Is too much bio media a thing?

[mje113]

Hi,

I'm about 5 months into a nano tank and want to start a pico soon. I have a sizeable chunk of liverock I plan to transfer from the nano over to the pico help with the cycle, but was also planning on moving some seeded brightwell xport bio cubes as well. I want to add some more bio cubes to my nano to get them seeded in preparation, but based on the tank size brightwell recommends only 5 cubes. If I went way above this, is there any potential harm? I feel like 12-15 years ago people would say that was a "nitrate factory" but I know a lot has changed since then.

Thanks!

 

[Quietman]

Well, too much seeded media in an immature/sterile tank could possibly result in excessive bacteria die off. I've put 1/2 liter of very mature media in 10 gallon instant start setup without issue. Just be aware of what could happen and test the usual parameters. Nothing permanently bad will happen unless you stock before there's some stability. This could be good test experience to see what's needed in case you ever have to setup an emergency tank. Good to know before hand.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don’t think much media is needed, but I also don’t think it hurts too much to have more. You can always remove some if nitrate drops too low.

 

[Crustaceon]

Stripping the tank of nutrients is usually going to cause more problems than letting nutrients get out of hand. You run the risk of stripping nutrients with too much bio media, carbon dosing and/or too much algae turf scrubber/macro algae in a refugium. Even too high of a percentage and/or frequency of water changes can simply be "too much". As Randy mentioned, bio media is pretty forgiving and if your nutrient levels are starting to creep too low (you should be testing this weekly), you can always just remove some bio media until your tank finds a good balancing point.

 

[mje113]

I appreciate all the replies! Just keep in mind this isn't intended to be permanent, I'm just looking to add some extra bio media to tank A, and leave it for a week or so before transferring it to new tank B. But with all that said I think I'll test daily and dose nitrate and phos as needed as it's something I already need to dose almost daily.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I appreciate all the replies! Just keep in mind this isn't intended to be permanent, I'm just looking to add some extra bio media to tank A, and leave it for a week or so before transferring it to new tank B. But with all that said I think I'll test daily and dose nitrate and phos as needed as it's something I already need to dose almost daily.

So, you're basically just seeding some new media... That won't cause the kind of problems discussed above. But depending on how much media you have in the current system, you could just take some from there for the new tank, and then replace it with the new media. Then you won't have to worry about "too much" in the current system.