Potential Benefits of Dosing Bacteria to an Established Reef Tank

In this video I discuss the potential benefits of dosing bacteria to an established reef tank.
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[@thorbradshaw2637]

I have to say this is the most interesting perspective on reefing i have seen thanks!

[@flippersreef]

Welcome to team MB7 and MBC! Ever since I started dosing these as a maintenance program over 6 months ago, my reef has never looked this good. I have cut back the weekly dosing of these to twice a month, as this seems to be the sweet spot for my system. No need for Carbon dosing, No need for other nutrient export methods! Just as simple as it gets. I love it!

[@ReefBum]

I do love the simplicity of not having to deal with chaeto.

[@flippersreef]

@@ReefBum Me too!

[@rja9784]

Do you turn off your skimmer and sterilizer for 2 days when you dose MB7? I’ve seen mixed comments on whether or not those actual need to be turned off when dosing MB7.

[@ReefBum]

@@rja9784 Brightwell suggests turning off the skimmer and UV for 4 hours after dosing MB7. This recommendation is listed right on the bottle.

[@rja9784]

@@ReefBum thanks for the response! I retract the last sentence in my comment

[@traianboala3798]

This is a hot topic these days and I totally agree... Bacteria is ruling the world - underwater and on land. A healthy biome in the reef tank can be the difference between failure and succes. I think in the near future this will become the main focus of the reef tank filtration and food supplementation for the corals. With the right light, flow and water chemistry, if you manage to establish a healthy and balanced population of bacteria it becomes almost impossible to not have a great succes. Love your videos and your passion for the hobby. I learned a lot from your streams. Thank you so much for all your work.

[@dusk1947]

This topic has been my greatest challenge in starting this hobby. I jumped in, after “live rock” became scarce and started my first attempt with Marco rock and dry sand. Then faced months of challenges with numerous explosions of strange pest algae's, and ended in a massive dinoflagellate outbreak. My experience at the time didn't match the numerous success stories I found online. Nor did it match the half-dozen experiences I had with freshwater from the preceding decade. It just felt out of place. So, I broke the tank down and placed the rock and sand in a Brute, with a pump and heater. I spent nearly a year dosing ammonia, introducing "live" rock rubble pieces from a half dozen LFS's, and doing water changes when nitrate hit 30+ ppm. as I visited my hopeful bucket of rock cooking in my basement, even in the dark it showed a notable change in hue as the stark white took on shades of subtle browns and oranges. When I restarted it over this past fall, I had a night-and-day experience. I placed in my mature "live rock" and included a bag of "oceans direct" sand. It skipped the initial "cycle" completely, as that realistically occurred in the Brute can; and has been stocked with fish since September. The first corals went in late November and early December. While it's still very early in the process, the tank hasn't skipped a beat. A small diatom outbreak proceeded first light exposure, and I can get some nuisance hair algae like most other tanks. But, I've experience no strange "what is that" moments. This tank has a long way to go, it's still very much new. But it clearly tracks the other success stories I've read about in the past. And matches the stability I've had with early freshwater systems. The only thing that changed was the maturity and diversity of microbes in the rock and sand. My experience is anecdotal. There are no scientific test nor statistical analysis, sadly. I have a background in biology, so that's to say I know enough to be dangerous. I attribute the successful restart to the microbial diversity which built up during the rock cycling for months while being actively fed. However, it is notably anecdotal. I do not know enough to say conclusively, nor can I point you to direct scientific experiments that examine this issue. Based off what I know in my own field of study dealing with terrestrial sediments and plant growth, the bacterial ecology is paramount. And no one in science has a comfortable understanding of why, when you get into details and specifics. It's simply to new. Most of our tools comes from molecular biology and genetics, as we still can’t isolate and grow many of these bacterial strains in a lab setting for study. PCR is relatively new, it was invented as recently as 1985. While Genome mapping didn't really start until the early 1990's. It's just too new. The hobby is asking the same questions as sciences’ leading minds and researchers. Many of whom may spend their lifetime exploring before any true progress is made. Because of this, I suspect it will be many years before anyone can say for certain. Regardless, I adore this hobby's need to find conclusive evidence; it's a desire I share. As for coral consuming bacteria, I do think we have more ground to gain here. I suspect we are to over-reliant on tools like carbon and skimming, which strip out large volumes of bacteria and dissolved organics. However, I have no idea where any lines are drawn. While our tanks simply don’t provide the phytoplankton, zooplankton, and bacterial diversity of natural reefs; we also can’t create that environment. We need to use filtration tools to provide a healthy captive environment, and thankfully many corals grow despite our deficiencies. Further, few scientists are exploring what happens in our tanks. They are rightly focused on understanding and safeguarding the natural reefs currently under threat. Answering questions like this, are left us. It’s why I’m so encouraged to see conversations like yours, or BRS, Tidal Gardens, Reef Builders, Reef Dudes, EcoTech, Red Sea, and so many others who share their time and experience as a community. On a side note, thank you for the frags. I picked up two from your recent live sale and both are doing great so far. Seeing the purple slimer in your system makes me excited to see what this fragment grows into.

