Microbacter Clean: Before Vs After

[Newb_reefer1]

Hello R2R friends,

I would like to share my experience with the Microbacter Clean product by Brightwell Aquatics. I must admit however, I was a bit skeptical of using it after reading through some posts on the forums here. It seems to me that a large divide exists between factual information and hypothetical opinions in this hobby.

With this in mind I decided to give it a try for myself and get to the bottom of it. My tank was by no means dirty or heavily covered in algae, but I wanted to see if this product could : A) Increase the Quality/Clarity of the water in my system, in turn increasing available par for corals.
B) Can it actually remove unwanted species of algae IE Cyano, Dino, GHA .
C) Will this product adversely affect nutrient levels within the system.

The instructions on the bottle state a maximum of 30ml per 25g on the first day of dosing. I followed this maximum & added 60ml to my system. Socks removed and skimmer turned off for 4 hours on the dot. I am pleased to say after only 4 days the product does its job as advertised, and it does it extremely well in my experience. Below are pictures of my reef’s progression with this product.

Before

AFTER

​

 

[Lavey29]

So the bandaid helped but have you identified the source behind your nuisance algae?

And note that I am a fan of brightwell products too

 

[Newb_reefer1]

I wouldn’t call it a bandaid a more proper word would be solution !

This system has only been running for a little over a month so naturally yes, I do know the source of the diatom algae. The bacteria from their product however, has without a doubt outcompeted the available space in the system. Will this result in unwanted algae from not forming ? That’s still to be decided, Water quality has improved drastically as a result. I will have to report back what changes I see in nutrient levels as it’s too early to tell.

How are you’re acros doing ? I’ve seen you post’s a few questions in the SPS forums.

 

[Lavey29]

I wouldn’t call it a bandaid a more proper word would be solution !

This system has only been running for a little over a month so naturally yes, I do know the source of the diatom algae. The bacteria from their product however, has without a doubt outcompeted the available space in the system. Will this result in unwanted algae from not forming ? That’s still to be decided, Water quality has improved drastically as a result. I will have to report back what changes I see in nutrient levels as it’s too early to tell.

How are you’re acros doing ? I’ve seen you post’s a few questions in the SPS forums.

You stuck all those acros in a one month old tank? I wish you and your wallet best of luck with that challenge. You did not mention your tank age in your first post but for new tanks there is nothing wrong with introducing biodiversity via bottled bacteria. What you should have done is left your lights off for the first 4 months before adding corals so your tank builds biodiversity and microfauna then your ugly phases would be much more manageable the first year and your coral survivability would greatly increase. Typically only very advanced reefers using live ocean rock will have the ability to keep a tank stable enough in the first few months for acros.

My tank? It's actually thriving beautiful right now. I have 25 acros now and have been fortunate to only lose one due to shipping stress over the past 9 months. I waited till about 10 months to add acros when my coraline was kicking in. Tank went through a night and day change at one year with much more predictable stability now.

Good luck with your tank but tough times are a coming the first year.

 

[Lavey29]

I wouldn’t call it a bandaid a more proper word would be solution !

This system has only been running for a little over a month so naturally yes, I do know the source of the diatom algae. The bacteria from their product however, has without a doubt outcompeted the available space in the system. Will this result in unwanted algae from not forming ? That’s still to be decided, Water quality has improved drastically as a result. I will have to report back what changes I see in nutrient levels as it’s too early to tell.

How are you’re acros doing ? I’ve seen you post’s a few questions in the SPS forums.

Oh and you don't need a solution for diatoms in a brand new tank. They go away on their own in a few weeks if the silicate source feeding them is used up. As long as good RODI salt mix water then they typically do not return but occasionally might if silicate is present.

 

[gbru316]

You stuck all those acros in a one month old tank? I wish you and your wallet best of luck with that challenge. You did not mention your tank age in your first post but for new tanks there is nothing wrong with introducing biodiversity via bottled bacteria. What you should have done is left your lights off for the first 4 months before adding corals so your tank builds biodiversity and microfauna then your ugly phases would be much more manageable the first year and your coral survivability would greatly increase. Typically only very advanced reefers using live ocean rock will have the ability to keep a tank stable enough in the first few months for acros.

My tank? It's actually thriving beautiful right now. I have 25 acros now and have been fortunate to only lose one due to shipping stress over the past 9 months. I waited till about 10 months to add acros when my coraline was kicking in. Tank went through a night and day change at one year with much more predictable stability now.

Good luck with your tank but tough times are a coming the first year.

i added acro after a month. I’ve got 7 in my 3 month old tank — the oldest ones are encrusting. I’ve also got coralline growth.

It’s not impossible, it’s just not a good idea for people with no prior experience.

 

[Lavey29]

i added acro after a month. I’ve got 7 in my 3 month old tank — the oldest ones are encrusting. I’ve also got coralline growth.

