Bacteria: What are your thoughts on adding "bacteria" to your reef tank?

[Tjm23slo]

Probidio BioDigest every other week. Vaccination dosage when I see signs of Cyano or Dinos.

 

[brandon429]

some of the feed approaches caught my eye maybe breakthroughs coming / sludge digesters that can pass one of Tarichas work threads would catch my eye too

waste away didn’t pass Dan’s and Tarichas significance meter I noticed / work still to be done on the sludge digestion group just in my opinion


the one thing I’m certain of is ammonia will be controlled by our natural arrangements in a common display and we won’t need to repay for that, one cycle only. So so many work threads exist to prove that once cycled a reef can never be starved back into sterility and once cycled no form of paid boost is required. Cleaning out heterotroph competitors and the substrate they’re riding on specifically makes our ammonia controllers live indefinitely and through all common insults large and small.

the living portion of a reef tank filter is free and doesn’t need us to seed or to feed. It needs us to clear out waste clogs one way or another.

I have not seen the longest living reefs from any genre attain the age via bottled dosers, each one was doing a physical work mode matched to their needs for long term stability. Have you seen Pauls diatom filter attack...it looks like the movie twister in his $$ old reef. Export to the nth

old reef tanks large and small who manually prevent OTS by force do not have to dose for it.

 

[mclark452]

I usually rotate biodigest, Dr Tims Eco balance and Zeobak....weekly.

 

[GuppyHJD]

Ruben,

I believe bacteria and phyto are two foundation and fundamental parts or the reef that tend to be overlooked and are actually what differentiates a new system from a mature aquarium. In aquaria, diversity is limited by its closed loop design and bacterial populations that are either maintained or devastated by hobbyist practices. Signs of bacterial imbalances are red slime and dyno outbreaks usually caused extremely low to non existent nutrients that cause "good bacteria" populations to diminish and bad bacteria that feed on other elements than nitrogen to thrive.
These are the reasons why on my reefing philosophy/method I use bacterial and phyto dosing the same way I use major and minor element dosing. As a method to maintain stability.
On my 15 months old system running a no water changes method (not Triton or calcium reactor) and without a fuge or algea reactor, I have been able to test this out and noticeably maintain a very stable nitrate level without any "bad bacteria" outbreaks to this date and no coral mortality due to bacterial infections.

What bacteria do you use for dosing?

 

[jpbeen]

1. Do you add any type of bacteria to your reef tank and if so what and why? Yes - MicroBacter 7. I do this with water changes and whenever I add more than 1-2 fish to the mix. It does no harm, and is a prophylactic regimen (not unlike those who treat quarantined fish with copper/prazi when no disease is present - juts in case).

2. What changes have you noticed in your reef tank from these additions? None but healthy livestock and peace of mind.

I dose Smartstart saltwater for routine maintenance. It keeps the cyno away. I use a level one UV sterilizer and protein skimmer and this removes some of the beneficial bacteria needed to foght off cyno outbreaks.

 

[GSnake]

Im in the other category. I do t add bacteria directly but I use biopellets and support current populations from the live sand

 

[NDIrish]

From my live rocks and when I go on vacation to Florida I bring back 10 gals of ocean water and a baggy with a cup of sand off of the bottom of the ocean.
This way I get natural bacteria.
I don't know if it helps, but I figure it can't hurt.

 

[KevPool]

MicroBacter clean weekly

 

[ca1ore]

Not to speak for Brandon - I think he means its a waste of money...? Except for starting a tank

Ah, well, in that case ..... I agree.

I have this argument with a less cynical friend of mine about all sorts of product categories where companies have convinced a segment of consumers that what they make is essential. I have concluded that extreme cynicism is a valuable trait these days.

 

[josephxsxn]

1. Do you add any type of bacteria to your reef tank and if so what and why?
On the reboot I used Brightwell XLM, and then Microbacter7. Recently added Microbacter Clean to my schedule.

2. What changes have you noticed in your reef tank from these additions?
Been using them from the start so hard to say.

 

[82722627]

Add Seachem "Stability" when I do water changes and or add new live stock.

Me too

 

[Tyler Miceli]

Uses vibrant to kill my gha problem, like many after gha was gone had bad cyano outbreak. Broke everything down and reaquascaped, before putting rock back I sprayed with 12% h2o2. Sucked out my sand bed and cleaned it til it was clear when moving it around in bucket. Put back in and did a 3 day black out. Added new clean up crew and the tank is the best I've ever seen in in the 2 years it's been running. Sticking to 20% weekly water changes and moving my sand around daily.

 

[charlesk]

I use Dr Tim's Refresh monthly to add bacteria. I've used it previously to knock out cyno, worked great.

 

[Thaxxx]

I add vibrant every water change. I have found this reduces the algae in the tank and keep the glass looking clean.

Hummm...
How do you know it's not the water changes that's keeping your glass clean.

 

[EchoStar]

Hummm...
How do you know it's not the water changes that's keeping your glass clean.

I know it not the water changes because I was not adding vibrant for about a year and was having to clean the glass more than I would have liked. Someone recommended using vibrant when I do my water changes and I have found that it greatly reduces the amount of algae that builds up on my glass. I was skeptical of it at first but I have found that it definitely helps.

 

[Vergilius]

Vibrant & Microbactor 7 - weekly

Battling GHA in a biocube that has been running for 10 yrs. I got lazy on the water changing / sand siphoning.

 

[1guydude]

You can pee in your tank to start it.
Just anmonia to kick start the bacteria growth needed. Lol
I dont add any. I think when you stick your hands and arms in the water your getting all your needed anmonias and phosphates. The shrimp method ive seen or heard of being used.
For the most part when u start a home aquarium there will he an initial die off or fish cycle. Not ideal but it is nature.
D

 

[mrlavalamp]

Dr. Tims and Bio-spira when I first cycled the tank (dry rock, dry sand).

Cycle went smooth and things measured well on the tests from there out.

I have never really felt the need for bottled bacteria products past that point, until now. Tank is about 9 monts old and have some red slime I cant seem to shake.

 

[Rapupo]

I add vibrant every two weeks and i am rather happy with it, i noticed that corals are better.

 

[bull2k20]

1. Currently yes, I dose Vibrant once a week to combat hair algae and Valonia.
I also add Microbacter7 in the hopes of mitigating the Cyano issues that some seem to get from using Vibrant.

2. It is too early to see any changes yet, but the evidence is overwelming so I count on seeing improvements in the coming weeks!

Get a few large Mexican turbo snails they will completely clean your tank