Quote:
Originally Posted by mcgyvr
I think you are making an assumption that the higher the nitrate levels the faster the development/growth of de-nitrifying bacteria..
I'm not sure thats the case but rather the time in which the anoxic environments are formed and the amount of them...
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Exactly...and since new tanks that are properly maintained take months and months to even establish elevated nitrate levels (unless you buy really good LR from a high bio load tank) this cuts that time frame because it provides free nitrogen sooner. Like you said though it's theoretical.
I've set up a *lot* of tanks in my 30 years of reefing and the only way I've consistently found to speed up the post cycling stability phase is to add some potassium nitrate right at the beginning. Seems to cut a couple months off getting to the stability phase where you're done with nuisance algae / cyano / diatom blooms. Good luck adding SPS or more sensitive LPS during this phase.
Carbon dosing fuels nitrogen reduction. No proof it encourages actual bacterial growth I've seen. For the second time (in english) I'm not trying to improve nitrate reduction. I'm trying to speed up and get newer tanks to their stability point so the nitrogen reducing bacteria can quicker compete with post cycling outbreaks.