Best Supplement of Nitrifying Bacteria

ZR440 · May 9, 2016

Hello,

I have a 2+ year old reef with nitrates over 5.0+ I added extra rubble rock to my sump for a place to grow. I am wondering about suggestions for boosting/seeding my bacteria colony.

I used this product upon start-up.
One And Only Nitrifying Bacteria by DrTim's Aquatics

I am just wondering what I can use and any suggestions for what might work best.

I am not interested in running biopellets or growing algae/mangroves in the sump, as I have done in the past.

Thank you in advance. Kirk T.

vic67 · May 9, 2016

DF&S has their own brand of nitrifying bacteria that I've used as an additive.

Untamedrose · May 9, 2016

But you clearly have a healthy bacteria population if you are getting high nitrates.

One type of bacteria eat the Ammonia and creates Nitrites, a second type of bacteria eats the nitrites creates nitrates.
There is no bacteria that eats Nitrates.

I mean read that product description "Prevents ammonia and nitrite toxicity in freshwater and saltwater aquariums"

algae does absorb nitrates, but not at a super dooper high rates.

Least complicated way of keeping your nitrates down is regular water changes. Like 10% once a week. Though I'd suggest a major one right now.

ZR440 · May 9, 2016

Thank you so much for the clarification. I was unclear and thought bacteria ate nitrates too. Nitrates are a byproduct of the breakdown of ammonia/nitrate?

Are water changes are the best way to reduce high nitrates? I have a 56 gal. tall/almost cube tank.

Thanks!

charleslotz · May 9, 2016

My understanding is that there are nitrate eating dacteria that convert to nitrogen gasses, ... The Bacteria live in anaerobic conditions deep in live rock or deep part of sand bed ,... Also biopellets or liquid carbon sources like vodka, suger etc , the right source of food for nitrate bacteria that will consume nitrate as part of the carbon diet.

charleslotz · May 9, 2016

ZR440 said:
Thank you so much for the clarification. I was unclear and thought bacteria ate nitrates too. Nitrates are a byproduct of the breakdown of ammonia/nitrate?

Are water changes are the best way to reduce high nitrates? I have a 56 gal. tall/almost cube tank.

Thanks!

There are but you need to provide a carbon food source or a anaerobic condition for them to live and populate.

blitz49 · May 9, 2016

charleslotz said:
My understanding is that there are nitrate eating dacteria that convert to nitrogen gasses, ... The Bacteria live in anaerobic conditions deep in live rock or deep part of sand bed ,... Also biopellets or liquid carbon sources like vodka, suger etc , the right source of food for nitrate bacteria that will consume nitrate as part of the carbon diet.

Agreed. Zeolite, Seachem de*nitrate, Seachem matrix, and bio pellets are some of the products promote growth of bacteria that converts nitrates to nitrogen.

Untamedrose · May 9, 2016

ok thats new to me, I thought they couldnt be grown/kept in our tanks?

ZR440 · May 9, 2016

I started dosing vinegar. I am now on the week 4 dose. Used a dosing chart found online, and converted it for my water volume.

beaslbob · May 10, 2016

ZR440 said:
Hello,

I have a 2+ year old reef with nitrates over 5.0+ I added extra rubble rock to my sump for a place to grow. I am wondering about suggestions for boosting/seeding my bacteria colony.

I used this product upon start-up.
One And Only Nitrifying Bacteria by DrTim's Aquatics

I am just wondering what I can use and any suggestions for what might work best.

I am not interested in running biopellets or growing algae/mangroves in the sump, as I have done in the past.

Thank you in advance. Kirk T.

Nitrates at 5.0 no problem

If you mean nitrItes and it pegging the test kit, I would recommend suspend all feeding until they drop down.

and also macro algae (in a refugium) to help as well.

my .02

jason2459 · May 10, 2016

Untamedrose said:
....

One type of bacteria eat the Ammonia and creates Nitrites, a second type of bacteria eats the nitrites creates nitrates.
There is no bacteria that eats Nitrates.

.....

There are bacteria that consume nitrates of various types. Those bacteria are mostly anaerobic or some (particularly those that we try and boost with carbon dosing) are facultative anaerobe meaning they can switch from aerobic to anaerobic.

jason2459 · May 10, 2016

I don't believe one needs to purchase bacteria in a bottle. There's plenty in the air and on the surface area of what you are placing into the tank. You feed your tank some form of carbon, nitrates, and phosphates with some trace elements and you will grow bacteria.

However, I would choose Bio-Spira over Dr. Tim's one and only just based on one observation of the products under a microscope. I did like what I saw in Dr. Tim's Eco-Balance.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/our-tanks-biology-up-close.239838/page-10

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 10, 2016

Untamedrose said:
ok thats new to me, I thought they couldnt be grown/kept in our tanks?

Denitrifying bacteria (those that consume nitrate) grow well in low O2 regions of reef tanks (live rock, sand etc.), and adding organic carbon spurs them to grow faster than they do with the naturally available organics.

Anirban · May 10, 2016

I dont think you have a very large issue regarding nitrates. Generally people including myself like to keep nitrate at 2-3 ppm. Thats good for the tank.
So The "nitrogen cycle" is the biological process that converts ammonia into other, relatively harmless nitrogen compounds. There are several species of bacteria doing this conversion for us. In particular, Nitrosomonas species (among others) convert ammonia (NH3) to nitrite (N02-), while Nitrobacter species (among others) convert nitrite to nitrate (NO3-). Denitrification is the process by which microorganisms convert nitrate (NO3) to nitrogen gas (N2).Most denitrifying bacteria are heterotrophic (such as Paracoccus denitrificans and various pseudomonads), utilizing organic carbon, hydrogen or hydrogen sulfide as electron donor and nitrate as electron acceptor. The electron donor is oxidized (to CO2, water or sulfate) and nitrate is contemporaneously reduced to dinitrogen gas (N2).