Adding BB After Water Changes

[Jennifer V]

Hi Nerms! 

I feel silly asking, but is it ok to add BB after water changes if the tank is cycled and I haven't made any changes e.g. adding new fish, adding meds? 

My tank has been set up for more than a year and is very stable but I thought I read somewhere that you could/should add BB with water changes. I have a large bioload with four messy pea puffers in my 10g so I do ~50 percent water changes every week to keep the nitrates down around 40 ppm and have always added 1/4 cup Fritz Zyme 7 after each water change. 

Am I wasting product or should I just follow the "if it ain't broke ... " adage? 

[AndEEss]

Your BB mostly exist on filter media and surfaces in the aquarium. Not in the water column. 
 

TLDR version: not worth it.

 

[Jennifer V]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:51 PM, AndEEss said:

Your BB mostly exist on filter media and surfaces in the aquarium. Not in the water column. 
 

TLDR version: not worth it.

 

Yes! That's why I started to wonder if I was just gilding the lily in a way. We don't clean the filter unless it's showing signs of decreased efficiency. 

[AndEEss]

On 2/16/2022 at 1:54 PM, Jennifer V said:

Yes! That's why I started to wonder if I was just gilding the lily in a way. We don't clean the filter unless it's showing signs of decreased efficiency. 

Yep. You’ve got it. Even after a cleaning (I just squeeze once in bucket of aquarium water), the bacteria will repopulate the sponge on its own, very quickly.

[JettsPapa]

On 2/16/2022 at 2:47 PM, Jennifer V said:

Hi Nerms! 

I feel silly asking, but is it ok to add BB after water changes if the tank is cycled and I haven't made any changes e.g. adding new fish, adding meds? 

My tank has been set up for more than a year and is very stable but I thought I read somewhere that you could/should add BB with water changes. . .

 

My best guess is you read this on a product label.  Always be skeptical when the information on the package encourages you to keep using it indefinitely (with some exceptions, like fertilizer, of course).  The instructions that come with filters telling you to replace the media periodically is another example of only benefitting the company that makes and sells that filter media.

[Jennifer V]

@JettsPapa uhg. Ok that's what just occurred to me after 14 months of doing it every week. 🤦 Now that I've set up this rather gratuitous practice, am I going to hurt anything by discontinuing it? Is it possible for a tank to become dependent on it? Again, probably silly thoughts but the tank is so stable that I'm afraid to throw anything off if that's at all possible. 

[Patrick_G]

This is just my opinion but with all those plants, gravel and hardscape sufaces for BB to grow o  I think your tank is probably very stable. Even with those puffers puffers pooping their brains out you should be fine without the bottled bacteria. 

[Jennifer V]

On 2/16/2022 at 2:16 PM, Patrick_G said:

This is just my opinion but with all those plants, gravel and hardscape sufaces for BB to grow o  I think your tank is probably very stable. Even with those puffers puffers pooping their brains out you should be fine without the bottled bacteria. 

They do poop their brains out, don't they? 😆 Ok I think I'll stop adding the BB. That means more money for other fishy-related stuff! 

[lefty o]

once the tank is well established, it will not really help you at all to add any bacteria.