Fritz monster 460 or 460

[Heres_doe_]

Anyone use fritz monster 460 or fritz 460? Would it lower nitrates with time? I understand the basics of what it's supposed to do. Will it cause bacterial bloom? Tanks 1 year old.

 

[blaxsun]

Yes. I haven't noticed any nitrate reduction, no. No bacterial blooms that I've seen.

 

[Heres_doe_]

Yes. I haven't noticed any nitrate reduction, no. No bacterial blooms that I've seen.

I'm just looking at it like this. If used as maintenance and it's breaking down all organics once most of that is broken down and kept using it nitrates would start to go lower with time. Does that makes sense or am i looking at it too hard

 

[blaxsun]

I'm just looking at it like this. If used as maintenance and it's breaking down all organics once most of that is broken down and kept using it nitrates would start to go lower with time. Does that makes sense or am i looking at it too hard

I just use it semi-periodically (maybe once every 1-2 months) as a general purpose "cleaner" to get the areas of the tank I can't reach.

 

[Heres_doe_]

I just use it semi-periodically (maybe once every 1-2 months) as a general purpose "cleaner" to get the areas of the tank I can't reach.

Ok make sense

 

[Spare time]

I just use it semi-periodically (maybe once every 1-2 months) as a general purpose "cleaner" to get the areas of the tank I can't reach.

I do something similar with waste away

 

[Spare time]

They can lower nitrates or at least prevent less nitrate from accumulating (I don't know the details of how exactly they function but I get the general idea). You won't get a bloom unless you overdose or have some serious issues with decaying matter in the tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm just looking at it like this. If used as maintenance and it's breaking down all organics once most of that is broken down and kept using it nitrates would start to go lower with time. Does that makes sense or am i looking at it too hard

Just clarifying, it certainly will not reduce "all" organics (some any even rise), but the nitrate effect is unclear. It seems to me if it is breaking down organics overall, it will increase nitrate, and then once the metabolizable organic load is reduced (if it is), the nitrate will return to normal or maybe be lower.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I just use it semi-periodically (maybe once every 1-2 months) as a general purpose "cleaner" to get the areas of the tank I can't reach.

Do you see a visible effect on accumulating organics?

 

[Spare time]

Just clarifying, it certainly will not reduce "all" organics (some any even rise), but the nitrate effect is unclear. It seems to me if it is breaking down organics overall, it will increase nitrate, and then once the metabolizable organic load is reduced (if it is), the nitrate will return to normal or maybe be lower.

My presumption of how it works is similar to carbon dosing but this is adding the bacteria to implement nitrate and phosphate into their bodies. Maybe there is organic carbon in them (I think @Dan_P found this in waste away?). This in simple terms would make sense (i.e. some bacteria and organic carbon in a bottle to lower nitrate and phosphate). Again, different brand, but the same type of product is seemingly sold by multiple companies (I say "seemingly" as it could be different bacterial species). I also know that with waste away, Dr Tim's stated it could be used to seed biopellets, so maybe that might help narrow down the bacteria in that product, and possibly what bacterial species are being used in fritz's product. I might email fritz to ask what species they use (and email Dr. Tims). That might help with clarifying how these products "lower nitrate."

Again, a lot of this is simply me guessing, but I figured I'd throw this out there

 

[blaxsun]

Do you see a visible effect on accumulating organics?

Yes, I do notice that the glass is marginally cleaner after each use (requiring less scraping) and that there seems to be less overall debris, etc. in the sand bed. It doesn't break down anything like coralline algae on the glass, though.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

My presumption of how it works is similar to carbon dosing but this is adding the bacteria to implement nitrate and phosphate into their bodies. Maybe there is organic carbon in them (I think @Dan_P found this in waste away?). This in simple terms would make sense (i.e. some bacteria and organic carbon in a bottle to lower nitrate and phosphate). Again, different brand, but the same type of product is seemingly sold by multiple companies (I say "seemingly" as it could be different bacterial species). I also know that with waste away, Dr Tim's stated it could be used to seed biopellets, so maybe that might help narrow down the bacteria in that product, and possibly what bacterial species are being used in fritz's product. I might email fritz to ask what species they use (and email Dr. Tims). That might help with clarifying how these products "lower nitrate."

Again, a lot of this is simply me guessing, but I figured I'd throw this out there

Perhaps, but it is important that organic carbon dosing is dosing organic molecules that do not have N or P in them, so they must get it from the water. Random natural molecules have lots of N and P (e.g., proteins have loads of N, phospholipids have N and P, etc.) which is why organisms largely consuming organics (like people do) actually excrete N and P rather than need to absorb more.

 

[Dan_P]

My presumption of how it works is similar to carbon dosing but this is adding the bacteria to implement nitrate and phosphate into their bodies. Maybe there is organic carbon in them (I think @Dan_P found this in waste away?). This in simple terms would make sense (i.e. some bacteria and organic carbon in a bottle to lower nitrate and phosphate). Again, different brand, but the same type of product is seemingly sold by multiple companies (I say "seemingly" as it could be different bacterial species). I also know that with waste away, Dr Tim's stated it could be used to seed biopellets, so maybe that might help narrow down the bacteria in that product, and possibly what bacterial species are being used in fritz's product. I might email fritz to ask what species they use (and email Dr. Tims). That might help with clarifying how these products "lower nitrate."

Again, a lot of this is simply me guessing, but I figured I'd throw this out there

@taricha found interesting things about WasteAway medium

 

[Spare time]

@taricha found interesting things about WasteAway medium

I recently read that long thread. That was interesting to say the least haha

 

[Dan_P]

I recently read that long thread. That was interesting to say the least haha

Yeah, he’s got persistence, he’s mastered delayed gratification, and is extremely interested in how stuff works