Bacteria maintenance. What do you dose?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

adjwoolley said:
I stuck with MicroBacter7 because I used it to cycle my tank & have always stuck with the low maintenance dose afterwards.

What do you think it’s doing for the tank? Do you notice anything if you skip a few doses?

AquaBiomics · Jan 1, 2020

Big E said:
Do you have data to show that old tanks are less diverse? And compared to what? I'd like to see it and the ages in years of the systems you have tested, ect. When is a tank specified as an "old" tank.

What's the diversity of an average tank? What does that even mean by the label "average" tank.

I'd like to see your data and sample sizes, ect. and the testing you have done.

There are several articles linked on the main page at AquaBiomics.com. Some of your questions (e.g. about the average diversity etc) are answered there.

What does the average tank mean? Simply the average of the data from the tanks I've sampled, excluding only a few that the owners specifically told me "this tank is having problems". Ages range from ~1 to over40 years. I plan to develop a page with more details on the tanks included in the DB so far, its on the to do list.

I want to be clear - I have NOT found statistically significant evidence that older tanks are less diverse. Its a trend that is not significant yet specifically because I have been able so sample so few old tanks. I am working with some local contacts to remedy this.

Basically the trend is this -- young tanks' diversity ranges widely (about 100-600 types per tank) while the few old tanks I have been able to sample are always low to moderate diversity (~150-250ish). PaulB had an unusually diverse tank compared to the small number of >15 yr old tanks I could compare it with. Sorry I don't have more specific numbers at my fingertips, I plan to write it up once I sample a larger number of old tanks.

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

LARedstickreefer said:
Yup, that is what I’m experimenting with right now. I don’t think my tank lacks the proper types of bacteria, I just want to see if the corals and algae respond to more of it being dosed regularly. I’m hoping that this stuff eats up phosphate, before algae can, and then gets eaten by corals or skimmed out.

If I see a clear benefit (better colors/ growth and much less algae) I’ll probably start up vinegar or vodka dosing once these bottles run out. (I have a small tank so these bottles will last for months).

What bacteria are you currently dosing?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

MnFish1 said:
After recently using a product - I will categorically say - never again. I dont think there is any way to increase 'diversity' or anything else by adding bacteria - except nitrates..... I can try to explain this more if you want - but I was just answering your oP

Sure... what product? And why never again?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

tigre44 said:
Well after reading all 4 pages I’m confused. I have been adding Outbreak due to a problem with a fuzzy looking stuff that I was told was a bad bacteria and the good bacteria would take over this fuzzy stuff. It slowly seems to be doing that. The fuzzy stuff is about 1/4” greyish color and all over rocks and coral, I have never seen it before as nd I have been in this hobby since 1970.

Do you happen to have any candles or air fresheners near the tank? Could be what caused the “fuzzy stuff”.

Daddy-o · Jan 1, 2020

LARedstickreefer said:
Yup, that is what I’m experimenting with right now. I don’t think my tank lacks the proper types of bacteria, I just want to see if the corals and algae respond to more of it being dosed regularly. I’m hoping that this stuff eats up phosphate, before algae can, and then gets eaten by corals or skimmed out.

If I see a clear benefit (better colors/ growth and much less algae) I’ll probably start up vinegar or vodka dosing once these bottles run out. (I have a small tank so these bottles will last for months).

Same thing that I am doing but I am carbon dosing vinegar with my Kalk while adding bacteria to provide the different strains a food source.
Cheers! Mark

tigre44 · Jan 1, 2020

Rick Gaas said:
Do you happen to have any candles or air fresheners near the tank? Could be what caused the “fuzzy stuff”.

No neither one a picture probably won’t show it clear enough. Nitrate is 10 and phos is 0

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

crabcore said:
dr tims waste away for my ultra low.. I run 5 nitrate .02 phosphate.

What benefits do you see from dosing dr Tim’s waste away?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

Laith said:
In general I don't dose bacteria. But a couple of years ago I had a bubble algae outbreak and tried Vibrant. My bubble algae disappeared after a couple of months of dosing the Vibrant... and the bubble algae has never come back.

But after the bubble algae disappeared I tried to keep dosing Vibrant as a "maintenance" dose and ended up with Dinos... however at the same time I had decided to also dose Aminos in the form of Red Sea A and B "coral food" as well as Fauna Marine Reef Vitality.

I stopped dosing everything and after several weeks all the Dinos disappeared.

Don't know what conclusion to make about the above...

I have recently set up a new large tank and am using the Prodibio Biodigest and Bioptim, dosing them every two weeks. Avoided a cycle but that also maybe because I moved all my existing live rock to the new tank with the same bioload so wasn't really expecting a cycle anyway.

