cloudy water after added bottled bacteria
- Thread starter gordoncheers
- Start date
Were you starting a new tank?
There's a lot of contradictory information out there on bottled bacteria, composition, shelf life, if, or how well, it works. In any case, what's actually known about nitrifying bacteria by science keeps evolving. For what it's worth, below is a link to a "doesn't work" article. I've also seen articles saying they work. I don't start new tanks that way, so I don't know which side to believe-- I either take an 'extra' filter from an established tank or add media from an established filter, often also substrate from an established tank.
A bacteria bloom indicates heterotrophic bacteria, not the autotrophic "beneficial bacteria" that lives in your filter. Heterotrophic bacteria can live and multiply in your water column and multiply much faster; if I remember correctly, as quickly as 20 minutes. Autotrophs live on surfaces and multiply much more slowly.
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/2-8-1-bacteria-in-a-bottle-in-depth/
There's a lot of contradictory information out there on bottled bacteria, composition, shelf life, if, or how well, it works. In any case, what's actually known about nitrifying bacteria by science keeps evolving. For what it's worth, below is a link to a "doesn't work" article. I've also seen articles saying they work. I don't start new tanks that way, so I don't know which side to believe-- I either take an 'extra' filter from an established tank or add media from an established filter, often also substrate from an established tank.
A bacteria bloom indicates heterotrophic bacteria, not the autotrophic "beneficial bacteria" that lives in your filter. Heterotrophic bacteria can live and multiply in your water column and multiply much faster; if I remember correctly, as quickly as 20 minutes. Autotrophs live on surfaces and multiply much more slowly.
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/2-8-1-bacteria-in-a-bottle-in-depth/