Bacteria seeding ?

[Vlado4x4]

What is the best market product out there for seeding a new tank ?

I heard a lot about Prodibio Bio Digest, but is it the best one ?

Thanks

[gone fishin]

IMO live rock plus time and patience.

[Cymonous]

I wouldn't start a new tank with chemicals. Get your equipment, setup, and just use a raw shrimp for cycle. I would get at least a couple pieces of live rock to seed and the rest base rock if you don't want to spend a ton of money on live rock.

[bnumair]

ooops double post.

[bnumair]

i also agree with above. i dont waste my time and money in bacteria in bottle. i always start with a shrimp method. seed bacteria via Live Rock.

[Mrscribbled]

Dr tims one and only and instant ocean bio spira are proven great products. Most others are land bacteria and will only work short term.

[Ciscokid]

I also stray away from chemical cycle.

A few pounds of live rock and a damsel is the natural way. Same price!

[Cymonous]

Originally Posted by Ciscokid

I also stray away from chemical cycle.

A few pounds of live rock and a damsel is the natural way. Same price!

Or.......you can just go with live rock and a raw shrimp. Cheaper and you save a fish from torture and possible death!

[Ciscokid]

I thought the raw shrimp theory was proved bogus years ago?

I even read here recently and they stated "Of course people still bring it up year after year."

But I am no expert.

[mtaquarist]

Originally Posted by Mrscribbled

Dr tims one and only and instant ocean bio spira are proven great products. Most others are land bacteria and will only work short term.

I used this for my tank. Works great!

[Pittsburgh]

Guys.... chemicals and bacteria are two entirely different things.

Chemicals are needed to help maintain certain levels in tank. Some chemicals are better than others. I argue that magnesium, calcium and sodium carbonates are all good chemicals to put in your tank

Bacteria strains are needed to help process wastes in water. Bacteria doesn't just come from nowhere, a dead shrimp or a damsel. Bacteria needs to be introduced into the system. And that's what I believe ops question was about. Adding real live rock is a good way to add different strains, but it may not necessarily add the variety we would prefer in the tank. Periodically bringing LR from other hobbyists helps diversify beneficial strains, but it can also bring pests and diseases. There is absolutely nothing wrong about adding preformulated live strains of bacteria from a bottle, as long as the manufacturer can be trusted and we actually understand what is it we are adding, why and when.

Zeobak worked great for my needs. I'm sure there are other great bacteria products out there.

If LR does not have any purple algae, it will not get it in your lifetime and probably for another couple million years after unless you introduce it in the tank. Same goes for bacteria.

[jimmyj7090]

Spores on the air...

Why did tanks cycle back in the day of bio balls and crushed coral? Why did my QT tank just finish cycling with nothing but a dead shrimp?

[MrClam]

Not a reefing expert but I can say that nitrifying bacteria are ubiquitous and will be all over any raw fish or live animal/rock that you place in the tank. If the growth environment is correct you will have a hard time keeping bacteria out of the tank. I did research in a microbio lab and used to battle bacterial and fungal contamination that stayed alive on dry plastic plates stored in the cold and dark for months.

Not trying to bash bacterial additives. Commercially available bacterial products may help speed up cycling. But given that bacteria multiply at an exponential rate there is little difference starting with 10k vs 10million bacterial cells.

Originally Posted by Pittsburgh

If LR does not have any purple algae, it will not get it in your lifetime and probably for another couple million years after unless you introduce it in the tank. Same goes for bacteria.

If you did have a sterile environment though and got spontaneous generation of life let me know, we would win a Nobel.

[MrTuskfish]

Some of these "Miracle-Gro" bacteria starters seem to work; but I just don't like them. Most are genetically engineered or modified in some way and can actually compete with the natural bacteria. I don't think most brands have been around long enough to really determine long-term value. A couple of these products actually wiped out some tanks, "Right Now" was one of those failures. I am not against new methods and products; but if I don't have the patience to properly cycle a tank; perhaps I'd be be better off with a turtle.