[@ReefBum]

Many thanks for the detailed response. I went down the same road you did when I started a sterile dry rock only tank and had the same experience. My experience taught me that biodiversity, microfauna, sponges, etc are very important when starting up a tank.....I guess some of us old schoolers like me might take that for granted since live rock comes with that stuff. Glad the frags are doing well!

[@bluereef9530]

I have a 150G bare bottom with dead dry rock. It took two years to establish SPS frags. I just had to reboot the tank because vermetid snails. Out of control. After drying rocks out a week and then in a bucket for a month and added Bacteria. Each week I added two rocks to 150. After 4 weeks all the rocks back in the tank. Added more bacteria to main system which was also connected to frag tank with a 1 year old live sand about 40lbs.That may have help with not causing to lose fish in DT. I added SPS Frags to DT about a week later and getting good growth and color. Its been two months not one STN. Clearly is like having a new tank with establish bacteria. Now not too sure it's all about bacteria. My direction towards dry rock is their leaching something in water that we can't detect. For adding Bacteria in establish tank is a waste of money. But a new tank and fish it's a must.

[@helwrj28]

Thanks for the video! How much and often have you dosed bacteria? Are you still dosing?

[@insanity4224]

ReefBum great video. I’m interested in trying this instead of re trying crashed chaeto. What frequency did you dose these/as per instructions? And did you alternate or dose both fully? Cheers

[@chir0pter]

I was going to ask whether you also dose nitrifying archaea (phylum Thaumarchaeota) as opposed to bacteria since archaea are the major nitrifiers in the ocean. But I am sure they are included in any concoction of marine nitrifiers/nitrosifiers as nitrifying archaea were originally isolated from a marine aquarium!

[@Sammy31Dee]

I battled the same issue Keith however I dosed brightwells neo nitro and fed more to bring nutrients up....this was also an established system that got cyano/dino when I expanded to a remote sump....I had near immediate results just raising my nitrates and phos....I believe it was the low po4 ...once I crossed over .07 it naturally cleared up...I now maintain .15 po4 so I believe your strategy is practically the same as what I did....I also had similarly low nitrates like you 2.5-5 ppm so all in all I'm at 7-15 ppm nitrates now with zero dino or cyano

[@retroreefs7986]

Hey Keith How much clean are you dosing? I’m doing 10ml in a 300 gallon system daily.

[@markfollenweider]

Going to give prodibio a try. Have heard good things and Melev’s reef looks great using it

[@6jdhd]

I dosed mb7, zeovit bac and all was good. But I tried prodibio biodigest and bioptim and this stuff is great and been using it since. Won't use anything else.

[@ProxoDJ]

Great video, i find there's not enough videos on reefs going through these stages. Most videos seem to be showing off extreme methods of filtration causing most (me included) going over the top when starting in this hobby causing their tanks to be too clean.

[@karennation3580]

Great video! What are the other bacterias? isnt there more that are important then anerobic and the one other one you named? Do you know whats in dr Tims refresh and waster away? Or any other brands like seachem or micrombe( I think thats the name sold at petco and much cheaper) I have both clean and mb7 but I want to add as much biodiversity as I can in my new frag tank! Plus Ihave bubble algae and something growing on new acrylic frag racks. I think it might be diatoms because chemi clean dosnt help. Its kind of powdery but is killing off some zoas. It also seems to grow on new frag plugs ect!

[@atfinthehouse8631]

What about Hydrospace?

