How do I KILL benefitial Bacteria?

[AdamsAquarium]

I have a super abundance of benefitial bacteria! Excessive amounts of it. It covers all of my plants...

I literally am shaking off the plants daily and then it covers my glass... I have an issue with having a ton of benefitial bacteria. My refugium is even covered in it too.

I included two pictures. Christmas moss is now brown because it's covered, and hornworts is always covered.

The 3rd picture is about 3 minutes later.... I wanted to show you how green my hornworts is.... it was just covered in benefitial bacteria.

My tank is heavily stocked. And I assume this is the problem? I do intend on selling most of the fish to the LFS this week but wanted to know if that is all that it will take, or do I need to kill off some of this bacteria?

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[thing fish]

what type of sand did you use and how long has the tank been running?

looks like diatoms and a result of excess silica, perhaps from the sand you used. just a guess though and im interested in seeing other replies. i would never want to kill beneficial bacteria. that would not be beneficial.

 

[NigelK8485]

You will only have as much beneficial bacteria as your tank needs, any excess would die off.

That's not beneficial bacteria, it's diatoms and algae. Your tank needs scrubbed down and cleaned. How old is your tank?


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[Brookster123]

Diatomaceous matter for sure, lighting down to 7 hrs max and up.the wc's.

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[thing fish]

if it is a new tank, then it will clear naturally as the silica leeches out of the sand. agree water changes are needed.

it could be that you have water with a high amount of silicates...also, do you have any rock in the tank? do you know what type?

 

[AdamsAquarium]

The tank has been up for over 6 months. Probably closer to 9 or 10 months. 4 t5 bulbs on it. 2, 10k bulbs and 2 6,500 bulbs.

The sand is the naturals brand sand sold at petsmart. It was prewashed before it entered the tank. I got miracle mud in my refugium.

So what's the story with diatoms?

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[Brookster123]

Dude.. way Lotta light, you running co2? Ferts? Glut? How long they on for?
Why a fuge on a fw water tank? And whyyyy miracle mud? Sw people say it causes major issues..
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[Mebbid]

I would say miracle mud is the cause of your problems. There's absolutely no reason to run it on any tank, much less fresh water.

The other advice that was given here is good as well.

 

[thing fish]

diatoms are an algae...they occur very often in newer tanks. your tank is at the point where they should start to disappear, as the silicates from your sand leach out and are removed through water changes and cleaning.

silicates are also found in many types of rock, which is why i asked about rocks in your tank. it can also be found in your tap water. you may want to test for silicates in your tap water.

you could also add a group of otos, as they love to eat diatoms and could clean up your problem fairly quickly. you could also manually clean the diatoms from the tank and wait it out.

*ive never heard of miracle mud.

 

[AdamsAquarium]

Dude.. way Lotta light, you running co2? Ferts? Glut? How long they on for?
Why a fuge on a fw water tank? And whyyyy miracle mud? Sw people say it causes major issues..
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Haha is it that much light? Hahaha

I had no idea because my plants were not growing for nothing.... no co2, was using root tabs but havnt used those in months. It's a 29 gal tall tank.

So I might do away with this refugium then.... I got it for free from a buddy and it was the ecosystems refugium, so I knew it was really good quality but didn't know that could be the source of my problem. Do you all think i should I change the sand out then too? Just to be safe? (I've always wanted to go soil).

But I just don't think my lights are doing enough... they arnt high output.

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[AdamsAquarium]

diatoms are an algae...they occur very often in newer tanks. your tank is at the point where they should start to disappear, as the silicates from your sand leach out and are removed through water changes and cleaning.

silicates are also found in many types of rock, which is why i asked about rocks in your tank. it can also be found in your tap water. you may want to test for silicates in your tap water.

you could also add a group of otos, as they love to eat diatoms and could clean up your problem fairly quickly. you could also manually clean the diatoms from the tank and wait it out.

*ive never heard of miracle mud.

The rock in there is a rock I got in petsmart a long time ago. It has gone through a couple tanks before ending up there. I also got a couple pieces of malaysian drift wood.

I have a bunch of tanks, and no other have this issue, so I don't think I have it in my tap water. *don't think* haha

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[PassengerTN]

I grow plants with a 52w incandescent bulb in a bread pan. Four t5s is pretty strong


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[Brookster123]

Yes.. too much light,.no carbon source or ferts and this miracle mud.. problems..

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[Delapool]

So I take it we don't want to kill the bb after all

 

[Mebbid]

So I take it we don't want to kill the bb after all

Alright, to answer the original question as to how to kill bb.

1 - Fire
2 - Bleach
3 - Drying it out
4 - Explosives
5 - UV sterilization
6 - Starvation
7 - More explosives

 

[PassengerTN]

I'm a fan of the "more explosives" method. Untreated tap water will kill it also


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[Delapool]

. Cool, I got these tankbusters cheap and the lfs said I would wipe the floor clean but I'm not sure we were on the same page....


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[Canadiver]

I don't know that I have ever physically saw BB. Not sure if anyone else has maybe under microscope in a lab. You don't want to kill BB that's what keeps the waists in the environment stable. Therefore you can not have to much. Killing it is easy though just clean the filter components in hot water should get rid of what was there. There will still be some in the gravel or sand. No don't do it. I always clean mine filter components in tank water and put it back full of water from the tank. Doing it this way you will damage as little BB as possible.

I believe you have an algae issue. As others have stated. Check your water, make sure all is in order, do more frequent water changes, at least once per week. Cut your light back to 8 hrs max. If in direct sunlight minimize the sun light. I have found all my algae problems have been due to too much light and not enough or to much nutrients in the water. Once you figure out what your tank needs to maintain itself you just keep it up regularly. I feed fish daily, I feed nutrients twice per week, I do a 30-50% water change weekly, this is when I prune clean any algae starting on glass etc. About every 3 months I clean filter. I find if I deviate from this for long everything goes to heck.

Good luck check your water, and reduce your light to start.




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