Need advice on establishing a healthy biome

Tayreef93 · Jul 5, 2022

So ive been cycling my 20 gallon for about 2 weeks now. Im using caribsea arag alive special blend sand and marco dry rock with the exception of 1pound of live rock from my lfs, i got it mainly to help introduce more diversity in microbes and coralline algae, not using a light tho just some indirect sunlight from my kitchen windows. Anyway, im currently dosing microbacter7 and fastart-m daily. I heard that microbe lift special blend has the most diverse blend of microbes on the market. Would it be a bad idea to add this in addition to what im currently adding or would it be counterproductive. Since im starting with dry rock aside from the 1pound from my lfs, I understand that the diversity in the microbes are not nearly as high as it would be if I started the tank with live rock. Thanks for any advice!!

Spare time · Jul 5, 2022

I haven't heard that about special blend. Where did you read that (out of curiosity)?

That 1lb will bring a lot, but don't forget that corals, snails, crabs, fish, etc. all bring in some set of microbes. If you would like to buy some products, aquabiomics rock or sand would be good, as well as other bacterial products such as PNS, eco balance, etc. I'd like to try reef bugs and live rock enhance by reef brite

Tayreef93 · Jul 5, 2022

Spare time said:
I haven't heard that about special blend. Where did you read that (out of curiosity)?

That 1lb will bring a lot, but don't forget that corals, snails, crabs, fish, etc. all bring in some set of microbes. If you would like to buy some products, aquabiomics rock or sand would be good, as well as other bacterial products such as PNS, eco balance, etc. I'd like to try reef bugs and live rock enhance by reef brite

Someone one my askBRS page mentioned it so thats what I was wondering too if anyone else heard that aswell.

Jekyl · Jul 5, 2022

Huge fan of live phyto. It's the life blood of the ocean.

Tayreef93 · Jul 5, 2022

Jekyl said:
Huge fan of live phyto. It's the life blood of the ocean.

Any particular products you recommend?

Jekyl · Jul 5, 2022

Tayreef93 said:
Any particular products you recommend?

Started using the algae barn product and ended with making my own.

Spare time · Jul 5, 2022

Tayreef93 said:
Someone one my askBRS page mentioned it so thats what I was wondering too if anyone else heard that aswell.

I'm curious what is in it. I do know that it smells like there is no tomorrow lol

Jekyl · Jul 5, 2022

Forgot to mention places like gulfliverock.com , Tampa and KP. They sell rock and sand direct from the ocean.

vetteguy53081 · Jul 5, 2022

Tayreef93 said:
So ive been cycling my 20 gallon for about 2 weeks now. Im using caribsea arag alive special blend sand and marco dry rock with the exception of 1pound of live rock from my lfs, i got it mainly to help introduce more diversity in microbes and coralline algae, not using a light tho just some indirect sunlight from my kitchen windows. Anyway, im currently dosing microbacter7 and fastart-m daily. I heard that microbe lift special blend has the most diverse blend of microbes on the market. Would it be a bad idea to add this in addition to what im currently adding or would it be counterproductive. Since im starting with dry rock aside from the 1pound from my lfs, I understand that the diversity in the microbes are not nearly as high as it would be if I started the tank with live rock. Thanks for any advice!!

Microbe lift is a great pond product, not so much aquaria.
the indirect sunlight will produce algae and unwanted algae in tank quickly as UV is very strong even with indirect. This is a non-conventional appraoch to cycling that many of us have seen and should bve revisited for best protocal

Tayreef93 · Jul 5, 2022

Spare time said:
I'm curious what is in it. I do know that it smells like there is no tomorrow

vetteguy53081 said:
Microbe lift is a great pond product, not so much aquaria.
the indirect sunlight will produce algae and unwanted algae in tank quickly as UV is very strong even with indirect. This is a non-conventional appraoch to cycling that many of us have seen and should bve revisited for best protocal

Ya I understand the indirect sunlight may cause algea, i just want to keep the caralline algea alive from the piece of live rock I bought from my lfs.