Dosing Microbacter 7 Daily?

Beausoleiljacob · Nov 23, 2016

Hey Reefers,
I have heard of numerous people achieving a stable low nutrient system with dosing microbacter 7. I started my tank up with it and it worked great. I was curious if anyone has luck with dosing Microbacter 7 daily and if so how much would I do for a 60 gallon?

helen ann · Nov 25, 2016

Hi! Don't dose anything so I can't be of much help

but this post will give your thread a lil' bump

FMF0331 · Nov 25, 2016

i dose microbacter 7 every friday after my 5 gallon water change on my 55 cube. i add about 40 ml

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 25, 2016

Sounds reasonable. Vinegar would be cheaper.

Willz · Nov 25, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
Sounds reasonable. Vinegar would be cheaper.

Is Microbacter a carbon source? I thought it was just bacteria.

I use NOPOX (which I should DIY), and add Microbacter on water changes.

chefjpaul · Nov 25, 2016

I add opposite week of a carbon source

Currently prodibio, but soon to switch all to AF

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 25, 2016

Willz said:
Is Microbacter a carbon source? I thought it was just bacteria.

I use NOPOX (which I should DIY), and add Microbacter on water changes.

no micro bacteria is bacteria. buy adding your just adding more, carbon dosing just feeds them a little extra. so imo (not to sound harsh) its redundant.
like all things, look at the tank. if the nutrients are getting high sure dump some in or use an aggressive treatment like dr t or probidio(i do), to not only maintain higher populations but to insure diversity. Off hand I dont know what or how many strains of bacteria are in MB7.

So for me in this thinking over the course of a year , I have used Prime Stability dr t and probidio and not carbon dosed. and none were daily or weekly.
Back in my early days of reefing I never dosed anything either way and still had no problems. I did add prime if i stirred thing up. still do.

Willz · Nov 25, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
no micro bacteria is bacteria. buy adding your just adding more, carbon dosing just feeds them a little extra. so imo (not to sound harsh) its redundant.
like all things, look at the tank. if the nutrients are getting high sure dump some in or use an aggressive treatment like dr t or probidio(i do), to not only maintain higher populations but to insure diversity. Off hand I dont know what or how many strains of bacteria are in MB7.

So for me in this thinking over the course of a year , I have used Prime Stability dr t and probidio and not carbon dosed. and none were daily or weekly.
Back in my early days of reefing I never dosed anything either way and still had no problems. I did add prime if i stirred thing up. still do.

It may be redundant, but it is working. But, it is like a lucky jersey, while the team is winning I'm reluctant to take it off

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 25, 2016

Willz said:
It may be redundant, but it is working. But, it is like a lucky jersey, while the team is winning I'm reluctant to take it off

Right? you and me both! its funny observations and imo how many scewed anecdotal reports surface. And I do have more than a few superstitions myself. Keeping in mind I didn't really dose any thing bacterial for 5 years and it worked too. so honestly Im not sure why i dose them now

, save as an extra cleaner or during maintenance dose.

chefjpaul · Nov 25, 2016

saltyfilmfolks said:
Right? you and me both! its funny observations and imo how many scewed anecdotal reports surface. And I do have more than a few superstitions myself. Keeping in mind I didn't really dose any thing bacterial for 5 years and it worked too. so honestly Im not sure why i dose them now, save as an extra cleaner or during maintenance dose.

So true!

I use as just a nutrient control as needed, but I don't know if it's truly necessary at all.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 25, 2016

chefjpaul said:
So true!

I use as just a nutrient control as needed, but I don't know if it's truly necessary at all.

lol. i do know its not bad. worst case i wasted $9

Willz · Nov 25, 2016

One thing I did change recently: I was dosing NOPOX daily and adding Aquavitro Fuel once a week. Turns out Fuel is a carbon source too. I had no idea, so I have cut it out of the mix.

saltyfilmfolks · Nov 25, 2016

Willz said:
One thing I did change recently: I was dosing NOPOX daily and adding Aquavitro Fuel once a week. Turns out Fuel is a carbon source too. I had no idea, so I have cut it out of the mix.

yup aminos and vitamin c. Marine snow does it to me too.

Bruttall · May 11, 2024

The way I understand MB7 is it does not introduce any bacteria, it just provides enzymes and "food" (carbon I assume) to help stimulate the growth of bacteria.

I use MB7 every week, as part of my coral snow flocculent treatment. I mix it with some calcium carbonate, rodi water, Selcon, and ZEOFood plus.

I mix about 1/4 cup calcium carbonate with 450ml RODI. This is my CC/RODI mix.

For my 360g volume system I add about 100ml CC/RODI mixture with 50ml MB7, about 15ml Selcon, and about 10ml ZEOFood. shake it/mix it every minute or so for about 10 minutes, then I add it to my system with pumps turned off for 30 minutes. It will cloud the water milky, but settles pretty fast and really polishes the water. After 30 minutes turn your pumps back on. since MB7 binds itself to small particles it is a perfect medium to bind the selcon and zeofood to the calcium carbonate which coats everything in your tank as it settles, directly feeding all your corals and coating your rock and tank walls as well.

If your treating an outbreak with MB7, blast your rocks etc with a turkey baster first to dislodge the unwanted algae before you add the snow treatment.

I got this recipe and treatment from these forums, so I can't take credit for coming up with this, but I have been using it for about 8 months now. Picture is from today.