Do any beneficial bacteria products actually work?

[LordJoshaeus]

This thread is self explanatory...I recently read of one aquarium keeper who tested numerous brands of freshwater bottled bacteria and found that none of them statistically improved cycling times (he used three tanks per product, if I recall correctly); however, he did not test any saltwater bottled bacteria, so I was hoping one of those might be more effective. Actual testing would be preferred as evidence; "it worked for me" isn't adequate in my eyes. Thanks :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

This thread should help you out!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/which-bacteria-products-are-proven-to-be-the-best.1139820/

 

[LordJoshaeus]

This thread should help you out!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/which-bacteria-products-are-proven-to-be-the-best.1139820/

Ah, I see...the saltwater ones are also snake oil. Good to know...thanks. Fortunately I have an lfs nearby that is willing to part with some of their saltwater media, so I won't have to wait very long to cycle my 10 gallon.

 

[Malcontent]

There are some faked experiments by aquariumscience. Beware!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

There are some faked experiments by aquariumscience. Beware!

In what way? That would be very disappointing if that were true...though, to be fair, fake news has become so common in recent years that it wouldn't entirely surprise me.

 

[EnterName]

This thread should help you out!

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/which-bacteria-products-are-proven-to-be-the-best.1139820/

Ah, I see...the saltwater ones are also snake oil. Good to know...thanks. Fortunately I have an lfs nearby that is willing to part with some of their saltwater media, so I won't have to wait very long to cycle my 10 gallon.

I'm highly skeptical of these products when it comes to cycling a tank (as you may have seen in the linked thread), but it's possible they have probiotic/postbiotic benefits for corals and other filter feeders.

However, I can't tell you if that effect (if it even exists) is worth the price. I also can't say whether the constant supply of a few specific bacterial strains might actually harm the microbiome's biodiversity. Artificially boosting the numbers of a handful of strains could allow them to outcompete other bacteria.

These products are also often recommended for dealing with certain nuisances like cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates. I would consider this kind of treatment experimental, since no one can really prove its effectiveness, but I would still suggest trying it out when nothing else has helped so far.

 

[Malcontent]

In what way? That would be very disappointing if that were true...though, to be fair, fake news has become so common in recent years that it wouldn't entirely surprise me.

He got caught early on when he cited a hobbyist as a source and falsely claimed he had a PhD in marine biology.

Most of his experiments have little to no photo documentation.

One of his cycling experiments had something like ten 40 gal tanks and canister filters. Such an elaborate and expensive setup and not a single picture? Who has space for that many tanks? Maybe on racks but how do you rack canister filters?

A lot of the results are unbelievable--12 ppm chlorine in tap water? It's almost like someone clueless tried to make up a bunch of stuff but wasn't even knowledgeable enough to make up believable numbers...

 

[LordJoshaeus]

Pity...

 

[Fish Fan]

My take, from personal experience and after being involved probably 100+ "help me cycle my tank" threads here on R2R:

Only Fritz Turbostart 900 works to mitigate ammonia in a very short period of time. In as little as 24-48 hours, Turbostart can make a new tank (dry rock and sand) safe for fish. My understanding is that this product contains one or more heterotrophic bacteria that are not true nitrifiers, but they can handle the ammonia while the true nitrifiers populate.

Turbostart is now the only bacteria product I suggest using to cycle a new tank, and, much more importantly, I know that Randy Holmes-Farley recommends the same product:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/p...-time-big-water-change.1115070/#post-13638874

All other bacteria-in-a-bottle products seem to take +/- 3 weeks to establish a viable biofilter that would make it safe to add fish. This includes Dr. Tim's One and Only, Brightwell's Microbacter, Seachem's Stability and others.

If you added no bacteria products at all, your tank would cycle on its own in about 3 weeks. Therefore, I don't see a need to add any of these products anymore, though they may have some small benefits to the cycle. I've used these products myself over the years, and I'm not going to go so far as to call them "snake oil", but I am now doubting if you really need them.

I'll add, Dr. Tim seems to have gotten himself in some legal hot water, and I'm not saying at all that he's guilty, but until this gets resolved I'm hesitant to suggest any of his products:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alleged-issues-effecting-dr-tims.1157751/

This is yet another good thread taking a hard look at these bacteria-in-a-bottle products:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...-equal-whos-who-and-what-do-they-need.989780/

I hope this helps!

 

[LordJoshaeus]

My take, from personal experience and after being involved probably 100+ "help me cycle my tank" threads here on R2R:

Only Fritz Turbostart 900 works to mitigate ammonia in a very short period of time. In as little as 24-48 hours, Turbostart can make a new tank (dry rock and sand) tank safe for fish. My understanding is that this product contains one or more heterotrophic bacteria that are not true nitrifiers, but they can handle the ammonia while the true nitrifiers populate.

Turbostart is now the only bacteria product I suggest using to cycle a new tank, and, much more importantly, I know that Randy Holmes-Farley recommends the same product:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/p...-time-big-water-change.1115070/#post-13638874

All other bacteria-in-a-bottle products seem to take +/- 3 weeks to establish a viable biofilter that would make. it safe to add fish. This includes Dr. Tim's One and Only, Brightwell's Microbacter, Seachem's Stability and others.

If you added no bacteria products at all, your tank would cycle on its own in about 3 weeks. Therefore, I don't see a need to add any of these products anymore, though they may have some small benefits to the cycle. I've used these products myself over the years, and I'm not going to go so far as to call them "snake oil", but I am now doubting if you really need them.

I'll add, Dr. Tim seems to have gotten himself in some legal hot water, and I'm not saying at all that he's guilty, but until this gets resolved I'm hesitant to suggest any of his products:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alleged-issues-effecting-dr-tims.1157751/

This is yet another good thread taking a hard look at these bacteria-in-a-bottle products:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/n...-equal-whos-who-and-what-do-they-need.989780/

I hope this helps!

I've used turbo start 900 before on some prior projects. The last time I tried to use it was for some opae ula setups...they were not full strength salinity and did not have a dedicated filter, which may explain why it didn't seem to work at the time (am I correct that the beneficial bacteria strongly prefer to grow where there is strong flow?). I do not recall how well it worked on prior projects.

Yeesh on the whole Dr. Tim thing...I skimmed through the article and that is nasty stuff.

 

[Kooma]

Following. I added some Seachem Stability recently to diversify bacteria and now have a diatom outbreak ive never had, the tank is nearly a year old and the rock is 25+ years in a aquarium, and was ocean rock before that.

 

[Fish Fan]

I've used turbo start 900 before on some prior projects. The last time I tried to use it was for some opae ula setups...they were not full strength salinity and did not have a dedicated filter, which may explain why it didn't seem to work at the time (am I correct that the beneficial bacteria strongly prefer to grow where there is strong flow?). I do not recall how well it worked on prior projects.

Yeesh on the whole Dr. Tim thing...I skimmed through the article and that is nasty stuff.

The bacteria definitely need oxygen, so they do best in places that have good flow. They also need something to grow on, which can be rocks, sand, biomedia, the tank's glass, etc.

One problem with the Fritz product is that it needs to be refrigerated, so it's possible to get a dud bottle if it was not handled correctly along the way, but I believe this to be rare.