Dosing Bakers Yeast!?

Alexreefer · Jun 3, 2019

Hey all, I have been battling diatoms for quite some time now. My LFS told me to use bakers yeast. 1/4 teaspoon for 400 gals. I have a 100 gal tank so I should dose 1/16 of a teaspoon every 3-4 days? Should I just add the yeast in the water or should I dissolve it beforehand? @Randy Holmes-Farley do you know how bakers yeast combat diatoms?

bluprntguy · Jun 4, 2019

Would love to hear Randy’s thoughts on this.

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

#reefsquad? Would anyone know why and how this works?

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

Hey, @bluprntguy have you used this method. And if so do I add the yeast straight into the tank or do I dissolve it in water first?

redfishbluefish · Jun 4, 2019

I've heard of it's use before, but have never tried it. My guess is that baker's yeast would not bloom/grow/survive in salt water. In addition the dose is so low, I have no idea how it could work. That said, it's like an old wives' tale, having no idea how it could work, but it just does (supposedly).

If I had diatoms, I'd try it, because I don't believe it could possibly hurt anything.

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

Ok, now the question is do I dissolve it in water or just add 1/16 of a teaspoon into the tank?

redfishbluefish · Jun 4, 2019

Alexreefer said:
Ok, now the question is do I dissolve it in water or just add 1/16 of a teaspoon into the tank?

I would first add it to a cup or two of tank water so that you could mix and wet the yeast. Then add to your tank. Let us know if it works. Good luck.

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

alright added the first dose today. plan on adding every two days. Will keep this thread updated.

rockskimmerflow · Jun 4, 2019

I've never used Baker's yeast but Brewer's yeast has been a fantastic way to blow up your pod population IME. I don't dose it regularly but it seems to work as a great substitute for physto as tons of swimming mysids, copepods, amphipods, and munnid isopods seem to appear after dosing it for a week or so. Perhaps the LFS is hoping you'll build your numbers of microfauna so they might consume the diatom. I haven't ever used the yeast to combat diatoms but I guess it could work. Best of luck!

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

rockskimmerflow said:
I've never used Baker's yeast but Brewer's yeast has been a fantastic way to blow up your pod population IME. I don't dose it regularly but it seems to work as a great substitute for physto as tons of swimming mysids, copepods, amphipods, and munnid isopods seem to appear after dosing it for a week or so. Perhaps the LFS is hoping you'll build your numbers of microfauna so they might consume the diatom. I haven't ever used the yeast to combat diatoms but I guess it could work. Best of luck!

Very interesting. Might try it out in a smaller 5-10 gal tank to breed pods.

Sailingeric · Jun 4, 2019

rockskimmerflow said:
I've never used Baker's yeast but Brewer's yeast has been a fantastic way to blow up your pod population IME. I don't dose it regularly but it seems to work as a great substitute for physto as tons of swimming mysids, copepods, amphipods, and munnid isopods seem to appear after dosing it for a week or so. Perhaps the LFS is hoping you'll build your numbers of microfauna so they might consume the diatom. I haven't ever used the yeast to combat diatoms but I guess it could work. Best of luck!

Be careful and don't under pitch the yeast. I prefer using White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast or WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast, they both do a good job of floccing out and let the hops shine.. oh wait wrong forum

.

I do brew beer and would be nice to use some of my extra yeast after I am done to help boost the pod population.

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

Sailingeric said:
Be careful and don't under pitch the yeast. I prefer using White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast or WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast, they both do a good job of floccing out and let the hops shine.. oh wait wrong forum .

I do brew beer and would be nice to use some of my extra yeast after I am done to help boost the pod population.

Lol!

reefwiser · Jun 4, 2019

I use Yeast to culture live foods like vinegar worms for small fish. The yeast is use as food for the worms. Such small amount of Yeast they are suggesting I use way more than that on a small culture of worms.

I guess you could try it is wouldn't hurt anything. Might want to remove any mechanical or carbon as that could remove that from the water.

bluprntguy · Jun 4, 2019

Alexreefer said:
Hey, @bluprntguy have you used this method. And if so do I add the yeast straight into the tank or do I dissolve it in water first?

I haven't done this, but I would have done what you did and add it to some water to dissolve. Looking forward to seeing whether this works!

Rick.45cal · Jun 4, 2019

I’ve been feeding bakers dry activated yeast to my tank for about 6 months now. As a food item for corals/filter feeders, I’ve never heard of it being used for diatoms but it definitely won’t hurt anything. I take about 500 ml of tank water and mix the yeast in with that and then add it in front of one of my circulation pumps. FWIW, my tank is doing fantastic so I don’t think the yeast has harmed anything. I can’t say whether it’s made a positive impact or not.

Alexreefer · Jun 4, 2019

Rick.45cal said:
I’ve been feeding bakers dry activated yeast to my tank for about 6 months now. As a food item for corals/filter feeders, I’ve never heard of it being used for diatoms but it definitely won’t hurt anything. I take about 500 ml of tank water and mix the yeast in with that and then add it in front of one of my circulation pumps. FWIW, my tank is doing fantastic so I don’t think the yeast has harmed anything. I can’t say whether it’s made a positive impact or not.

Great to know. When I added the yeast my euphyllia closed up but have opened up since.