It’s not impossible, it’s just not a good idea for people with no prior experience.

Cool, as I stated experienced reefers can manage stuff like that but the majority of us would struggle trying to do to much to soon.

 

[Kellie in CA]

Thanks for the write-up. I am a long time user of MicroBacter7 but just started using this last weekend.

 

[Newb_reefer1]

Thanks for the write-up. I am a long time user of MicroBacter7 but just started using this last weekend.

Thanks for the response. If you happen to be interested, I'm sure myself and many others would greatly appreciate it if you included some pictures of your setup and perhaps a rundown of nutrient levels before and after dosing Microbacter Clean ! This way, we can add some real value to this thread with actual user experience

 

[Lavey29]

Thanks for the response. If you happen to be interested, I'm sure myself and many others would greatly appreciate it if you included some pictures of your setup and perhaps a rundown of nutrient levels before and after dosing Microbacter Clean ! This way, we can add some real value to this thread with actual user experience

I used it weekly for maybe the first 5 or 6 months. Can't really say it helped anything or didn't help. My ugly phases were relatively mild compared to some horror stories. Now at about 8 months I started using PNS probio which is also a natural bacteria supplement. With this product I had significant tank improvement. My filter socks used to turn black with gunk after 4 days now they stay white and I change them every 10 days now. Sand noticeably cleaner too because it helps eliminate organic waste which keeps my nitrates and phosphate in check. Corals love it also.

 

[Dan_P]

Hello R2R friends,

I would like to share my experience with the Microbacter Clean product by Brightwell Aquatics. I must admit however, I was a bit skeptical of using it after reading through some posts on the forums here. It seems to me that a large divide exists between factual information and hypothetical opinions in this hobby.

With this in mind I decided to give it a try for myself and get to the bottom of it. My tank was by no means dirty or heavily covered in algae, but I wanted to see if this product could : A) Increase the Quality/Clarity of the water in my system, in turn increasing available par for corals.
B) Can it actually remove unwanted species of algae IE Cyano, Dino, GHA .
C) Will this product adversely affect nutrient levels within the system.

The instructions on the bottle state a maximum of 30ml per 25g on the first day of dosing. I followed this maximum & added 60ml to my system. Socks removed and skimmer turned off for 4 hours on the dot. I am pleased to say after only 4 days the product does its job as advertised, and it does it extremely well in my experience. Below are pictures of my reef’s progression with this product.

Before

AFTER

​

I don’t see much of a difference. Would you describe the changes you observed?

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

@Dan_P I don't like to talk down products, particularly if the user was impressed by the results but at the same time I hate the promotion of "miracles in a bottle" solutions. I actually went on the site and checked out the product out of curiosity and it sounds like a simple carbon source that contains a few strains of bacteria to reduce phosphate and nitrate primarily which we all know is nothing to be surprised about. Of course they would never identify the bacteria even remotely or come outright and say if it's just a carbon source most likely because then people would see that it's not really anything different than other competitors' products and not really proprietary in any way. (Although I don't see a huge difference either in the pics...)

 

[Dan_P]

@Dan_P I don't like to talk down products, particularly if the user was impressed by the results but at the same time I hate the promotion of "miracles in a bottle" solutions. I actually went on the site and checked out the product out of curiosity and it sounds like a simple carbon source that contains a few strains of bacteria to reduce phosphate and nitrate primarily which we all know is nothing to be surprised about. Of course they would never identify the bacteria even remotely or come outright and say if it's just a carbon source most likely because then people would see that it's not really anything different than other competitors' products and not really proprietary in any way. (Although I don't see a huge difference either in the pics...)

The bottled bacteria products for dealing with aquarium issues, not the nitrifying bacteria products, are all making exaggerated claims that as usual are not backed up by any proof. The claims are in the same category as those made for human supplements, BS wrapped in a fine veneer of double talk.

I followed @taricha study of bottled bacteria and my interpretation of the data was that these products do nothing more than his aquarium bacteria. I admit being curious about whether there is a time period in an aquarium’s development when these products might be useful. They are on my list of things to look into with respect to how they affect micro algae growth, aka, the uglies.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

The bottled bacteria products for dealing with aquarium issues, not the nitrifying bacteria products, are all making exaggerated claims that as usual are not backed up by any proof. The claims are in the same category as those made for human supplements, BS wrapped in a fine veneer of double talk.

I followed @taricha study of bottled bacteria and my interpretation of the data was that these products do nothing more than his aquarium bacteria. I admit being curious about whether there is a time period in an aquarium’s development when these products might be useful. They are on my list of things to look into with respect to how they affect micro algae growth, aka, the uglies.

