Official Bacterial Driven Thread

In addition to this, if you are asking about the point of time where you should start dosing vodka after you dose MB7 the magic number seems to be two weeks, after the initial dosing period of the MB7. This is really just a safety net (From what I have read) from people getting stuff like Cyano. I've dosed MB7 for a week (Half of what the bottle suggests) and started dosing vodka again last night with some really awesome results in chalice, birdsnest and monti growth / coloration

Steve, according to the guidelines on the mb7 bottle, it is recommended that you turn your skimmer off for 4 hours after the addition of mb7. Otherwise yes it will run VERY wet, whether you want it to or not. Well at least my skimmer does when I first turn it back on. Im about a week into mb7 @ 10 ml/day. Also please let us know if you do see a ph drop. I dont have a controller so I have been curious as to how the developing bacterial biofilm affects ph.

How big of a tank do you have jeff? Cause the mb7 bottle says for the first 2 weeks for med -high nutirent tanks does 5 ml(one cap) per 25 gallons per day... maybe I read that wrong.

But the mb7 doesn't seem to affect ph much, at least not yet.... my orp drops a little till I kick the skimmer back on

Nice... and ya I am just following the bottle too... to me it would seem that if you don't turn off your skimmer it will just pull all the bacteria out before it has any chance to do anything. Cause the second I turn on my skimmer it pulls out a ton. And same with uv, would just kill the bacteria

Well down to non readable phosphates in both my tanks starting to notice some great coral growth again

So no pH drop today thus far, I'm actually following the instructions on the katalyst bottle. They are a little different than the ones on the MB7 but I'm sure it could work either way. My skimmer did pull a little more than usual but not a crazy amount. I'm sure it will pick up though as I continue dosing. 

I guess I've been dosing 2 or 3 days before the mwrf
and honestly I've had about .40-.50 on my phosphate test nearly every time I tested for about 5-6 months
it was really starting to stunt growth in my 210

I'm using mb7 and reef biofuel but when the biofuel runs out I'll most likely just switch to vodka

I used a bit of aminos but haven't been keeping up on those very much

jcom wrote: At those levels you guys are seeding with (5ml per 50 gallons), it will get established with or w/o the skimmer on.  It will penetrate into the substrate, live rock, etc.  Sure, some will get pulled out, but those are large amounts being added daily.  Billions and billions of individual bacteria....there is no way it will all pass directly in front of the intake of your skimmer (and even then it won't all get skimmed out) before it has a chance to establish somewhere else in the system.

I was gonna say this exact same thing but had to go to work this morning.

I don't follow the instructions on the bottle because my tank is different then anyone else's. Just like jcom's tank is different and Jeff's tank is different.

I don't care for instructions on bottles of anything I dose. I don't follow any of them.

You guys that are dosing the high nutrient dosage need to be VERY careful. If you lower your nutrients too quick, you will wipe out your tank. A gradual decrease is the best way to go IMO.

I would definitely recommend cutting your dosages in half at this point. The only time I would follow the high nutrient dosage is when I would be seeding a brand new tank. Especially if I set it up with Marco Rock or Utah Rock.

I understand the whole lowering nutrients too quick... but isn't the whole idea behind this is to dose a carbon, then that consumes nitrates and phosphates, then the bacteria(mb7) consumes the carbon, then you skim it out so that the carbon and bacteria come out. Or become food for corals. I feel if I skim out the bacteria before it consumes the carbon, we have a problem. I may be way off base, so correct me if I am wrong.

Plus isn't it the carbon that is going to make a tank crash, or not getting out the bacteria fast enough before it dies (which I am sure bacteria has a greater life span then 2-4 hours).... and isnt mb7 just enzymes,aerobic, and anaerbic microbes, which to me seems like a lot less of a threat then the carbon I will be putting in( and when I start dosing carbon I don't plan to turn off my skimmer the days I dose vodka)

To me it just seems safer to make sure that the bacteria eats all the carbon before I pull the bacteria out with a skimmer. Once again, could be wrong, that just sounds logical in my head

The bacteria you are adding is eating the nitrates and phosphates. Carbon doesn't eat nutrients.

I can't remember what link that talks about the actual science going on but I will try to summarize what I can. Disclaimer: I am paraphrasing and going off the top of my head. Some things may be off a little bit.

Carbon is a molecule that can "attach" itself to other molecules. When this happens the molecules become large enough to be skimmed out. Skimmers don't remove nitrates and phosphates, they remove the items that cause nitrates and phosphates. By adding the bacteria you are adding a predator that is preying on the nutrients. The carbon source "feeds" the bacteria so it becomes bigger and can be skimmed out of your tank.

I remember reading a link from Shawn (Aquatica) that it will take a protein skimmer anywhere from 3-5 days to cycle your tank. You don't need to worry about a protein skimmer pulling out the "just added" bacteria.

Add bacteria to your display and dose the carbon source in your sump. That gives the bacteria ample time to stay in the display and seat itself on the rocks and sand.