Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any concern with it being fertilizer / animal
Feed grade and not food grade?

Not really. Trace elements are added at such low levels that an impurity is necessarily super low once in the tank.

That is not true of large volume additives, such as alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, etc.

 

[MNAquariums]

It smells so horrible, I only dosed it two or three times, each time I left the house for a few days.

In any case, while I recognize the potential benefit of displacing cyano with other bacteria, and I know many folks go the powdered calcium carbonate plus bacteria route, I’ve yet to be convinced it’s the best way to deal with problem cyano.

Dosing bacteria isn´t really a quick fix, so the results tends to come slowly.
Consistency over a longer period often a couple of months is usually needed to build up biofilm and stable competition against cyano, dinoflaggelates and algae.
There are several that doesn´t have a strong smell that works well as long as the tank is not Po4 starved, since beneficial bacteria struggle when phosphate is too low.

In the beginning it can help to split the weekly dose into daily doses to keep a steady flow of bacteria supporting the biofilm. Later on, once or twice a week is usually enough.
And of course, turning off any UV‑C while dosing is important so the bacteria actually get a chance to attach to surfaces.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing bacteria isn´t really a quick fix, so the results tends to come slowly.
Consistency over a longer period often a couple of months is usually needed to build up biofilm and stable competition against cyano, dinoflaggelates and algae.
There are several that doesn´t have a strong smell that works well as long as the tank is not Po4 starved, since beneficial bacteria struggle when phosphate is too low.

In the beginning it can help to split the weekly dose into daily doses to keep a steady flow of bacteria supporting the biofilm. Later on, once or twice a week is usually enough.
And of course, turning off any UV‑C while dosing is important so the bacteria actually get a chance to attach to surfaces.

Thanks. I don’t use uv except during a Dino issue.

 

[EnterName]

I don´t have links to any particular studies, but interesting that you mention AF Life Source.BRS have a very good video: Ep. 7 “Best Biome Cycle? Aquaforest Life Source vs. Real Reef vs. Gulf Rock vs. Marine Pure brick”.Here they sent biome samples to a lab, and the results were very interesting. It doesn’t show anything magical happening from dosing bacteria, but the impact of adding bacteria is clearly reflected in how the biome develops.
With dosing bacteria it’s not about increasing biodiversity in terms of number of species. It’s about adding the right functional groups that shift competition and biofilm structure.

Okay, so no "studies" just a test from BRS (I don't want to hijack Randy's thread so I try to keep it short instead of starting an argument why I think the experiment might be flawed )

Is there any evidence that adding a few of these "right functional groups" actually shifts the biofilm structure in a meaningful way in an established tank that already has biofilm?

 

[Lasse]

Is there any evidence that adding a few of these "right functional groups" actually shifts the biofilm structure in a meaningful way in an established tank that already has biofilm?

Count me in on that one. IMO, the bus is full, so to speak.

Sincerely Lasse