[@shirtdirt1874]

Every time I clean out my filters I dose some MB7 back. Just using the recommended amount on the bottle. But I also have a chaeto reactor running as well. Reef seems fine.

[@RonMEGA]

Dr tims eco balance is good too

[@dobermanguy9437]

First let me say Brightwell makes pretty good stuff my problem with a lot of these bacterias in a bottle is do they work I'm like you I kind of like to see some proof back in the 80s and 90s when I wanted to start a new saltwater tank or help a fellow hobbyist I would take a couple of handfuls of gravel from an established disease-free tank or a couple of handfuls of Bio balls from an established tank to speed things up and helped Kickstart the cycle and it seemed to take a week or two off the the cycle process I watch the video you had abe on a video if I recall he said a lot of that stuff is not necessary by the way that was a great video I'm kind of old school been in the hobby since 86 I'm not going to say I know it all when it comes to these bacteria is in a bottle very skeptical if they even work I think a lot of these companies are selling things that we really don't even need even back in the day they used to tell you to keep your nitrates and phosphates at zero now they tell us we have to have a little bit of both

[@stephenmcgauley]

@reefbum Can you please share the dosing regimen you used for each tank? And how much you would adjust that for your case based on what you said? Thanks

[@ReefBum]

I am dosing 200 mls of CLEAN 1x per week for my 187g display (300 total system volume with frag tanks and sump) and the same amount for my 225g peninsula tank (300 total system volume with frag tank and sump). For MB7 I dose 60 mls 1x per week to my 187g system and 80 mls 1x per week for my 225g system. I have been dosing a bit more in the 225g system since nutrients were a little higher. I dose MB7 on Wednesdays and CLEAN on Fridays.

[@stephenmcgauley]

@@ReefBum thank you!

[@RogueAquariums]

I dose MB7 & the clean on a regular basis dosing them 24hrs apart after a water change. My nitrates and phosphates have not been impacted at all. My main display does not have any problematic Algae as well. 😊

[@DaRiggghhh]

MB7 worked in my battle agains Dino’s along with large water changes and syphoning

[@TheTrevor40]

People asked how I turned a dry rock tank into a full blown Acro tank in 6 months. Dosing Vibran (bacteria)and water changes was the answer. 😀 Bacteria for the win. I started using Micobacter 7 recently and seems to work. My tank keeps humming along with no algae that a tang won’t eat.

[@melaniesimpson6322]

You say "Vibran"...Do you mean Vibrant? I've just finished cycling a new tank with live sand and carib sea rock. I've heard "Vibrant" can help keep the ugly stage away. I just have 2 clowns as of now and a few easy corals given to me. Hoping Vibrant will help...don't think it can hurt at this point if I follow directions. :-)

[@theamjadjamousable]

hey man. how did removing the chato affect your ph ?

[@ReefBum]

I wasn't running the chaeto for too many hours (6-8) and my pH dropped by maybe .1, if that, at night .

[@bmille6]

Did you dose weekly or daily with a doser? How much did you use?

[@ReefBum]

I am dosing 200 mls of CLEAN 1x per week for my 187g display (300 total system volume with frag tanks and sump) and the same amount for my 225g peninsula tank (300 total system volume with frag tank and sump). For MB7 I dose 60 mls 1x per week to my 187g system and 80 mls 1x per week for my 225g system. I have been dosing a bit more in the 225g system since nutrients were a little higher. I dose MB7 on Wednesdays and CLEAN on Fridays. Dosing manually, no doser since I want to make sure the bacteria are shaken up.

[@jjreef3523]

How many mls are u dosing on the 220g and do u turn off ur skimmer and uv if so for how long thx happy reefing

[@ReefBum]

I am dosing 200 mls of CLEAN 1x per week for my 187g display (300 total system volume with frag tanks and sump) and the same amount for my 225g peninsula tank (300 total system volume with frag tank and sump). For MB7 I dose 60 mls 1x per week to my 187g system and 80 mls 1x per week for my 225g system. I have been dosing a bit more in the 225g system since nutrients were a little higher. I dose MB7 on Wednesdays and CLEAN on Fridays. Both skimmer and UV are turned off for 4 hours after dosing.