Did you monitor No3 and Po4 during the time you dosed vibrant? Did Po4 drop to 0 and possibly allowed Dino’s to set in?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

Daddy-o said:
Same thing that I am doing but I am carbon dosing vinegar with my Kalk while adding bacteria to provide the different strains a food source.
Cheers! Mark

What bacteria product are you dosing?

Rick Gaas · Jan 1, 2020

tigre44 said:
No neither one a picture probably won’t show it clear enough. Nitrate is 10 and phos is 0

I would feed reef roids to add a little Po4 to the system. Helped when I had the same issue.

Lithoman · Jan 1, 2020

Rick Gaas said:
I would feed reef roids to add a little Po4 to the system. Helped when I had the same issue.

Agree, reef roids will bring up P04

MnFish1 · Jan 2, 2020

Casey Erb said:
Theoretically one could run a bacteria free tank, if they could manage the ammonia created. Growing plants hydroponically is similar, some people introduce beneficial bacteria to aid growth, while other methods kill all bacteria in order to control the exact nutrients delivered. Obviously in an aquarium bacteria plays a major roll, but adding bacteria just to add it can’t be efficient. If a certain bacteria doesn’t find food and a place to exist it’ll just die. I figure the bacteria that finds it’s way into my tank via frags, fish, live rock etc and survives and grows are the only bacteria I need. And let’s not forget the bacteria and microbes that live all around us, all the time will also find it’s way into our tanks.

no they cant -there will always be bacteria in a tank. Just like if you put a piece of bread on he counter for 4 weeks - there will always be bacteria. otherwise you make valid points

Ashish Patel · Jan 2, 2020

I've never had a need for bacteria maintenance. With the exception of using nitrifying bacteria to kick start cycle I think keeping a healthy balanced reef will maintain plenty bacteria on its own

Daddy-o · Jan 2, 2020

Rick Gaas said:
What bacteria product are you dosing?

I started ZeoBak at Christmas and just ordered MicroBacter7 and Pro Bio s probiotic bacteria. I got the smallest sizes available and will alternate dosing til the bottles are gone then I dont think I will add more unless my reef becomes amazing. My reef has a pretty diverse micro fauna population and I cant see where a drop of bacteria every couple days is gonna hurt anything. Heck it may even help..but I aint holding my breath.
Cheers! Mark

Rick Gaas · Jan 2, 2020

Daddy-o said:
I started ZeoBak at Christmas and just ordered MicroBacter7 and Pro Bio s probiotic bacteria. I got the smallest sizes available and will alternate dosing til the bottles are gone then I dont think I will add more unless my reef becomes amazing. My reef has a pretty diverse micro fauna population and I cant see where a drop of bacteria every couple days is gonna hurt anything. Heck it may even help..but I aint holding my breath.
Cheers! Mark

Great idea! Let me know how it goes! Maybe take some before and after photos.

Daddy-o · Jan 2, 2020

Rick Gaas said:
Great idea! Let me know how it goes! Maybe take some before and after photos.

I am starting the new year by trying to kick all 7 of my reefs into high gear. Doing lots of changes to fine tune everything so I dont really know if I will be able to say whether bacteria helped or not.
Cheers! Mark

Casey Erb · Jan 2, 2020

MnFish1 said:
no they cant -there will always be bacteria in a tank. Just like if you put a piece of bread on he counter for 4 weeks - there will always be bacteria. otherwise you make valid points

Perhaps you should read more carefully before stating “no they can’t” unless you just felt like ignoring my last sentence.

Big E · Jan 2, 2020

AquaBiomics said:
There are several articles linked on the main page at AquaBiomics.com. Some of your questions (e.g. about the average diversity etc) are answered there.

What does the average tank mean? Simply the average of the data from the tanks I've sampled, excluding only a few that the owners specifically told me "this tank is having problems". Ages range from ~1 to over40 years. I plan to develop a page with more details on the tanks included in the DB so far, its on the to do list.

I want to be clear - I have NOT found statistically significant evidence that older tanks are less diverse. Its a trend that is not significant yet specifically because I have been able so sample so few old tanks. I am working with some local contacts to remedy this.

Basically the trend is this -- young tanks' diversity ranges widely (about 100-600 types per tank) while the few old tanks I have been able to sample are always low to moderate diversity (~150-250ish). PaulB had an unusually diverse tank compared to the small number of >15 yr old tanks I could compare it with. Sorry I don't have more specific numbers at my fingertips, I plan to write it up once I sample a larger number of old tanks.

Thanks, I read the articles earlier.........there wasn't much to evaluate or conclude based on the small sample size, limited numerical data, ect. I'll look forward for more detailed information in the future.