Preventing bacterial growth in DIY aminos

[Spare time]

I am planning on making my own DIY amino mix with distilled water and amino acid powder. My problem is that I am not sure how to prevent bacterial growth. I was curious if simply refrigerating it after mixing would work?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I am planning on making my own DIY amino mix with distilled water and amino acid powder. My problem is that I am not sure how to prevent bacterial growth. I was curious if simply refrigerating it after mixing would work?

Cold will work for a period of time.

How long are you hoping to keep it?

Vinegar can also help, as may salt, but you'd need to verify that the aminos did not preciptiate from it.

i'd be hesitant to recommend a true antimicrobial for fear of an over dose hurting the tank.

 

[Spare time]

Cold will work for a period of time.

How long are you hoping to keep it?

Vinegar can also help, as may salt, but you'd need to verify that the aminos did not preciptiate from it.

i'd be hesitant to recommend a true antimicrobial for fear of an over dose hurting the tank.

Not sure how long I would store it for. Probably no more than a month or two. I still need to guestimate dosages for mixing it up in distilled or RODI water.

 

[Dan_P]

I am planning on making my own DIY amino mix with distilled water and amino acid powder. My problem is that I am not sure how to prevent bacterial growth. I was curious if simply refrigerating it after mixing would work?

Deep freezing might be the only way to slow bacteria growth without adding or doing anything else. Boiling the solution for 10-20 minutes before freezing would up your game. The other way is to buy a sensitive balance and only make small volume mixtures, just enough for a couple days. It would be a pain though.

 

[MnFish1]

I am planning on making my own DIY amino mix with distilled water and amino acid powder. My problem is that I am not sure how to prevent bacterial growth. I was curious if simply refrigerating it after mixing would work?

Yes - it will work - I would suggest you use a temperature as close to freezing as possible. Otherwise - it's probably the same recommendations as people use for freezing vegetables. Boil(sterilize) your containers. Boil (sterilize your water) - then mix your amino acid powder. The wild card is that amino acid powder is not sterile. So - you're left with a chemical mix with a high risk of bacterial growth - keep it quite cold

 

[Spare time]

Maybe I'll just keep te aminos in the powder form and add the powder directly to the tank.

 

[Spare time]

.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Maybe I'll just keep te aminos in the powder form and add the powder directly to the tank.

Hi did you have an update on this? I have a large system and in my past tanks a 500ML bottle of acropower got me at least 6 months or more. Now that I have X5 more water volume and everything is so super marked up in this hobby, I rather look for a more reasonable solution in adding aminos. Before I dose anything in my main system I plan to try it on my QT tank first.

If this has potential for bacteria bloom in the container I like the idea of just mixing it with tank water before dosing in the tank.

 

[MnFish1]

Hi did you have an update on this? I have a large system and in my past tanks a 500ML bottle of acropower got me at least 6 months or more. Now that I have X5 more water volume and everything is so super marked up in this hobby, I rather look for a more reasonable solution in adding aminos. Before I dose anything in my main system I plan to try it on my QT tank first.

If this has potential for bacteria bloom in the container I like the idea of just mixing it with tank water before dosing in the tank.

The issue is not that there is a bacterial bloom in the container, the problem is the bacteria will remove the nutrients if they grow in the container. However one positive thing that I meant to mention to @Spare time, is that 1) if it is a low PO4 solution, that should limit growth somewhat and 2) certain amino acids are antibacterial - so depending on the mix in your final solution, bacterial growth may be slower. @Spare time I might suggest that you call the company and ask them if its possible, and what an expiration might be

 

[Spare time]

Hi did you have an update on this? I have a large system and in my past tanks a 500ML bottle of acropower got me at least 6 months or more. Now that I have X5 more water volume and everything is so super marked up in this hobby, I rather look for a more reasonable solution in adding aminos. Before I dose anything in my main system I plan to try it on my QT tank first.

If this has potential for bacteria bloom in the container I like the idea of just mixing it with tank water before dosing in the tank.

I ended up not doing it out of a lack of spare time.