Dosing nitrifying bacteria?

[geko522]

I have a question about dosing nitrifying bacteria.

When I started up my aquarium I used Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Reef Sand and marco rock. I used dr tims products to cycle the tank.

8 months into the aquarium I was wondering if I should be dosing nitrifying bacteria and if so can you recommend products that I should use. Thank you for the help!

 

[BriDroid]

I’m only about a month in, and I have been dosing MicrobactorClean and Microbactor7 just to help avoid the uglies. So far it seems to be helping. Before I started the Clean, I was getting some brown diatoms, after a week of heavily dosing the Clean, they have disappeared….

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, dosing nitrifying bacteria is undesirable. That is, bad for the tank. Nitrifiers steal ammonia away from corals, forcing them to use the more unfavorable nitrate to get sufficient N.

In the all the decades I have been reading many thousands of reef chemistry posts, I have NEVER ONCE heard of a reef tank that needed nitrifying bacteria added after the initial cycle.

 

[geko522]

IMO, dosing nitrifying bacteria is undesirable. That is, bad for the tank. Nitrifiers steal ammonia away from corals, forcing them to use the more unfavorable nitrate to get sufficient N.

In the all the decades I have been reading many thousands of reef chemistry posts, I have NEVER ONCE heard of a reef tank that needed nitrifying bacteria added after the initial cycle.

Thank you, I appreciate your response! I've been reading other talk about dosing bacteria and was hoping for some clarity. Thank you!

 

[Garf]

I have a question about dosing nitrifying bacteria.

When I started up my aquarium I used Fiji Pink Arag-Alive! Reef Sand and marco rock. I used dr tims products to cycle the tank.

8 months into the aquarium I was wondering if I should be dosing nitrifying bacteria and if so can you recommend products that I should use. Thank you for the help!

I wouldn't bother. Have you bought coral in the last 8 months?

 

[geko522]

I wouldn't bother. Have you bought coral in the last 8 months?

Yes, I've bought a few LPS

 

[Garf]

Yes, I've bought a few LPS

That's all you really need, the stuff that comes with stuff you want, within reason.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you, I appreciate your response! I've been reading other talk about dosing bacteria and was hoping for some clarity. Thank you!

FwIW, if you think you want to dose bacteria, there are other types to use that are not nitrifiers.

 

[geko522]

FwIW, if you think you want to dose bacteria, there are other types to use that are not nitrifiers.

What other bacteria would you recommend to dose?

I asked about nitrifying bacteria because I saw a post that someone is dosing MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture. Not knowing much about it i thought that was nitrifying bacteria.

 

[BristleWormHater]

What other bacteria would you recommend to dose?

I asked about nitrifying bacteria because I saw a post that someone is dosing MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture. Not knowing much about it i thought that was nitrifying bacteria.

Mb7 is a mix of nitritfying bacteria, like @Randy Holmes-Farley said there are other types of bacteria that help the tank with algae and water clarity. I don't know much about those though. I think things like microbacter clean are bacteria I'm not sure though.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What other bacteria would you recommend to dose?

I asked about nitrifying bacteria because I saw a post that someone is dosing MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture. Not knowing much about it i thought that was nitrifying bacteria.

Why do you want to dose bacteria?

If there is a reason to want to dose bacteria, such as to outcompete dinos, then something like PNS Probio might be useful, also a an food for corals.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I asked about nitrifying bacteria because I saw a post that someone is dosing MicroBacter7 - Complete Bioculture. Not knowing much about it i thought that was nitrifying bacteria.

It does claim to be, and would be a reason to not use it, IMO, but it also seems to be a very poor nitrifier started culture based on testing by taricha.

Not all Cycling Bacteria are created equal. Who's who, and what do they need?

Here's Group 3 data. I'm really enjoying how many different cycling curve shapes I'm getting from the different nitrifying products. Group 3 Total Ammonia and Nitrite Fritz Turbo start, and Caribsea Ocean Direct responded to ammonia-only quickly and cleared it in about the same time, but the...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[geko522]

Why do you want to dose bacteria?

If there is a reason to want to dose bacteria, such as to outcompete dinos, then something like PNS Probio might be useful, also a an food for corals.

It's not that I want to dose bacteria, I thought I had to dose bacteria and was trying to find out what products or even if I have to dose it. My LFS said to dose it if I have a spike in Ammonia. Facebook groups swear that I need to dose it daily. Just gets a little confusing of what to do and not to do as a newbie like myself. I ask on this forum knowing if you answer the question it is 100% and I follow what you suggest. Thanks for your replies, I appreciate all your help.

 

[BristleWormHater]

It's not that I want to dose bacteria, I thought I had to dose bacteria and was trying to find out what products or even if I have to dose it. My LFS said to dose it if I have a spike in Ammonia. Facebook groups swear that I need to dose it daily. Just gets a little confusing of what to do and not to do as a newbie like myself. I ask on this forum knowing if you answer the question it is 100% and I follow what you suggest. Thanks for your replies, I appreciate all your help.

You don't need to dose bacteria, especially nitritfying bacteria after the cycle has finished which it clearly has eight months in. Also your biome should be pretty established so an ammonia spike would only occur if everything started dying and at that point, you have bigger problems, does the lfs know how old your tank is?

 

[geko522]

You don't need to dose bacteria, especially nitritfying bacteria after the cycle has finished which it clearly has eight months in. Also your biome should be pretty established so an ammonia spike would only occur if everything started dying and at that point, you have bigger problems, does the lfs know how old your tank is?

Thanks for the info, appreciate your time.

Yes, I told my lfs how old the tank was. The guy is a old timer so maybe it was a old time way at some point and he just does it and not knowing it doesn't have to be done. Also the one fb group I posted in, 90% of the comments suggested I should be dosing and the impression I got was that I'm pretty foolish not dosing. Either way, I feel that Reef2Reef is a much more reliable source, especially having randy replies. I don't even know why I bother with fb groups to be honest

 

[305 Steve]

id recommend dosing Phyto to promote pods and other beneficial organisms over nitrifying bacteria for the same point as Randy pointed out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My LFS said to dose it if I have a spike in Ammonia. Facebook groups swear that I need to dose it daily. Just gets a little confusing of what to do and not to do as a newbie like myself. I ask on this forum knowing if you answer the question it is 100% and I follow what you suggest. Thanks for your replies, I appreciate all your help.

Well, that tells you all you need to know about getting reef info from Facebook. lol

Lots of great reef tanks have never once added bacteria.

It may be useful in some contexts, but is never required.

I think many folks who see effects are seeing the effect of bacteria as a coral food.

The lfs isn’t wrong except that getting an ammonia spike is not going to happen unless something big dies, and at that point, dosing bacteria is probably too late to be very useful.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

It's not that I want to dose bacteria, I thought I had to dose bacteria and was trying to find out what products or even if I have to dose it. My LFS said to dose it if I have a spike in Ammonia. Facebook groups swear that I need to dose it daily. Just gets a little confusing of what to do and not to do as a newbie like myself. I ask on this forum knowing if you answer the question it is 100% and I follow what you suggest. Thanks for your replies, I appreciate all your help.

Less is more in this hobby (most of the time).