Ok bacteria the good stuff?

Reef UP · Mar 1, 2016

Ok so I've lays been a big fan of microbacter7 used it forever now.
What else is out the there's gotta be something better right?
What do you use what results have you seen as results?

bobman · Mar 1, 2016

There is quite a few out there microbacter7 and biospara are the only 2 I have used. Both work very well. I would not use it to cycle my tank but to help keep ammonia down during the cycle to keep my live rock we live it is great. Also a good dose from time to time never hurts but I don't really think it is justified as you will just skim it out. I will warn though as I have heard of some out there being nothing more than snake oil and pretty much just saltwater in a bottle with no bacteria in it. I cant say though I have never had any issues. I will say if you do use the stuff try not to get a bottle that's been sitting on a shelf as bacteria has to eat or it to will die. So if its been sitting for a while it may no longer have bacteria in it and just nitrates from the die off.

JMLewis · Mar 1, 2016

Here's a video of a guy who sent samples to a lab to test and showed it does have live bacteria. It is best to keep it refrigerated once opened though imo.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 2, 2016

Reef UP said:
Ok so I've lays been a big fan of microbacter7 used it forever now.
What else is out the there's gotta be something better right?
What do you use what results have you seen as results?

In terms of "something better', what is it that you want to do, or do better?

MB7 makes lots of claims, and while I won't get into whether it does them all, the answer to the "what else?" question definitely does depend on what claims you refer to.

jason2459 · Mar 2, 2016

I dose my tank with atmosphere, water, and food. It gets lots of bacteria.

Rybren · Mar 2, 2016

What kind of atmosphere? Shag carpets, candles, and Barry White?

jason2459 · Mar 2, 2016

Rybren said:
What kind of atmosphere? Shag carpets, candles, and Barry White?

Have to swoon them in somehow. Unfortunately, I have found Acetobacterium likes Justin Bieber. But works well with the Vodka I've been adding to my Vinegar.

beaslbob · Mar 2, 2016

I start my tank with lotsa plant life (FW live plants saltwater macto algae).

So I get no ammonia nor nitrite spikes as the bacteria builds up.

my .02

Rybren · Mar 2, 2016

jason2459 said:
Have to swoon them in somehow. Unfortunately, I have found Acetobacterium likes Justin Bieber. But works well with the Vodka I've been adding to my Vinegar.

I'd have to dose myself with Vodka to listen to my fellow (shudder) Canadian.

Hunter S Thompson · Mar 2, 2016

I do not endorse this product nor have I used it, but there is a local reef store owner in Austin who swears by it, not just for new tank setup but as part of maintenance. "Startsmart Complete".

https://www.tlc-products.com/startsmart-complete/

Now here is the fun part... Very interesting paper on the bacteria by the inventor: https://www.tlc-products.com/pdf/HOW TLC BACTERIA WORK.pdf

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 3, 2016

Thanks for posting that.

Reef UP · Mar 3, 2016

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
In terms of "something better', what is it that you want to do, or do better?

MB7 makes lots of claims, and while I won't get into whether it does them all, the answer to the "what else?" question definitely does depend on what claims you refer to.

I was just curious if say a product like prodibio or the newer stuff by brightwell the continuum line has shown to be better more live bacteria etc more strains? I really was just curious as in a passing thought as I had finished another bottle of mb7 if something else out there should be given a try?

brandon429 · Mar 3, 2016

One can add mb7 to a tank with cyano and battle moneran for moneran. They can also hand remove the cyano, clean the filthy sandbed it's stuck to, and be cyano free that way (same ends) to me it's just a choice with same ends in my opinion

We can either remove waste by hand and work, or put a biotic in the tank to break up the waste and take it out in parts via current export system

If there are no export mechanisms in place adding digesters will not help.

Even the use of digesters in limnology lake/ river control require basic exports to actually move the mass out, it's either plants up taking the broken down wastes or actual physical export removing sludge out of the target/eutrophic zone

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 3, 2016

Reef UP said:
I was just curious if say a product like prodibio or the newer stuff by brightwell the continuum line has shown to be better more live bacteria etc more strains? I really was just curious as in a passing thought as I had finished another bottle of mb7 if something else out there should be given a try?

IMO one has to distinguish between different effects which must come from different types of bacteria.

Cycling a tank fast takes certain species that may be of little value later when the tank has plenty of them. There are other products that may be as good or better in that regard. Dr Tim's, for example.

Denitrifying bacteria are also another claim and another type of bacteria. I'm skeptical that they will be useful in an established tank which probably has enough bacteria of this type already.

Other claims relate to processing organic particulates in the aquarium. That won't likely involve nitrifying bacteria, and probably not denitrifying bacteria, but other species (if it happens at all).

Then MB7 claims to do all this for both freshwater and seawater, which likely involves different species again.