DOES ADDING LIVE BACTERIA HELP CLEAN YOUR TANK

[KrisReef]

Been known to dose MB7 yet without scientific proof it matters I consider it a placebo considering once established bacteria multiply so quickly I highly doubt it needs replenishment. Look no further than UV flow and wattage ratings based on how quickly bacteria replicate.

After having my eyes open to several Brightwell potions for raising pH claiming no affect on alkalinity and their claims of Kalk plus magnesium that left a sour taste in my mouth and lets just leave it at that.

I'll keep dosing MB7 cause it's cheap and I want to believe but then often find myself wanting to believe in Santa too

MB7, I have been told to dose it from folks at the LFS to deal with uglies, and I agree "It worked" but was that a placebo observation & report? Can't ever know.

I did see Elf, and Santa is Real!

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks, I will take a look. I searched live bacteria but didn’t really find anything. I will search his threads.

The owner of the company is on R2R and goes into great details about his product and how it is produced.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdTmOjj5foDc&ved=2ahUKEwjju_fb17OHAxVsIEQIHSXiB0MQwqsBegQIFhAG&usg=AOvVaw2h-xomamRsiMIybKn03Gtb

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So if I had an Ammonia and Nitrite spike in my established reef, adding Fritz Turbo 900 would not help reduce those numbers and restore balance to my tank?

Why would they spike, and if they did, why would existing bacteria not expand to deal with it?

Ammonia problems in existing tanks is just not something that seems ever to be a problem.

IMO, ammonia has gotten a bad rap that is unwarranted, and I think ammonium dosing is desirable for any low N system.

I don’t think nitrite is ever a concern in any reef tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Thanks Randy,
By that statement, I was referring to the viability of the product, unless using live rock, I see a consensus on dosing some type of live bacteria from just about everyone for cycling a tank. As the rest of the quote says “I always thought bottled bacteria was used to cycle a tank, or to add additional bio-load capabilities when adding new fish.”

The question is whether future dosing does anything to help with tank maintenance. Brightwell claims that Microbacter7 and MicrobacterClean contain non-pathogenic aerobic and anaerobic microbes and polymers that enhance nitrification, denitrification and organic waste refraction through complete nutrient remineralization. Your next statement was not seeing a reason to add future bottled bacteria unless trying to outcompete something on the surfaces. Should I interpret that to mean that bottled bacteria can be helpful in cleaning a tank, dependent on what issues you are fighting.

My understanding is also that there is a threshold for the amount of bacteria that can be sustained in an aquarium, based on available food. If only so much is able to sustain, would more added assist the current colony?

These are all questions that I have, to fully understand the products. Especially as we are now offering it for sale, and I do not want to make any claims without a genuine belief.

If starting a tank, especially with dead dry rock, sure, I see potential benefit reducing risk of dinos, etc.

 

[Mschmidt]

I recently tried mb7 and clean. Clean didn't seem to do a whole lot for the sand bed or rocks; I am needing to clean the glass less, which means my normal maintenance routine is adequate rather than neglectful. with mb7 I have seen a slight (marginal or rounding error) drop in nitrates, but nothing for phos. Now I dose mb7 more as a food source than anything else.

I had forgotten about pns probio till recently. might give that a crack for phos control if I feel like kicking the lanthanum habit (can you have a habit after two uses?).

 

[Dakota_reef]

I dose weekly PNS probio which is a natural heterotrophic bacteria that eliminates organic waste. My filter socks stay clean for weeks now.

I think I need this in my life. I'm terrible with water changes and have red and green algae.

 

[Cheezle]

Why would they spike, and if they did, why would existing bacteria not expand to deal with it?

Ammonia problems in existing tanks is just not something that seems ever to be a problem.

IMO, ammonia has gotten a bad rap that is unwarranted, and I think ammonium dosing is desirable for any low N system.

I don’t think nitrite is ever a concern in any reef tank.

Well I had a bag of Chemipure that wasn't fully submerged in my AIO's back chamber, it kept plopping out and falling into the return pump and so I thought hanging it from the side to keep it in one place would be the fix.. shocker, it was not. I just ended up buying a bigger bag of Chemipure and its now heavy enough to stay put.

As for existing bacteria, IIRC I was told that because the nitrite had spiked to 1.6 and ammonia to .2 that there wasn't enough bacteria in the system to break it down so I needed to add the Turbo 900 to help restore the balance of beneficial bacteria that would help break the nitrite and ammonia down.

Didn't have any issues with the corals and my fish never looked bad or died but I did end up buying the little bottle and adding it over a few days because of their advice. Sucks thinking I probably wasted 15 bucks but it is what it is. Thank you for the response, much appreciated

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well I had a bag of Chemipure that wasn't fully submerged in my AIO's back chamber, it kept plopping out and falling into the return pump and so I thought hanging it from the side to keep it in one place would be the fix.. shocker, it was not. I just ended up buying a bigger bag of Chemipure and its now heavy enough to stay put.

As for existing bacteria, IIRC I was told that because the nitrite had spiked to 1.6 and ammonia to .2 that there wasn't enough bacteria in the system to break it down so I needed to add the Turbo 900 to help restore the balance of beneficial bacteria that would help break the nitrite and ammonia down.

