The Ultimate Bio-Home Marine seeding help ?

[Maltese]

Hello to everyone, today I bought a 2kg of the Ultimate Bio- Home Marine. They say that 1kg has a surface area of 1.5 ton to 2.0 tons. After I washed it ( taken water from my reef tank) I decided to seed it. A friend of mine a marine biologist gave me 20ml of live heterotrophic bacteria mixed with other beneficial bacteria so I can seed this filter media. I filled a stainless steel pot from my reef tank again because the water I washed the filter media I throw it away, dosed the bacteria, give it a swirl and inserted the filter media in the pot. My question is for how long should I leave the filter to seed?

 

[Porpoise Hork]

If left in a pot like this the bacteria will only colonize on the outer surface of the media. This will be short lived as the O2 levels will fall and the bacteria will die off. To get it fully seeded will only take a week or two at most but needs constant water flow across and through it. You will need to put it in a high flow area of the sump or in a canister filter or something like that. Then dose the tank with starter culture like Seachem Stability, Fritz Turbo Start etc and let it do its thing. If you do not dose the tank with starter culture it may take a long time for the media to seed since there is very little beneficial bacteria in the water column under normal conditions as it populates on/in the rockwork etc.

 

[Maltese]

If left in a pot like this the bacteria will only colonize on the outer surface of the media. This will be short lived as the O2 levels will fall and the bacteria will die off. To get it fully seeded will only take a week or two at most but needs constant water flow across and through it. You will need to put it in a high flow area of the sump or in a canister filter or something like that. Then dose the tank with starter culture like Seachem Stability, Fritz Turbo Start etc and let it do its thing. If you do not dose the tank with starter culture it may take a long time for the media to seed since there is very little beneficial bacteria in the water column under normal conditions as it populates on/in the rockwork etc.

Thank you for the only one that has answered me. My Tank is 9 years old. I used this method because of my old filter media Like Brightwell Aquatics Bricks that is melting, and I need to replace it with something else. The live heterotrophic bacteria doesn't matter about oxygen in the water it lives about a year without oxygen told by my friend marine biologist. It works differently than any other type of bacteria. They say that's is the true beneficial bacteria. What i did not know is how many time i should leave it to seed into the bio-home? The aim is because if i dose it directly in the sump there are filter socks, protein skimmer and many more mechanical filtrations that will reduce its efficiency.

 

[SDK]

I would just slowly remove the old media and replace it with new over the course of a week. I've done this before with no added bacteria and no problems. If there is room you could also just add the new product all at once and then slowly remove the old.

 

[Maltese]

I would just slowly remove the old media and replace it with new over the course of a week. I've done this before with no added bacteria and no problems. If there is room you could also just add the new product all at once and then slowly remove the old.

Thank you for your support. Yes its a great idea but it will reduce its efficiency. I think i will remove the filter socks and other mechenical filtration, turn off skimmer and i will run it like that for a while. I think this is the best idea for me.

 

[Porpoise Hork]

If you use Seachem Stability and Probidio for a new tank, you dose for 7+ days. Most of the other bacteria starter products are a one and done application. I have used Bio-Home media in the past and it's amazing stuff. It's very porous so if you put it in a high flow area in your sump like the bubble trap (if equipped) before the pump it should not take more than a week once the tank is dosed. For dosing I would say either in the overflow or into the tank but cut the skimmer off for four hours or so it won't pull out a large amount of the culture.

 

[Clanger]

I too have this question , I was thinking of soaking for just an hour in just enough solution for the bio media to absorb ,then put in a low flow area so it doesn't get washed out ..was going to dose the tank anyway, I was just thinking it cuts out a massive time effect when it's already there ha