Bacto balance for fish only tanks?

[Dvir]

I switched from reef to fish only tank.

I understand that Bacto Balance works by promoting bacteria that consumes phosphate, and that corals consume this bacteria to get the phosphate while consuming nitrates directly.

In a fish only tank with no corals, will bacto balance be effective at reducing nitrates?

Thanks

 

[Koty]

TM Bactobalance has some nitrate and phosphate in it. You need Elimi zNP. But its a costly choice if you live in IL. Redsea carbon dosing will do the work for you. I buy TM stuff from Aquaristik an internstional online German store.

 

[Dvir]

I didn't mention that my nitrates is 2 and phosphate is 0.02.

TM instructions recommend using Elimi-NP only when phosphate is greater than 1, and for my levels to use bacto balance, so I'm not sure Elimi-NP is the right approach (for me currently).

I realize my values are still low since it's a new tank, but they will eventually rise and based on how TM describes Bacto balance to work I'm wondering in general whether it would be effective in fish only tanks that don't have corals to consume the bacteria that Bacto balance is promoting. @Lou Ekus, would love to get your feedback on this one.

Thanks

 

[Lou Ekus]

I didn't mention that my nitrates is 2 and phosphate is 0.02.

TM instructions recommend using Elimi-NP only when phosphate is greater than 1, and for my levels to use bacto balance, so I'm not sure Elimi-NP is the right approach (for me currently).

I realize my values are still low since it's a new tank, but they will eventually rise and based on how TM describes Bacto balance to work I'm wondering in general whether it would be effective in fish only tanks that don't have corals to consume the bacteria that Bacto balance is promoting. @Lou Ekus, would love to get your feedback on this one.

Thanks

In my opinion, the best way to address a high NO3 level is by water changes. But in your particular case, with a NO3 of 2ppm, can you say why you are working so hard to decrease it. That should be more than fine. Especially in a fish only system.

 

[Dvir]

I suspect that the reason NO3 level is at 2ppm is because nuisance algae is consuming it and keeping it low. My NO3 used to be around 20-50 and I'm not sure what change I did but it dropped to 2ppm and now I find myself having to clean the glass every 2-3 days and generally seeing more algae on the tank floor and even in the sump. Previously I cleaned the glass every ~2 weeks.

My thought was to dose Bacto balance with hope that the promoted bacteria would out-compete the algae for phosphate, but I'm not sure what will bring the nitrates down considering it is a fish only tank with no corals, hence my question on the effectiveness of Bacto balance in a fish only tank. Does this logic make sense?

 

[Koty]

What lighting system do you have?
The lowest light you can get away with will help or otherwise get macroalgea. Strong skimming and a GFO reactor will help reduce the algae that thrives mainly on phosphate. However, you are doomed to clean the glass till the end of time. Tangs like Scopas can eat hair algea very eficiently.

 

[DFR]

I suspect that the reason NO3 level is at 2ppm is because nuisance algae is consuming it and keeping it low. My NO3 used to be around 20-50 and I'm not sure what change I did but it dropped to 2ppm and now I find myself having to clean the glass every 2-3 days and generally seeing more algae on the tank floor and even in the sump. Previously I cleaned the glass every ~2 weeks.

My thought was to dose Bacto balance with hope that the promoted bacteria would out-compete the algae for phosphate, but I'm not sure what will bring the nitrates down considering it is a fish only tank with no corals, hence my question on the effectiveness of Bacto balance in a fish only tank. Does this logic make sense?

To directly answer your question, it is fine to use NP-Bacto-Balance in a fish only system. Your skimmer will remove bacteria present in the water column.
To add to what everyone else has already stated, I would wait for the system to achieve a balance before adding anything else or making more changes. If you find your Nitrate and Phosphate levels begin to steadily increasing, then you may want to begin using Bacto-Balance or Elimi-NP.

 

[Dvir]

@Koty - using Reefbreeders 32v2 X2. The question is how often I have to clean the glass I guess, once every other week or once a week is fine. Every other day is less fine..

@DFR - I understand that I can, the question is if it's effective in reducing nitrate. The skimmer will remove the bacteria, but that still wouldn't help in reducing the nitrates. Also, what do you define as a balance? I'd rather balance the system at 2 nitrates when the nitrates are consumed by something else and not algae

Bottom line is that the way bacto balance is described to work is that it promotes bacteria that consumes phosphate and then the corals 'eat' this bacteria to get the phosphate, while also directly consuming nitrates. If this is how it works then it has to be considerably less effective when there are no corals in the tank - I realize though that there may never be an official answer to that

 

[Pod_01]

@Koty - using Reefbreeders 32v2 X2. The question is how often I have to clean the glass I guess, once every other week or once a week is fine. Every other day is less fine..

@DFR - I understand that I can, the question is if it's effective in reducing nitrate. The skimmer will remove the bacteria, but that still wouldn't help in reducing the nitrates. Also, what do you define as a balance? I'd rather balance the system at 2 nitrates when the nitrates are consumed by something else and not algae

Bottom line is that the way bacto balance is described to work is that it promotes bacteria that consumes phosphate and then the corals 'eat' this bacteria to get the phosphate, while also directly consuming nitrates. If this is how it works then it has to be considerably less effective when there are no corals in the tank - I realize though that there may never be an official answer to that

The way I understand most of the carbon dosing products developed by TM work with corals, the intent is to feed the corals with side benefit of NO3/PO4 control. From my experience this works well corals become nice and plum and they even claim that the carbon dosing contains long chain polymers vs. short chain (derived from sugar or alcohol). Long chain promotes beneficial bacteria vs. short chain that promotes any bacteria. Is it more or less effective, give it a try and see…
Good luck.

 

[cdnco2004]

Make sure you use a skimmer since no coral.