bacteria question

[lazycouch]

hey guys i recently saw this reefer post that he got a 2 liter bottle of microbacter7. his tank seems pretty big around 150g but i was wondering why some people religiously dose so much bacteria? is it the large water changes? i myself have a 500ml bottle for my 30 gallon tank that i thought i’d be using a lot but then i was advised to stop dosing it as instructed on the bottle because it was causing me high nitrates. now i’m confused because i thought you could have too much bacterial population but it seems that some people really use a heck ton regardless of their tanks age. any info would help as i’m still learning. thanks!

 

[Spare time]

There is some heterotrophic bacteria in it that will consume nitrate and phosphate and such as they grow. However, the additional nitrifying bacteria seems necessary in an established tank unless there is some big ammonia spike or disruption to the biofilter.


There is no way it can cause you additional/high nitrates. The only way that it could cause that would be if you had a ton of ammonia/nitrite and the bacteria went to work which is what they should and need to do in the first place. The bacteria only produces as much nitrate as you provide it ammonia and then nitrite, and you never wan't detectable ammonia in your tank.

 

[Spare time]

A better choice for consistent dosing would be something like microbacter clean, Dr Tim's Waste away or Seachem Pristine. Eco balance and PNS probio are both good for microbial diversity.

 

[lazycouch]

A better choice for consistent dosing would be something like microbacter clean, Dr Tim's Waste away or Seachem Pristine. Eco balance and PNS probio are both good for microbial diversity.

thanks for the info ! i do have seachem stability but was told MB7 was a better option

 

[Spare time]

thanks for the info ! i do have seachem stability but was told MB7 was a better option

They are similar but stability claims to gave denitrifying bacteria too but not the heterotrophs in mb7. I think mb7 claims to have denitrifying bacteria but i forget and am not a fan of trying denitrifying in a reef tank