[@jjreef3523]

@@ReefBum awesome thx for the info

[@rhombifer566]

you don’t have to but it is a nice Option

[@petesreef1891]

I lost most of my sps 8 months ago all icp results good. Bought a wild colony didn’t dip it, this started to stn near base a week later then stripped over night. Then another colony in my 900l tank then the next and so on including hystrix , Walt Disney, home wrecker, digitata and hyacinthus tables 5 carrier bags later my tank looked awful. After reading scientific journals on some reefs being affected similarly with vibrio or philaster bacteria causing tissue loss, these reef corals were being treated with antibiotics which could stop the stripping and enable the corals survival. I couldn’t do this as didn’t want to kill the good bacteria in my tank and also kill my fish. I tried the witch hazel treatment, this didn’t help me as corals continued to die. I believe (think) the bad bacteria ??? Once in there had multiplied exponentially and wiped out my sps and a few chalice, all lps were fine not affected at all. I continued dosing large amounts of Prodibio bacteria products every other day turning skimmer off when I did, over three weeks. I did water changes through this period . I took a chance at the end of the fourth week with a few cheap sps frags all parameters were good and the corals settled in quickly and grew quickly I was thrilled. Since then I have been dosing prodibio bacteria products fortnightly to keep the good strains in there and improve biodiversity in my tank. After a couple of months where I had removed the dead colonies, frags etc where they had based out onto my rocks leaving pieces of white skeleton that I couldn’t remove these have come back regained colour and started growing 😀. I put a recent video couple of days ago of my tank on my channel Pete’s Reef I’m thrilled it’s going in the right direction. Don’t think I’ll ever stop dosing bacteria now . Here’s the vid of my tank now 😁 kzbin.info/www/bejne/d6qnaYmAi7-pjZY

[@ReefBum]

Many thanks for sharing. There are so many unknowns related to this topic but it sounds like your solution turned things around. BTW, nice tank!

[@flippersreef]

Glad things have turned around for you! Your doing the right thing dosing bacteria.

[@jimmackey1300]

I've been dosing MB7 in my 180 reef for over a year. 25 ml per week. Sump has approximately 60 gallons. Haven't had any more outbreaks of algae in the last eight months. So, I guess I can say it works for me.

[@michaelbaldwin3356]

Best tank I ever had was started with real ocean live rock lasted for years with just calcium, alkalinity and magnesium dosing and water changes. My new 180 gallon is started with rock from KP aquatics and it will be a cold day in hell before I dose anything other than calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. If I was gonna dose septic tank bacteria to my tank I just dip water from my commode and save the money.

[@p.j.thomas7480]

I've dosed 10ml of MB7 twice a month in my 40 since new tank cyano showed up around the 3 month mark and after I hit it with a half dose of chemiclean, and I haven't seen ANY cyano since for 5 months. I also dose Chaeto-gro, but very little. First time I've ever had a tank with no cyano. I'm sold on the philosophy so far.

[@rja9784]

I dose bacteria with every water change. Seems to be working for me

[@Botzz28]

Is microbacter 7 almost the same as waste away ?

[@ReefBum]

One of the issues with bacteria products is that you don't know what kind of strains are in the bottle....so I do not know the answer to your question.

[@joshuastevens5557]

I have 65.4g established tank, how often should I dose bacteria 7?

[@ReefBum]

I dose 1x per week but some folks do it daily.

[@kevinkane1405]

I added some beneficial bacteria to my established tank about a week ago. I am now having a problem with a oily film on top of water. I assume I added too much but how do you recommend getting rid of that besides surface agitation?

[@dcobbler8897]

That aint the bac.. something else.. paper towel trick.. cut the flow, lay the papertowel on the surface

[@nmjhd1234]

Interesting subject. I dose prodibio biodigest bacteria when i see cyano starts creeping up in the tank. It really keeps them at bay.

[@nmjhd1234]

Like and sub. I like your video presentation. Great job 👏

[@douglasachaiba7885]

Your nitrates are too low. The chaeto isn't helping, as it's exporting more nitrates out your system. I would pull the chaeto.... And let the nitrates rise to around 10-15 ppm. The water changes need to be done a little less also... As you are reducing the nitrates more... Maybe 10% every 2 weeks. Phosphates can go up a bit also.

[@00Mass00]

Bacteria need food. We carbon dose and remove nitrates extremely, that is how bacteria die. Bacteria are your friend, their food should not be the enemy.

[@lancekuhpow8489]

Change the clickbait profile pic plz