Too much beneficial bacteria?

[emilyruthwinsor]

I’ve recently brought a saltwater tank and after cycling it added 3 fish. After a week of having the fish in the tank I’ve had a nitrite spike, due to my own fault of feeding them too much the first few days whilst getting used to it all.

A visit to my LFS (10 days into spike with nitrite reading 1.0 in a 20 gal tank) they’ve informed me I have to shake the beneficial bacteria I have been adding as it all settles at the bottom of the bottle.

I did today and the colour of it was orange but the last week I’ve been adding clear fluid obviously from the top of the bottle.

In the last week I have done 2 30% water changes and siphoned the sand at the bottom of the tank a few times as recommended by LFS so have taken a lot of bacteria out but haven’t been putting much in due to not shaking.

Would it be okay to add more bacteria to catch up and lower the nitrites or is there such thing as too much good bacteria?

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!! I'm sure others will jump in soon with their thoughts. I encourage you to review the article at the following link to get a better understanding of the cycling and the nitrogen cycle:

Cycling an Aquarium

Cycling a new aquarium. One of the earliest topics a new aquarium hobbyist needs to learn is how to properly cycle their aquarium. There is a ton of information on this process and many different methods on how to accomplish it. There are many different chemical and biological cycles our tank...

www.reef2reef.com

Good luck with your tank!

 

[vetteguy53081]

I’ve recently brought a saltwater tank and after cycling it added 3 fish. After a week of having the fish in the tank I’ve had a nitrite spike, due to my own fault of feeding them too much the first few days whilst getting used to it all.

A visit to my LFS (10 days into spike with nitrite reading 1.0 in a 20 gal tank) they’ve informed me I have to shake the beneficial bacteria I have been adding as it all settles at the bottom of the bottle.

I did today and the colour of it was orange but the last week I’ve been adding clear fluid obviously from the top of the bottle.

In the last week I have done 2 30% water changes and siphoned the sand at the bottom of the tank a few times as recommended by LFS so have taken a lot of bacteria out but haven’t been putting much in due to not shaking.

Would it be okay to add more bacteria to catch up and lower the nitrites or is there such thing as too much good bacteria?

That was bad avice as you dont need to be concerned nitrIte unless its sky high 80-100 or higher and tells me an API test kit was in use as other kits wont have nitrite test
While you can use denitrifying bacteria, dont over do it as you will get many zero readings. Allow the tank to mature anerobically not overfeeding but feeding what fish can consume in 2-3 minutes.
Always easier to add food than to remove it.

 

[DE FISH]

Welcome to the club
!

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Azedenkae]

I’ve recently brought a saltwater tank and after cycling it added 3 fish. After a week of having the fish in the tank I’ve had a nitrite spike, due to my own fault of feeding them too much the first few days whilst getting used to it all.

A visit to my LFS (10 days into spike with nitrite reading 1.0 in a 20 gal tank) they’ve informed me I have to shake the beneficial bacteria I have been adding as it all settles at the bottom of the bottle.

I did today and the colour of it was orange but the last week I’ve been adding clear fluid obviously from the top of the bottle.

In the last week I have done 2 30% water changes and siphoned the sand at the bottom of the tank a few times as recommended by LFS so have taken a lot of bacteria out but haven’t been putting much in due to not shaking.

Would it be okay to add more bacteria to catch up and lower the nitrites or is there such thing as too much good bacteria?

Not really, you can dose more and more bacteria.

However, not all bottled bac products work well and may not do anything. What product have you been using?

Either way, don't worry about doing water changes at this point (just to lower nitrite). Nitrite is not lethal to marine fish until it is >100pm, probably a few hundred depending on species. Although prolonged exposure to 25ppm can still cause issues, but well, 25ppm is still a long way away from where you are at.

 

[Kristopher Conlin]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

 

[reaper93]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hello and welcome to the channel.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Welcome!
No need to test for nitrite. Is your ammonia elevated?

 

[CoralB]

Welcome !!!

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

 

[Adolfo]

 

[bnord]

Welcome to the forum, and as above do ammonia check. Also the bacteria will be dormant if they don’t have the required nutrients for them to divide and multiply. And siphoning the gravel is probably also overkill. Slow things down now feed moderately check ammonia and take good care of your fish.

and best of luck

 

[emilyruthwinsor]

Thanks all! Haven’t done an ammonia check as LFS told me I didnt have to until adding corals but will go get one today and test!

Can‘t believe how bad the advice from LFS has been…

 

[emilyruthwinsor]

Not really, you can dose more and more bacteria.

However, not all bottled bac products work well and may not do anything. What product have you been using?

Either way, don't worry about doing water changes at this point (just to lower nitrite). Nitrite is not lethal to marine fish until it is >100pm, probably a few hundred depending on species. Although prolonged exposure to 25ppm can still cause issues, but well, 25ppm is still a long way away from where you are at.

Thank you this is so helpful!

I have been using Colombo Bacto.

As my nitrate isn’t too high then do you think I’d be okay to add a cleaner shrimp after testing ammonia? Want to get one of those guys in there as think they’d be extremely helpful for my tank.

 

[RiptideAquaculture]

Welcome to the Reef2Reef !
Happy to have you here!
Here's a picture of something cool so you can get started with the fun of this community!
​

 

[Big Smelly fish]

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board!