I used to be really into working out and in that you have the same type of supplement advertising...a lot of bold claims that make it sound like they're the first of their kind and things like that...it gets old hearing it all after a while

 

[Lavey29]

The bottled bacteria products for dealing with aquarium issues, not the nitrifying bacteria products, are all making exaggerated claims that as usual are not backed up by any proof. The claims are in the same category as those made for human supplements, BS wrapped in a fine veneer of double talk.

I followed @taricha study of bottled bacteria and my interpretation of the data was that these products do nothing more than his aquarium bacteria. I admit being curious about whether there is a time period in an aquarium’s development when these products might be useful. They are on my list of things to look into with respect to how they affect micro algae growth, aka, the uglies.

I do agree with you and believe tanks can develop their own biome to combat algae without the need of bottled bacteria supplements but like a lot of advancements in reefing they just help the process along. It's like the products that help you speed cycle a tank now. None of this stuff is a fix all though and natural tank maturity is still the best overall. I am currently a big proponent of PNS probio which is heterotrophic bacteria and I wish I had before and after pics to show how it improved certain aspects of my tank. I still dose it twice a week now.

 

[pecan2phat]

I have been a long time Vibrant user until the whole algaecide controversy. 9 weeks after I stopped using Vibrant, my tanks were going through stages of cyano then diatoms and maybe some dinos with possibly a touch of turf algae, so basically the whole kitchen sink.
Microbacter Clean peaked my interest since I was cycling another new tank and we all know about the guaranteed ugly phase so I started dosing this after the initial cycle and also to my other established tanks that were going through Vibrant withdrawal.
First off, the new tank never went through the ugly phase while dosing MB Clean which is a 1st for me in 3 decades and my established tanks were also starting to look good again. I dosed 21 weeks straight and stopped because my Chaeto was not doing well in the 2 tanks that had a refugium in one and a Chaeto reactor in the other. I had read on their website that you should discontinue the weekly maintenance if this happens. Stopped for a total of 3 weeks and noticed Cyano in my larger tank, diatoms in another so now I'm back to weekly maintenance dosing so I'm in the camp of believing.
I buy this stuff by the gallon

 

[taricha]

I am pleased to say after only 4 days the product does its job as advertised, and it does it extremely well in my experience.

First off, the new tank never went through the ugly phase while dosing MB Clean which is a 1st for me in 3 decades and my established tanks were also starting to look good again.

It's not that difficult to bridge the gap between these and other observations people make about measurable specific outcomes improved by adding these products...vs Dan's conclusions below.

my interpretation of the data was that these products do nothing more than his aquarium bacteria.

To be more precise, the bacteria in these products didn't look like they did more than the bacteria in a drop of tank water or pinch of sand.
The products themselves can (and some we know do) deliver all sorts of chemically interesting compounds that can have measurable impacts on the tank whether the bacteria in the bottle ever participate or not.

I don't like to talk down products, particularly if the user was impressed by the results but at the same time I hate the promotion of "miracles in a bottle" solutions.

My take is that product descriptions and instructions in this hobby exist in some weird middle ground between a scientific document and an advertising statement. Some are farther one way or the other on this spectrum, but they all seem to be some sort of mix of the two.

 

[Newb_reefer1]

I don’t see much of a difference. Would you describe the changes you observed?

Yes of course. Perhaps the pictures are hard for you guys to tell a difference ? They were taken with an iPhone so it’s not really able to capture how it actually looks standing in front of the glass in person.

However, I think the top down shots show the most drastic results as far as what this product actually did. It is 100% a possibility that this could just be a coincidence in timing but I am leaning towards @taricha opinion that this product lands somewhere in between science and advertisement. How much to one side or the other ? This is my reason for writing this thread.

A) Water quality has without a doubt improved tremendously. It is cleaner, clearer and smells more “fresh” than before. My waste water used to have a slight yellow tint during weekly WC but yesterday I did my first change since dosing and the water coming out looked almost identical to the new water going in.

B) The algae that was growing on my rockwork and some parts of the sand is literally non-existent now. I also used to grow this same algae on the overflow box glass in a thick layer but it has since faded out leaving only a small trace remaining.

C) I have not gotten around to taking measurements for nutrient levels changes yet… so this is still TBD for now.

 

[taricha]

Perhaps the pictures are hard for you guys to tell a difference ?

To help people like me and @Dan_P focus, I made the pics worse by removing the distracting attractive fish and corals

Brown uglies gone from sand, significantly receded from rocks.

second set:

How far apart in time were these set of pics taken? 4 days like you mentioned?

 

[Dan_P]

To help people like me and @Dan_P focus, I made the pics worse by removing the distracting attractive fish and corals

Brown uglies gone from sand, significantly receded from rocks.

second set:

How far apart in time were these set of pics taken? 4 days like you mentioned?

Much clearer. Thanks.