Does Bacto blend expire ?

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hey thanks for your perspective. By the way, would biofilm eating sea stars like these bottled bacteria as food?

Disclaimer: These are purely my thoughts and I don't have much to back it up at this point but I'd say that the bacteria alone aren't enough to feed the stars until they form a good biofilm which also contains much more than a few strains of those bacteria...imo although some of the strains may be consumable by the stars after forming a biofilm that takes time but they also likely need additional nutrition from other constituents of the natural biofilm (like microscopic organisms besides bacteria). I'd expect it to help some though...I'm not sure how long it takes or how effective bottled bac is at forming digestible biofilms in the first place though since they're added to the water column and have to settle and multiply which takes time

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

none of them available in ireland : (

Amazon?...ships worldwide I thought

 

[Shawaiz_106]

Amazon?...ships worldwide I thought

Not everything, its not on amazon uk and i cant even find it on US amazon either, not that it would matter because import fees would kill

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Not everything, its not on amazon uk and i cant even find it on US amazon either, not that it would matter because import fees would kill

Can you get live rock? That's even better!

 

[Shawaiz_106]

Can you get live rock? That's even better!

i could, but was hoping not to because its 18euro per pound and i wanted to have a fresh start with no hitchhikers. ( restarted because of aptasia infestation ).

 

[Shawaiz_106]

maybe i could ask my lfs for a small bit and but it in the back chamber

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

maybe i could ask my lfs for a small bit and but it in the back chamber

Or use some in the DT so seed the tank along with using the remaining Bacto Blend

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Or find someone with an established tank and buy a few pieces of rock off them

 

[Shawaiz_106]

ehh, idk. watches the brstv series on cycling tanks with like 14 diff ways and live rock in dt usually resulted in a lot of algea. i might still go that way though

 

[Shawaiz_106]

also, when should i add copepods ?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

also, when should i add copepods ?

Well one of many good things about live rock is that there will already be pods on it...btw, I saw that series too and would take it with a grain of salt. First off, nobody would just let nutrient levels go off the charts like they did without doing a water change. That was part of the reason why that tank looked so bad. Also, you don't have to get live rock coated in sponges and other organisms that won't thrive in your tank and slowly decay releasing ammonia which converts to nitrate eventually causing algal growth...the series was a little misleading imo

 

[Shawaiz_106]

fair, also just realised. my lfs sells the red sea reef mature starter kit too. same price as a bottle of bacto blend. would that be better ?

 

[Dan_P]

none of them available in ireland : (

Dr Tim’s One and Only Available?

 

[Shawaiz_106]

Dr Tim’s One and Only Available?

Nope, just bacto blend and red sea mature reef starter kit

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Dr. Tim's goes under the brand name "Aquarium Systems" in Europe so maybe they do have it just under a different name? Red Sea is a good company imo though so although I haven't used their started kit, I do use their test kits and am a fan. You should be fine going with them.

 

[MnFish1]

Not everything, its not on amazon uk and i cant even find it on US amazon either, not that it would matter because import fees would kill

It is on Amazon UK (but I believe thats the freshwater version)- and there is another store in the UK that sells it as well. But. isn't Ireland in the EU? So - can you check other sites in the EU?

Fritz FritzZyme TurboStart 900 Saltwater 1 oz

The ORIGINAL LIVE Nitrifying Bacteria Rapidly Eliminates Toxic Ammonia and Nitrite Allows Safe Immediate Introduction of Livestock Prevents “New Tank Syndrome” Establishes and Maintains a Healthy Biofilter Prevents Fish Loss – FritzZyme Saves Lives! A Safe, Natural Approach to Water Treatment...

www.h2oaquatics.co.uk

EDIT - here is a site in the EU: https://www.marine-aquatics.eu/en/f...marine-live-bacteria-high-concentration-118ml