Tunze Care Bacter 0220.005
 

Roger,

Could you enlighten us about this product?

Thanks

+1!!

It is two species of live bacteria suspended in a clay dust, it is a grey powder. I have used it and while I cannot fully credit the product because like most hobbyists I throw everything and the kitchen sink at problems I am trying to solve in my tank but I believe it works as advertised. I am highly skeptical of bacterial products, mainly because I have been in this hobby for 30+ years and the oldest bacterial products were rumored to be nothing but septic tank digester and never worked as advertised. What sold me on this product is we are not the guinea pigs, it was developed by a large French bio lab for use in commercial aquaculture. It is developed to prevent vibrio ulcers on fish and shrimp and clean up sludge from the high population densities. Basically it is a proven product used for many years in aquaculture. One species of bacteria eats sludge and that I can attest to, you will see any accumulated detritus disappear in short order. The other is an enemy of vibrio and attacks it, the hope in aquariums is it would combat RTN but I cannot verify this and that would be hard to do as one cannot say if it was prevented or just never happened, I don't believe it could cure an active infection. I requested a sample back in March as in my new tank I had a strange brown hair algae I have not encountered before, it looked like brown derbasia, one of the promises of this product is that in new tanks which tend to have algae due to an imbalance where algae gets the upper had over normal bacterial digestion of waste, it will bring that into balance. It took 6 weeks and the algae was gone following the recommended 2 weeks of booster dose and 4 weeks of normal dose, the 6th week it literally dissolved and disappeared within a day of the last dose (it is dosed once a week). As I said though I also ran GFO, carbon dosed, water changed, manually scrubbed, added more snails, the usual algae combat we do so I cannot claim any proof it works, all I can say definitively is within a day the detritus is largely gone and the water gets very clear, some of the clarity I attribute to the clay likely acting as a floculating agent, the water turns milky when it is first added.

FWIW, pretty much every one at the company was skeptical and we all tested it and everyone would continue using it except Brigitte Tunze, she claims it made matters worse, but the test tank was very old and we suspect that the root issue is that the tank is a monoculture nearly and old tank syndrome is the cause, the tank has been taken over by blue ridge and a couple soft corals to the extent that their is a gorgonian grown over by blue ridge, the rock and sand are very old and the tank needs an overhaul that a miracle in a bottle does not exist for. For new tank issues and regular cleanup I think this product works beyond what one would expect.

Sounds interesting, thanks for the thorough response. I think I will try some. Doesn't appear to be available on Amazon yet.

Marine Depot bought everything we got in.

And they sold all of it. I'm on the wishlist =)

Roger,

Thanks for the history and honest assessment of your company's product.
Did anyone in the company just ran the product by itself to see how much nitrate and phosphate was reduced?

How about the French Biolab showing/sharing some test results to your Tunze company? I know I would have asked for some real world results before making an investment with my company's name selling a product.

Thanks as always!!

The problem with all such products is there is a limit to what can be verified. Unfortunately there is a large amount of just observation and anecdote, any PO4 or NO3 reduction requires carbon food, while the bacteria will perform this function, there are a lot of variables and if that is the goal, those bacteria are already in an established tank and carbon dosing will get the desired results. but you also have to keep in mind usually NO3 will drop first and once reduced the metabolism of PO4 is limited by the NO3 available. This is largely a sludge digester and clean up, but as I discussed with some of the experts in the reef field, any of these products require a leap of faith because "proof" is almost unattainable and as I explained, I cannot say with certainty it cured my algae issue, even without intervention of any sort, time alone may have cured it. I would not buy this product to reduce Nitrate or Phosphate, I would buy a bottle of Vodka instead. I would by this product to shift the balance away from problem algae and toward a functioning bacterial filter in a new tank and to reduce detritus.

Thanks Roger,

I suspect I have a harmful pathogen in my tank that whenever I carbon dose. I would start to see STN from my SPS and LPS. This is not even running UNLS of 0 NO3 and low PO4. This is even when NO3 is still up in the 4ppm and PO4 is present (0.12). I can only suspect whatever is utilizing the carbon source is out-competing the beneficial (Probiotic) bacteria in my tank. I am excited to try this product (which is coming this Friday). I have not carbon dosed for the last eight month. I will seed my tank with Tunze care bacter for about 1 month with no carbon dosing. After one month, I will slowly carbon dose to see if I can reduce my nitrate and phosphate level.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

Mike Paletta had an article about potentially feeding a pathogen in his tank by carbon dosing, I deliberately avoid acros to avoid these problems but I have not had any issues with montis, porites or any other corals, I do carbon dose a mix of vodka and vinegar. It seems though that carbon dosing can feed pathogens.

I can only hope that using Tunze Care Bacter as a probiotic can help "out compete" the pathogens. whatever pathogen in my tank not only affects acros, but also my LPS gets affected as well. I have used NOPOX and Fauna Marin Bactoballs with similar consequence.

I'm eager to hear if it works.

what two bacteria species is being used in the products?

If they said that everyone else with a bio lab could produce it. All the info we have is non pathogenic, meets all EU directives and non genetically engineered.

When can we expect more stateside?

I just got in 30 more and they all went again to Marine Depot today. I should have 50 more in a week or so.

Great thanks.

These bacterias have been tested in France and they provide a huge improvment in tanks ... Nothing to do with usual produces...( some are really "fake"). I am trustful. I have seen some pictures : far less algae evenwithin the same duration on the glass..It's seenable...

Otherwise , you can also test DAPHBIO produces. It's French.
I know the guy ( Benoit) who makes that. At the beginning, he was a biologist, soon as a child. Then a teacher. He is a passionnate.
He is really helpful ( he speaks english) and he solved some issues i had in y reef tank.
But he went on make his own research on algae and bacterias... And he began to sell it, on a small scale. However,one day CNRS ( the best Research Science Center in France - only for Research) made a blind test to compare various produces for there use, and they conclued Daphbio gets the best produces . It's really a small company that refuses to be eaten by companies.

I give you the link :
https://www.daphbio.fr/en/12-our-products

Well, I make no money but I only trust this guy and Tunze.

Sounds encouraging! Thanks for chiming in JP94, and welcome to Reef Central.

Yes, Thanks JP94 for chiming in!

I just ordered some. I have a relatively new tank (6 months old) I'm battling some hair algae with. NO-PO-x seemed to be hard on my sps and I was doing a half dose. I do regular water changes with RODI and use fritz pro salts. I've had 3 reef tanks over a period of 15 years and this one is the first one I've ever had this much trouble with. I really don't believe in a miracle in a bottle but this product intrigued me. I've got some on the way. I'll update in a few weeks to let you all know if I see any improvement.

My experience was it took 6 weeks and it got worse before it got better. However, I have no way of knowing if in 6 weeks it would have gone away on its own or if my shotgun approach something else or the combination effected a remedy. In my tank I had an algae that looked like derbasia but was brown, I so no results weeks 1 and 2 other than clearer water, less film on the glass and no piles of detritus, weeks 3 and 4 the algae growth accelerated, week 5 it stopped, week 6 right after the dose, the next day it was just completely gone.

Roger just to confirm it's a once a week dose with the heavier dose being the first two weeks?

That is correct.