BTW, I have never known of a tank that wouldn't cycle without any bacteria helpers. These are relatively new products and tanks cycled just fine long before they came along. A tank will cycle with just a sponge filter (to hold bacteria) and a little ammonia. The air actually does contain the initial bacteria that will multiply very rapidly with the ammonia providing nourishment. Of course, this is just aerobic bacteria, for ammonia and nitrite control. Anaerobic bacteria, to process nitrate, is also airborne; but needs LR, or similar stuff to provide low/zero oxygen culturing spots.

[Mussin]

I used Dr. Tims to cycle my 90. It cycled in 10 days. I did add some liverock and a scoop of live sand to help seed the tank. Works good if you follow the directions.


Jeremy

[Vlado4x4]

Guys, i have everything up and running for just over 2 years. I have a 260g mixed reef. I have to breack down the sistem cause i have to fix a couple humidity problems i have thats all.

Everything will be going into my qt tank in the meanwhile, but when i start over again i will be washing the sand and making new water so i will loose a hole lot of bacteria.

Sorry for not explaining this earlier.

[MuffsAbby]

Originally Posted by Vlado4x4

Guys, i have everything up and running for just over 2 years. I have a 260g mixed reef. I have to breack down the sistem cause i have to fix a couple humidity problems i have thats all.

Everything will be going into my qt tank in the meanwhile, but when i start over again i will be washing the sand and making new water so i will loose a hole lot of bacteria.

Sorry for not explaining this earlier.

You might not loose as much as you think. I had a leak in the bulkhead of my 150g back in the summer. As a result, I had to immediately drain the tank and remove the fish (or end up with 150g of water on my family room floor). In addition to fixing the leak, I did a bunch of other work on my tank, and it was down for almost 4 months. When I started it up again, I re-cycled using pure ammonia (but no bacteria supplements). I figured it would take a long time, but it took less than 2 weeks to re-cycle.

However, you say all of your fish will be going into a QT tank in the meanwhile. Is the QT fully cycled sufficient to handle the bio-load? If not, then I would recommend Bio-Spira. When I had to put my fish in my QT on an emergency basis due to the leak, I added Bio-Spira and I never had any issues with ammonia from Day 1.

I tend to agree with Mr.Tuskfish's comments about not knowing the long-term effects of bacteria supplements, so I never use them in my DT. But I wouldn't hesitate to use Bio-Spira in my QT again, if a similar emergency arose...since the long-term effects aren't particularly relevant in such a situation.

[Ciscokid]

Originally Posted by Vlado4x4

Guys, i have everything up and running for just over 2 years. I have a 260g mixed reef. I have to breack down the sistem cause i have to fix a couple humidity problems i have thats all.

Everything will be going into my qt tank in the meanwhile, but when i start over again i will be washing the sand and making new water so i will loose a hole lot of bacteria.

Sorry for not explaining this earlier.

I agree with Pittsburg 100%. 8 years ago i used something called BacterVital to cycle my tank faster. It is not around now. I have heard the closest replacement is the ZeoBak, and nothing but good things about it.

I also filled half my tank with coraline encrusted live rock and it spread everywhere in 8 months. It took a friends tank almost 2 years without putting any. At the time, we think he introduced it from buying frags with coraline on the plugs.

Couldn't you just save some of the old sand to repopulate the bacteria in the washed sand later?

[Vlado4x4]

Originally Posted by MuffsAbby

Is the QT fully cycled sufficient to handle the bio-load? If not, then I would recommend Bio-Spira.

NO ! The QT isn´t running. I will not cycle it as i will be using water from my main tank as well as rock and sand. I´m guessing i will leave it running afterwards for new fish introduction or maybe i will use it as a frag tank. Will try to look into Bio-Spira, thanks.

Originally Posted by Ciscokid

Couldn't you just save some of the old sand to repopulate the bacteria in the washed sand later?

Yes ... i have a grand total of 200lbs of live rock and just over 70lbs of live sand (more than 2 years in my system)

Most of the rock i will put it in conteiners with system water, temperature and water movement. But about 40lbs of sand i will wash, dry and box so i doesen´t go bad.

As stated above, some lbs of rock and sand i will be using in the QT tank. Once everything is back and the main tank is running, i will leave a couple of rocks in the QT but no sand !

Thanks for the imput guys !! and sorry for my english