Didn't have any issues with the corals and my fish never looked bad or died but I did end up buying the little bottle and adding it over a few days because of their advice. Sucks thinking I probably wasted 15 bucks but it is what it is. Thank you for the response, much appreciated

Chemipure is not going to bind ammonia or nitrite, so that in and out didn’t cause any problem.

Those levels are no concern and are not a reason to add more bacteria, even if they are real and not test error.

That said, bacteria are probably just food for filter feeders, so maybe not a total waste. lol

 

[Oldreefer44]

I'm only the messenger here but PNS and Prodibio were the two brands that were credited with containing marine bacteria. MB7 was said to contain human gut bacteria. Without actual analysis hard to know.

 

[Reef By Steele]

I'm only the messenger here but PNS and Prodibio were the two brands that were credited with containing marine bacteria. MB7 was said to contain human gut bacteria. Without actual analysis hard to know.

A you link the episode. I found one from 4 months ago called the microbial guys which talked about bacteria in the biome, and another that is 2 days old that talks about their study they are going to do with the community, I was listening as I worked but I never heard them talk about specific brands but more about generating different bacteria through different carbon sources.

 

[KrisReef]

I'm only the messenger here but PNS and Prodibio were the two brands that were credited with containing marine bacteria. MB7 was said to contain human gut bacteria. Without actual analysis hard to know.

I have to wonder where the human gut bacteria came to be in the bottle? It is terrifying to think about how much we add to our reefs without knowing what and who filled the bottle.

 

[Oldreefer44]

A you link the episode. I found one from 4 months ago called the microbial guys which talked about bacteria in the biome, and another that is 2 days old that talks about their study they are going to do with the community, I was listening as I worked but I never heard them talk about specific brands but more about generating different bacteria through different carbon sources.

Yes it is the one from 2 days ago. Salem is who I am quoting. It was during the discussion you're talking about.

 

[Oldreefer44]

I have to wonder where the human gut bacteria came to be in the bottle? It is terrifying to think about how much we add to our reefs without knowing what and who filled the bottle.

That pretty much sums up their discussion.

 

[gbroadbridge]

When preparing to partner up with an additive vendor for our business we spent a lot of time researching the different companies and products. Coming from prehistoric reefing days, when our tanks were made of carved bone (ok just the 80’s when the internet was just developing and not packed with the information available today) bottled bacteria was believed to be voodoo. Today we seem to have a consensus that bottled bacteria is both beneficial and viable. I always thought bottled bacteria was used only to cycle a tank, or to add additional bio-load capabilities when adding new fish. With all of my reading I have found claims that dosing certain products like Brightwell Aquatics Microbacter7 https://brightwellaquatics.com/products/microbacter7.php will reduce nitrates and phosphates when dosed over a two week period as it breaks down organics including detritus and improves the bacteria in the substrate.

There are multiple threads here on R2R where people add bacteria in fighting Cyanobacteria and Dinos. I am wondering what experience people have had using bacteria products in these battles. As a strong proponent of doing things the natural way, I am not strong on adding chemicals to our aquariums, but much like carbon dosing I have the belief that bottled bacteria is natural vs chemical. At one point I purchased Vibrant as it was touted as a bacterial remedy to help control algae, and I was fighting a terrible outbreak of a turf algae in a tank set up with used rock that was deeply loaded with phosphates. However, as I was getting ready to use it I discovered one of the threads on here which shows it as being an algaecide vs bacteria, so I still have the unopened bottle. Brightwell Aquatics makes claims about MicrobacterClean https://brightwellaquatics.com/products/microbacter-clean.php as well, and that it can be used with RazorMarine https://brightwellaquatics.com/products/razor-marine.php in neglected or heavily stocked tanks, and that RazorMarine helps to clean residue off of live rock. I am wondering if anyone has first hand experience using these products, and what their results were.

We would also love to hear from the R2R community as to what Brightwell Aquatics products people are using and what their results are.

I have been amazed at how open Brightwell Aquatics has been to work with. As a brand-new wholesale customer, I received a call from the owner, Jack Kent. This man has been in the industry for a very long time and is one of the original innovators who brought many of the products we use to fruition. Our conversation was very pleasant and personable, as well as informative. We are so excited to be able to offer their products.

Brightwell Aquatics

We are pleased to announce our partnering with Brightwell Aquatics by offering their High Quality Reefing Supplements and Products.

reefbysteele.com

I've tried most of them and my firm opinion is that they are snake oil.

Apart from having no effect that cannot be attributed to other mechanisms, they just don't make sense technically.

I save my money for salt, lighting and flow.

 

[Reef By Steele]

That pretty much sums up their discussion.

Gonna need a link. This is the community science experiment link


And although they discuss gut bacteria, they do not mention any brand or even bottled bacteria. They discuss how much we don’t know about bacteria, even that which we have in our guts. And their earlier video from 4 months ago where they originally discuss this experiment doesn’t talk about any of the bacteria in bottles bacteria with the exception on PNS or what not and they still are not talking about these bacteria but more ones they feel coral consume. So please provide a link to the segment where you state they say Microbacter7 has human gut bacteria in it. This is certainly something I want to hear as I just picked up this line.

Thanks
Kent