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Dosing vodka for nitrate consuming bacteria? + talk on cryptic refugiums


AlmightyJoshaeus

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Organic carbon dosage is recommended for denitrification process. Otherwise, anaerobic bacteria would use sulphur instead. You may refer to well-established method such as KZ or AF. They use organic carbon that is similar to vodka. Read through their product instruction (KZ zeostart or AF -NP Pro) should help you to decide the vodka dosage.

 

By the way, I think 1 ml is too over for your tank. Try 1 drop daily first and observe algae growth. If algae growth suppresssed after weeks, then the dosage is enough.

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  • 3 months later...

Questions questions... :biggrin:

On 10/15/2018 at 7:29 AM, AlmightyJoshaeus said:

And this tank is an NPS tank that's going to have plenty of food...hmmm...

 

Anyhow, would more bacteria be a bad thing? This tank is also going to have a sponge, which primarily eat bacteria in the wild.

The question is not so much whether more (or less) bacteria is good.  It's not as simple as "more is better".  (Here's an explanation of why.)

 

The question is what kind of equilibrium or balance your tank develops.  (If it develops.)

 

Equilibrium depends on the tank's dominant microbes.

 

And which microbes dominate depends in large measure what the dominant carbon source is.  

 

Near the base of the ecosystem, the carbon source dictates the bacterial makeup. 

 

The bacterial makeup determines the makeup of the higher microbial communities, etc, on up the food chain.

 

It's a kind of competition that you can think of this way: The most dominant carbon source in the tank "wins" dominance of the tank on a microbial level.   

 

At least with a photosynthetic reef, you want the winning carbon source to be the mucus generated by corals. 

 

I'm not as familiar with NPS reefs, but I'll wager that carbon sources are just as important for them, or perhaps even more-so since the corals themselves are also dependent on "foreign", or exogenous, carbon just like their microbial communities.

 

Carbon from algae exudates are also important inputs to most reefs, but not sure what fills this "recycling gap" (if anything) in a dark NPS reef.

 

Carbon sources from regular food inputs to the tank are possibly insignificant vs what coral and algae can produce over a day's worth of photosynthesis.   And that's good since you really want corals to be the winners.  But again, not sure what the parallel is for NPS reefs.

 

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17 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Questions questions... :biggrin:

The question is not so much whether more (or less) bacteria is good.  It's not as simple as "more is better".  (Here's an explanation of why.)

 

The question is what kind of equilibrium or balance your tank develops.  (If it develops.)

 

Equilibrium depends on the tank's dominant microbes.

 

And which microbes dominate depends in large measure what the dominant carbon source is.  

 

Near the base of the ecosystem, the carbon source dictates the bacterial makeup. 

 

The bacterial makeup determines the makeup of the higher microbial communities, etc, on up the food chain.

 

It's a kind of competition that you can think of this way: The most dominant carbon source in the tank "wins" dominance of the tank on a microbial level.   

 

At least with a photosynthetic reef, you want the winning carbon source to be the mucus generated by corals. 

 

I'm not as familiar with NPS reefs, but I'll wager that carbon sources are just as important for them, or perhaps even more-so since the corals themselves are also dependent on "foreign", or exogenous, carbon just like their microbial communities.

 

Carbon from algae exudates are also important inputs to most reefs, but not sure what fills this "recycling gap" (if anything) in a dark NPS reef.

 

Carbon sources from regular food inputs to the tank are possibly insignificant vs what coral and algae can produce over a day's worth of photosynthesis.   And that's good since you really want corals to be the winners.  But again, not sure what the parallel is for NPS reefs.

 

 

 

AMEN.  moderators should put a “gold standard” on this post.

 

After 25 years of a mixed reef with moderate success with flame scallops (18 months in tank) and sea apples ( 5 years in tank ), I can speak with some experience & knowledge.

 

recently, in speaking with Randy Holmes Farley, he assured me that food input provides all the carbon that a reef needs.  BRS TV series on coral nutrition this past Friday confirmed what Randy said about feeding.  Amino acids are produced when bacteria consume uneaten protein from feeding.  Many that feed organic carbon experience bacteria blooms like Cynobacteria.

 

Advanced Aquaria has a Dana Riddle 6 part series on Coral Nutrition.  He says, let carbon dioxide grow your coral because it is a sustainable source of carbon.  Unlimited inert & inorganic carbon dioxide combines with water to initially form a weak carbonic acid which uses carbonate alkalinity to form bicarbonate which when subjected to photosynthesis becomes glucose, which is organic carbon for the reef.

 

Enough biochemistry.   After 25 years of using Jaubert Plenum, I completed renovation of 6” dsb with installation of a discharge manifold under Jaubert Plenum to pump up through 2” sandbed.

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