FritzZyme, I am a believer.

[Azedenkae]

Not that I necessarily did not believe in FritzZyme Turbo Start 900 or other bottled bacteria product before, but well, my experience makes me a 100% convert.

Background: I was struggling cycling with Microbacter7. I had been reading @Dr. Reef's bottled bacteria experiments thread (thanks a bunch! ) and saw that FZTS 900 performed best, so got that.

Long story short my cycle was failing and my ammonia had registered at 8ppm. Instead of doing a water change to reduce it, I figured hey, let's see just how well FZTS 900 might work.

I dosed in the arvo of the 31st of March. Next morning ammonia decreased (can't really tell by how much), and nitrite finally read 5ppm where before it was only ever 0. This morning ammonia read 4ppm, nitrite read around 12ppm-ish (I had to do serial dilutions so it is not too exact).

So yeah. I am going away for the weekend, will see how it goes by Monday. Taking bets on whether the remaining 4ppm will clear by then or this is all just a massive error somewhere in my readings. :3

Also taking bets on when nitrite will reduce to 0.

P.S. Just to clarify, I am not saying that MB7 necessarily is a bad product. The expiry date is still far away, but I did use it before so who knows what happens to an opened product. Or yeah, just happened to have a straight up faulty product. Hopefully not a fake product. Also, I kinda overdosed MB7 by like, a lot. Maybe that could have also caused an issue, because I am 95% sure I may have caused bacterial blooms because of that, no idea where all the organics for the heterotrophs to grow on came from though.

But I am saying for certain, I am currently believing that FritzZyme is well worth the money.

Presuming it was not faulty, then MB7 did nothing for two weeks. Just in case anyone might be interested, seawater/water from another aquarium did not make a dent either. Not that it is expected to, but yeah, in case anyone wondered. FritzZyme, started working immediately in less than 24 hours. I am kinda tempted to push the limit and see how much ammonia 72 MarinePure gems can handle with the FritzZyme nitrifiers.

 

[Dr. Reef]

It took me 2 years to do that deep study and experiment I conducted and came to conclusion:

1. Turbo start 900 works under any and every condition I put it through and dropped ammonia from 12ppm to 0 in couple of days in a 5 gal tank.

2. Second best products that perform the best after Fritz are dr Tim one and only and bio Spira.
They run a day or 2 longer than fritz to do the same job.

3. Beyond that all other products I tested stall unless you do a few things.

A. Keep temp at 80f.
B. Raise alk and pH
C. Drop salinity to 1.009-1.018
D. Add fish food

Reason for that ABCD is in my opinion these are not true nitrifying bacteria and more like ammonia sludge removers which require carbon source and special conditions to work.

 

[Garf]

Nice explanation.

 

[Azedenkae]

It took me 2 years to do that deep study and experiment I conducted and came to conclusion:

1. Turbo start 900 works under any and every condition I put it through and dropped ammonia from 12ppm to 0 in couple of days in a 5 gal tank.

2. Second best products that perform the best after Fritz are dr Tim one and only and bio Spira.
They run a day or 2 longer than fritz to do the same job.

3. Beyond that all other products I tested stall unless you do a few things.

A. Keep temp at 80f.
B. Raise alk and pH
C. Drop salinity to 1.009-1.018
D. Add fish food

Reason for that ABCD is in my opinion these are not true nitrifying bacteria and more like ammonia sludge removers which require carbon source and special conditions to work.

Thanks for your response. Your explanation does make sense, especially in the context of what I witnessed. A few days after I dosed MB7, there was a massive bacterial bloom. It puzzled me initially, as while MB7 does contain heterotrophs that probably can quickly reproduce, there has to be a carbon source. I presumed as I was nearing the end of the bottle, there might be dead cells or just heaps of organics that collected at the bottom of the bottle and was now being poured out to fuel the bloom. What surprised me was the seeming decrease in ammonia. Heterotrophic nitrifiers would make sense then, and yeah, would absolutely explain why afterwards ammonia consumption stopped and then rose again, probably due to ammonification. Once it got to 8ppm it just stayed there, though after I did a water change to get it to 4ppm, it went up to 8ppm again. Throughout all this there was absolutely no nitrite or nitrate.

Once I dosed Fritz, everything changed. I could see nitrite corresponding to a drop in ammonia.

So yeah. Your explanation does really make sense in the context of my experience.

I have headed off for the weekend, so will see how everything is once I get back.

 

[schuby]

MB7 isn't a source of nitrifying bacteria. It makes sense to me that it didn't make your cycle go faster.

 

[Azedenkae]

MB7 isn't a source of nitrifying bacteria. It makes sense to me that it didn't make your cycle go faster.

Oh? But MB7 boasts the removal of ammonia and nitrite. I always presumed that was referring to nitrifying bacteria? Would love to know more.

 

[JonnyTorch]

But I am saying for certain, I am currently believing that FritzZyme is well worth the money.

I've used it for Freshwater and Saltwater. Both tanks I added a starter cycle fish one day after the addition of Turbo Start, to get the fish poo/bacteria going. (Even on their website, they said it's safe to immediately add a fish) and low and behold, both freshwater and saltwater tanks cycled in like 4-5 days. Didn't lose any fish during cycles of either, and neocaridina shrimp are extremely sensitive to water conditions. I think my freshwater planted Blue Dream shrimp tank cycled literally the next day while also using prime, and the saltwater tank cycled in about a 7 days or so. Well worth the money, and you can't overdose on it (unless you dump like 30 bottles in).

Well worth it and less hassle than the adding a shrimp method from the 80s, and faster and more productive than other products out there. I'm sure there are some that are on par in the professional/scientific side of things, but this for the public is by far one of the best cycle starters.

 

[1Clown]

I always use ATM Colony, always works. Not sure why anyone would use anything else and don't know what all the fuss about this new Microbacter is all about...

 

[JonnyTorch]

Not sure why anyone would use anything else

Because FritzZyme actually works. Not doubting ATM Colony, but the comment about why use anything else, because it works also, without a problem for me. Also, Brightwell Aquatics has a decent reputation, so I wouldn't put it off the table to give it a try it or ATM Colony sometime, but honestly fritz has worked for me effortlessly and flawlessly, but to each their own. I found what works for me.

 

[Azedenkae]

I always use ATM Colony, always works. Not sure why anyone would use anything else and don't know what all the fuss about this new Microbacter is all about...

I only recently came to the U.S. from Australia and did not know about any other bottled bacteria brand available here except for Brightwell. Hence just went for it. That was before I joined R2R and saw Dr. Reef's experiments.