Best Bacteria for Cycling Dry Rock?

[muzikalmatt]

So I just setup my second tank, but it's my first time using dry/dead rock. I was curious what others thoughts are on using bottled bacterias to both help along the cycle and establish a diverse biome. I know Brightwell Aquatics has a Bacteria Starter Kit, but are there other options out there? And is it worth adding multiple brands/bacterias to get as much diversity as possible? I know ideally I would seed the tank with bacteria from another more established tank (such as my first tank), but I'm trying to avoid that if possible. Any feedback, recommendations or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

[brandon429]

My fav recommend

Dan has swayed me on biospira simply because of all the experiments he’s ran in private message with it. Up down and sideways ammonia testing, nitrite testing, upper and lower end maximum density of biospira per unit of measure testing, cheap and easy to store. Of course Dr Tims works well, Fritz too


Dan showed me biospira does fast work, we have threads like this one where biospira carried the most reef life I’d seen for a dry start: the spira seems to be the winner. Dr. Tims if I had to vote based on raw post numbers has the most successful # of fish in cycles, I bet it’s the most sold by unit.

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

 

[muzikalmatt]

My fav recommend

Dan has swayed me on biospira simply because of all the experiments he’s ran in private message with it. Up down and sideways ammonia testing, nitrite testing, upper and lower end maximum density of biospira per unit of measure testing, cheap and easy to store. Of course Dr Tims works well, Fritz too


Dan showed me biospira does fast work, we have threads like this one where biospira carried the most reef life I’d seen for a dry start: the spira seems to be the winner. Dr. Tims if I had to vote based on raw post numbers has the most successful # of fish in cycles, I bet it’s the most sold by unit.

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

Thanks for the feedback! Other than biospira for the cycle itself, are there any other bacterias worth adding just for diversity? Or is that something that simply has to come with time and the addition of livestock?

 

[brandon429]

Only with the live stock as hitchhikers and the local environ surrounding the tank and daily care details will carve down residents to the fitting clades over time, that’s my best summary of the handful of aquabiomics dna studies uploaded here

they did sample several tanks started with bottle bac and after the first year of buildup the original groups that carried initial bioloads have alternated into other groups and initial strains weren’t found. I don’t think it matters much on the initial additions, as long as ammonia control can be verified to rule out dead bottles pretty much any of the common cycling bacteria work well. In chat I just saw a red sea system cycle fail: he could not move ammonia down in the same timelines we’d shown a Dr Tims cycle to move ammonia.

perhaps that one bottle of Red Sea cycling bac was bad, we need more studies but that and mb7 weren’t on my list of recommended cyclers due to stumbles seen in chat works.

 

[brandon429]

In my opinion the single best bacterial boost you can possibly get is someone’s absolute best quality fist sized fully cured fully coralline live rock chunk out of a display reef, not the ocean.


if someone was selling Fiji reef water shots as bac refreshers I still think it’d sell well and I’d try some, but the aquarium-cured highly diverse live rock would just be a fitting and constant pump for adjusted strains better than most sources, as I see it.

 

[G Santana]

I cycled my 130 gallon with 2 inexpensive bottles of Fritz Zyme9 and I put in two tangs.
No amonia and the tank was instantly stable.
Those tangs are still with me.
I had never cycled a tank like that and was amazed.
I swear by this stuff!!!

 

[Zoa_Fanatic]

I just throw a piece of frozen shrimp in there from Kroger and wait. Cycle takes about two weeks but I know it’s good to go.

 

[Azedenkae]

So I just setup my second tank, but it's my first time using dry/dead rock. I was curious what others thoughts are on using bottled bacterias to both help along the cycle and establish a diverse biome. I know Brightwell Aquatics has a Bacteria Starter Kit, but are there other options out there? And is it worth adding multiple brands/bacterias to get as much diversity as possible? I know ideally I would seed the tank with bacteria from another more established tank (such as my first tank), but I'm trying to avoid that if possible. Any feedback, recommendations or thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Best one would be FritzZyme TurboStart 900, followed by Bio-Spira.

One of our members did an experiment on this: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-a-bottle-myth-or-fact.403226/

It is not really worth mixing it up, imo. Firstly during the cycle, you'd want to focus on the nitrifiers, and I find there to be no problems just using one type (either Fritz or Bio-Spira).

Then later, unless you are using established live rock, I don't really see the value either. Live rock contains such diversity of microorganisms that even if you dose every bottled bac product in your tank, it's probably not comparable.

I mean you can try, it could be fun to see what happens. But yeah nah.