Here’s some helpful notes:
For “ONE and ONLY”
His bacteria are grown on a fine substrate (sand.) They are 100% natural and isolated from his own ponds and aquariums. They’re concentrated. These bacteria are Ammonia and Nitrite Oxidizer’s or Oxidizing bacteria. In the bottle these bacteria remain in Hibernation. As DrTim likes to say, “Bacteria don’t have lungs.” “They don’t need to breathe nor do they need oxygen in the bottle.” “They only need oxygen when they’re converting Ammonia and Nitrite.”They only do this in our aquariums. When they’re in the bottle, they’re basically just sitting there. They don’t need to be fed. They only need food to divide in our aquariums, but not in the bottle. They can last up to a year or longer in the bottle before you put them into your tank.
*Salinity is best kept at 1.013 - 1.015 or 18-20 ppt when cycling.
*Increase the temp 84-85 degrees when cycling. Nitrifiers are grow between 77* - 86* Fahrenheit. 25* - 30* Celsius.
After cycling is done, decrease the temperature and increase salinity over about 2-4 days to natural seawater or 1.025-1.026 obviously before you add fish or coral.
Bare Bottom tanks take much longer to cycle. Tanks with substrate will cycle much faster.
If using Live Sand...measure ammonia before adding (NH4CI). Most Live Sand products have a mixture of organic’s and Heterotrophic bacteria that have been sitting in the bag for a while. You open it up, stir it up, put it in the tank, add water and this adds lots of oxygen to these Heterotrophic bacteria and they will degrade the organic’s into ammonia. So you might already have enough ammonia to begin with.
-THINGS NOT TO DO-
-Don’t mix multiple bacteria species. You may be mixing the wrong bacteria together. Only use a pure mixture of Nitrifiers.
-Don’t use Ammonium Chloride (NH4CI) with scents or surfactants (soap).
-Don’t dose more than 4 ppm Ammonia. This will slow the bacteria down. Don’t dose Ammonia everyday. Only dose a couple times a week.
“Eliminate the competition”
-Don’t add or mix Heterotrophic bacteria.
-Don’t set up a GFO reactor because It will pull out needed phosphate.
-Remove mechanical filtration (filter pads, filter socks, etc.) until the bacteria adhere to the substrate or rocks. This takes about 48 hrs.
-Turn off skimmer for 48 hrs.
-Turn off UV for 48 hrs.
-Turn off Ozone for 48 hrs.
-Don’t setup any kind of denitrification, because this will promote the growth of bacteria that will steal the nutrients.
-Don’t dose Organic Carbon sources like Vodka, Vinegar, Sugars, etc. Sugars promote Heterotrophic bacteria that will compete with our Nitrifiers. Heterotrophs compete for surface area. They can divide in 20 minutes. They use organic carbon sources like the ones mentioned above and can crowd-out and/or bury your nitrifiers.
If you set up a tank and the next day it’s cloudy, it’s not Nitrifying bacteria. Nitrifying bacteria cannot grow that fast. Heterotrophic bacteria can and do grow that fast and take the available micronutrients (especially phosphate) and all bacteria need a little phosphate when growing. So never put a competitor in that can grow much faster and steal all the available micronutrients that our Nitrifiers need.
Keep the lights off when cycling. Lights promote algae! Algae will steal the phosphate in the system. Most brand-new reef tanks are limited on phosphate to begin with. So we want to avoid algae growth, because algae will restrict the growth of our Nitrifiers.
Hope this helps. Cheers!
