Hello Everyone and thank you inviting me to join your forum.
When talking about bacterial additives one has to first make the difference between additives for establishing nitrification and additives for say reducing organics in the aquarium.
This is important because two different groups of bacteria are involved.
For nitrification the bacteria we want in the aquarium are the nitrifiers (the ammonia- and nitrite-oxidizing bacteria, the AOB and NOB, respectively). These bacteria are autotrophic which means they get the carbon they need from carbon dioxide. So adding a carbon like vodka, glucose, sucrose will NOT help them. In fact it may hurt them because the second group of bacteria (ones which breakdown organics) are called heterotrophs. The heterotrophs use complex carbon from soucres like sucrose, glucose and 'vodka' and other sugars.
The heterotrophic bacteria double in 30 to 45 minutes while the autotrophic nitrifiers take 20 to 30 HOURS to double. So if you add ''sugars" to an aquarium you may promote the rapid growth of heterotrophic bacteria which will grow over the autotrophic bacteria (the two groups compete for space).
To answer some specific questions:
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We have been discussing the pros and cons of using additives, namely bacterial additives like Prodibio, and amino acids in general.
- introducing bacteria in the system may create a problem with the "natural" pre-existing ones?
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I am not fimilar with the product "Prodibio" so cannot comment on it. But in general just because you add a bacteria to an environment does not mean it will grow and become established in that environment. Bacteria have specific needs and cannot grow everywhere and anyplace.
In the case of nitrifiers - there are very specific ones that grow in aquaria and if you add others these others do not become established. This was the basis for my Ph.D. work. Additives that contain Nitrosomonas europaea (AOB) and/or Nitrobacter winogradskyii (NOB) has never worked in an aquarium even though they are real bacteria and do oxidize ammonia or nitrite. Why don't they work? Because the aquarium environment is not the correct environment for these bacteria.
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- do you think that it may create a sort of dependence to the system ? Both as regards the bacteria and the corals ?
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No I do not think it creates a dependence because I doubt where these introduced bacteria become established in the aquarium.
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- they influence only the so-called "good parameters" of the water chemistry or they may/will also affect the "bad ones" (phosphates, silicates, etc..) thus enabling an algae bloom ?
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Adding heterotrophic bacteria to an established aquarium may cause problems if there is a lot of organic matter and the bacteria breakdown this matter and in the process consume a lot of oxygen. They can consume so much oxygen that fish die. Or they can produce so much ammonia that fish are stressed. An algae bloom might occur because the bacteria are breaking down a compound into various 'simpler' chemicals that the alage could use to bloom.
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I believe I ran into you at MACNA in Boston a couple of years ago before you wrote your articles in advanced aquarist questioning Ron Shimek and his toxic findings in some ASW mixes. Michael Del Prete is still very upset at you.
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Many many people are upset at me because I use data and science instead of making things up!
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Also adding to the questions João has presented, are some/all of these bacteria already present in the aquarium and does adding a carbon source via {Vodka, vinegar, sugar, zeovit, prodibio etc.} just increase their levels ? Can these bacteria be exported effectively via skimming ? What are the potential problems if there's a mass dieoff of these bacteria because of lack of "food" ?
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This is complex question - not all the bacteria that are in additives are present in an aquarium. But there are plenty of species in the aquarium which will react to increases in their 'food source' and may bloom. The problem with a bloom is that when the bacteria die they become organic matter for other bacteria to grow rapidly which can cause a rapid consumption of oxygen from the water leading to low oxygen and maybe fish deaths.
Bacteria can be exported from the water via protein skimming and so if one sees whitish-greyish water (a sign of a bloom) then I suggest turning up the skimmer.
I hope this first post has helped you all
Dr Tim