Best way to seed bacteria for carbon dosing?

[Muffin87]

With my last tank it took ages to get biopellets going:

• Two little fishies Bactiv8 was a failure for me.
• Zeobak seemed to take ages, maybe because of the barebottom?

I now have 90G barebottom with newly cycled dry rock. What are the best products to introduce the bacteria needed for carbon dosing? Any positive experiences?

I was thinking Aquaforest Pro Bio F or Pro Bio F.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

With my last tank it took ages to get biopellets going:

• Two little fishies Bactiv8 was a failure for me.
• Zeobak seemed to take ages, maybe because of the barebottom?

I now have 90G barebottom with newly cycled dry rock. What are the best products to introduce the bacteria needed for carbon dosing? Any positive experiences?

I was thinking Aquaforest Pro Bio F or Pro Bio F.

I used to use Pro Bio F and found it worked well as a carbon source...it should work well to introduce the bacteria as well but since I used live rock which I'm sure had plenty heterotrophic bacteria on it already, I can only speak to how it worked as a carbon source...Pro Bio S is supposed to be a mix of the bacteria so it would probably work to seed multiple bacterial strains but not sure how long it would take

 

[SPS2020]

I used MicroBacter XLM in my 100g barebottom with MarcoRock. Took a bit, but really no ugly stage.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Biopellets are a very special type of organic polymer that most bacteria cannot consume. I would not assume any commercial bacterial additive speeds it up.

 

[spicymikey]

If NO3 or PO4 start to rise above my baseline numbers, increasing carbon dosing OR adding Dr Tims Waste Away will pull it back within 48hrs. Doing both is like magic. Nutrients reduced overnight. But be careful of major bacterial blooms if your nutrients are really high. You'd have to figure out how much you need based on your own system and some trial and error experience

 

[Muffin87]

Pro Bio F

Thanks for this. How many jars would I need for a 90G? Is one enough for at least 2 months? It's difficult to get a sense of this just looking online.

Biopellets are a very special type of organic polymer that most bacteria cannot consume. I would not assume any commercial bacterial additive speeds it up.

So you just add a bunch of corals with different microbes and hope that among them is the one used by biopellets?

Thansk

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Thanks for this. How many jars would I need for a 90G? Is one enough for at least 2 months? It's difficult to get a sense of this just looking online.


So you just add a bunch of corals with different microbes and hope that among them is the one used by biopellets?

Thansk

I'd say one would last you about a couple months...here's a pic of the dosing spoon next to the cup full of it that I've been using. Each spoonful is for 30 gallons so you'd need 3 spoonfuls

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So you just add a bunch of corals with different microbes and hope that among them is the one used by biopellets?

I’m not sure how most folks get them started (and they too won’t know) but certainly a live rock or some water from a tank already using biopellets would be an especially likely source.