Jump to content

Bacter AE possible issue?


Memphis118

Recommended Posts

Hello,

I am new here, and new to shrimp keeping and have done a lot of research before setting up a Crystal red shrimp tank, and after watching a few videos online, some people said that we can use "Glas Garten Bacter AE" under the substrate when starting a fresh tank... so I did.

After reading more online, a lot of people are saying that you CANT do that, and it will rot and cause the tank to be foul.

In a 17 gallon tank, I only used a little, about 1.5 -2 small scoops. Will I run into any possible issues?

 

Currently, the tank has been up for 3 weeks, no ammonia, TDS = 90-110 and nitrate around 5-10 max.

 

Thoughts?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi @Memphis118,

welcome to SKFA.

It does not look like you have run into a problem with your tank. The tank looks cycled and should be ready to be home to new shrimp. 

However, if you ever use Bacter AE ,or any other bacteria in a bottle product, be aware that these bacteria need oxygen to survive and grow. That is, they are aerobic. So by placing them under the substrate, they are starved of oxygen and won't grow to optimum. Probably why you have heard people say it will rot.

When you add more Bacter AE, just dissolve it in your change water and pour it into the water column next time.

Just remember, if you ever start a new tank in the future ... minerals go in the bottom of the tank, then substrate on top. Bacteria additives you buy in a bottle needs to go on top of the substrate, or at least in the top 1cm of the substrate where it will get the most oxygen.

If your tank is still relatively empty of ornaments, plants and shrimp, you could give the substrate a stir to promote more oxygen to the lower levels of the substrate. Otherwise, just leave it as is and add your shrimp.

Good luck with the CRS.

 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as I know, Bacter AE is rather a food than a water supplement. As a food, it is not a good idea to put in inside/under the substrat.

Just dissolve it and add it to your water tank, this will greatly improve the biofilm.

As a help in cycling or maintening your tank, use rather "live bacteria" products such as Bio Nitrivec (SERA) or even Mosura BT9, they do agreat job ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Matuva said:

Bacter AE is rather a food than a water supplement

Careful. Bacter AE is not food. It adds microorganisms, enzymes and amino acids to help develop biofilm.

The biofilm might be food but the bacter ae itself is not food. 

Glass Garden themselves  describe their product as such. 

http://www.glasgarten-aquarium.de/english/bacter_ae.html

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@jayc

Looks like I was wrong about the tank being done cycling. After 2.5 /3 weeks, I tested again right before putting shrimp in, and got .50 Ammonia / 5ppm Nitrate.

I suppose it just took longer to "start" the cycle.... I noticed over the last 2 days, my tank is a very slight but faint smell, almost like sulfur.

Currently the plants in the tank look good and thriving, is the smell part of the cycle // because of the ammonia? It's pretty faint overall, but if you put your nose up near the tank, you can smell it.

Is this something to worry about, or just part of the process?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

@Memphis118,

I doubt you are able to smell 0.50ppm of ammonia in the water. 

So I'm not sure what you are smelling. It's definitely not sulfur ? everything would be dead.

Maybe it's not sulfur as you describe but the smells of a cycling tank. Your cycle seems to have at least started if you are detecting nitrates.

 

If you need more tips on cycling a tank, I gave others some tips on that in the Water Parameter subsection of this forum. Search for it and have a read. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gotcha, thank you.

The smell... can't really describe haha. It's more like plastic burning / something. 

I thought maybe its the bacter finally decomposing, but i poked the substrate real fast to see if bubbles came out, and it didnt.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Join Our Community!

    Register today, ask questions and share your shrimp and fish tank experiences with us!

  • Must Read SKF Articles

  • Posts

    • beanbag
      Update to say that after a few gravel vacs, front wall scrub, moss / floating plant trim, that the condition seems to have improved.  My current theory is that it is due to waste / debris management, where "stuff" like that brown mulm accumulates in the substrate and behind the HMF filters.  Maybe some tanks can somehow deal with it, but mine can't.  Also another experienced shrimper suggested that maybe those "shell bugs" don't just live on the shrimps but also in this debris.  Maybe this is the reason some tanks fail due to "old tank syndrome" where all they need is a good gravel vac? Also, I am guessing that plant trim helps too because now more of the nutrients and light go into growing algae instead of more plants? Well anyway for this tank I will try weekly water change and monthly gravel vac / plant trim.  For my next tank, I'm thinking of something like an under-gravel system where this mulm can fall down and I vac it out.
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Good to have an update and good to hear you are getting shrimplets, so hopefully your colony will continue and you may not get to the point where you have to cull some to stop over population. These type of shrimp only live 12 - 18 months so the adult deaths may be natural? If you have the time I would do weekly 25% water changes, adding the new water via a drip system and do some vacuuming clean of the substrate each week, even if only a different bit each week! See if that helps in a few months and if it does then stick with that regime? It should help reduce any build-ups that may be occuring!
    • beanbag
      Hello again, much belated update: The tank still has "cycles" of 1-2 month "good streaks" where everybody seems to be doing well, and then a bad streak where the short antenna problem shows up again, and a shrimp dies once every few days.  I am not sure what causes things to go bad, but usually over the course of a few days I will start to see more shrimp quietly standing on the HMF filter, and so I know something is wrong.  Since I am not "doing anything" besides the regular 1-2 week water changes, I just assume that something bad is building up.  Here's a list of things that I've tried that are supposed to be "can't hurt" but didn't prevent the problem either: Dose every other day with Shrimp Fit (very small dose, and the shrimp seem to like it) Sotching Oxydator Seachem Purigen to keep the nitrates lower Keeping the pH below 5.5 with peat Things that I don't do often, so could possibly "reset" the tank back to a good streak, are gravel vac and plant trim, so maybe time to try those again. One other problem I used to have was that sometimes a shrimp would suddenly stop eating with a full or partially full digestive tract that doesn't clear out, and then the shrimp will die within a few days.  I suspected it was one of the foods in my rotation - Shrimp Nature Infection, which contains a bunch of herbal plant things.  I've had this in my food rotation for a few years now and generally didn't seem to cause problems, but I removed it from the rotation anyway.  I don't have a lot of adult Golden Bees at this point so I can't really tell if it worked or not. Overall the tank is not too bad - during the good streaks occasionally a shrimp will get berried and hatch babies with a 33-50% survival rate.  So while there are fewer adults now, there are also a bunch of babies roaming around.  I guess this tank will stagger on, but I really do need to take the time to start up a new tank.  (or figure out the problem)
    • jayc
      If that is the offspring, then the parents are unlikely to be PRL. I tend to agree with you. There are very few PRLs in Australia. And any that claim to be needs to show proof. PRL genes have to start as PRL. CRS that breed true after x generations doesn't turn it into a PRL. Neither can a Taiwan bee shrimp turn into a PRL despite how ever many generations. I've never seen a PRL with that sort of red colour. I have on Red Wines and Red Shadows - Taiwan bee shrimps. So somewhere down the line one of your shrimp might have been mixed with Taiwan bees and is no longer PRL. It just tanks one shrimp to mess up the genes of a whole colony. 
    • sdlTBfanUK
      Sorry, missed this one somehow! The PRL look fantastic and the odd ones look part PRL and part Red wine/Red shadow in the colour. They are still very beautiful but ideally should be seperated to help keep the PRL clean if you can do that.  Nice clear photos!
×
×
  • Create New...