will likely not increase in population to overtake your dino or cyano problem.

What has worked for me:

1. Increase my nutrients by dosing nitrate and phosphate. (measure your levels of NO3 and PO4 after adding into tank---i.e. I add NO3 of 10ppm and PO4 of 0.1)
2. Add the bacteria in the bottle to the tank
3. Add enough of a carbon source to feed the bacteria in the bottle.
3. Take the collection cup off the skimmer so that you don't skim away the bacteria in the bottle species. You still want to aerate the tank and keep the pH up.
4. Black out your display tank (also sump/refugium if you have light in them) for at least 2 days
5. after 2 days, you should have a much cleaner looking tank-- remeasure your NO3 and PO4 to make sure it is not zeroed out.

My belief is that I have grown enough bacteria in the bottle to outcompete the dinos/cyano. As long as I don't bottom out my nutrients- they shouldn't come back.

Have you also looked into seeding your tank with copepods such as Ecopods from Algaebarn?
 
Adding bacteria to a low nutrient tank may not help as much as you think.
Diatoms grow with Silicates, so I assume you may be talking about Dinos or cyano.

Dinos or cyano can grow due to low nutrient levels. Typically bacteria in a bottle grow using nutrients. Therefore if you have low nutrients, my experience has been bacteria in a bottle when used alone, will likely not increase in population to overtake your dino or cyano problem.

What has worked for me:

1. Increase my nutrients by dosing nitrate and phosphate. (measure your levels of NO3 and PO4 after adding into tank---i.e. I add NO3 of 10ppm and PO4 of 0.1)
2. Add the bacteria in the bottle to the tank
3. Add enough of a carbon source to feed the bacteria in the bottle.
3. Take the collection cup off the skimmer so that you don't skim away the bacteria in the bottle species. You still want to aerate the tank and keep the pH up.
4. Black out your display tank (also sump/refugium if you have light in them) for at least 2 days
5. after 2 days, you should have a much cleaner looking tank-- remeasure your NO3 and PO4 to make sure it is not zeroed out.

My belief is that I have grown enough bacteria in the bottle to outcompete the dinos/cyano. As long as I don't bottom out my nutrients- they shouldn't come back.

Have you also looked into seeding your tank with copepods such as Ecopods from Algaebarn?
I added a tomini tang because all I had was 2 small clown and a small chromis . I’m feeding a lot heavier I realized I don’t feed nearly enough . In my experience tangs make a mess so it should up my nutrients shortly . I did seed my tank with pods from Irwin’s reef bugs and I’m feeding phytoplankton now also. Going to seed it again soon I’m gonna just continue to feed heavy and dose it with the MicrōBacter7 I may add some bio bricks to my sump
 

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

  • Yes!

    Votes: 32 45.7%
  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%
  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%
  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
Back
Top