About Microbe-Lift products.

[Yuval5520]

This is just my personal opinion for whatever it is worth, But if I had a bottle of Microbe-Lift Xtreme I would think the best place to put it is in my toilet. However, we have out own septic system so I would be worried about harming it.

There is also evidence that aloe vera can be harmful to fish gills when the aloe is in the water. This is a completely different situation that when aloe vera is dietary.


The above comes from here, I suggest folks have a quick read: https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/5-5-3-water-conditioners/

I used ti have a study on this bookmarked. However, over time, institutions move things and the link I had was no longer any good and I had the title of the paper replace by the words Aloe Vera Bad. So I could not do a search by the paper title

Doing a search on Google scholar for aloe vera and fish basically returns a ton of studies. but almost all of then involve aloe vera as a dietary supplement.

Nite out 2 has aloe vera? no?

 

[Yuval5520]

This tank has had fish in it all along or this is a new setup?

i have fish in it for about 4 to 5 months

 

[Essjay]

Nite out 2 has aloe vera? no?

It's the conditioner in the first post, Microbe-Lift Xtreme which contains aloe vera. Many water conditioners contain it, but it is not good for fish long term.

Its weird that i have no sign of ammonia or nitrite without filter?

That depends. I once forgot to turn my filter back on after a water change and only discovered it was off at the next water change a week later.

The bacteria live on every surface in the tank not just in the filter.
Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein not nitrite or nitrate.
This is why I had no ammonia or nitrite in my tank even with the filter turned off for a week.


If your tank has live plants, you may well not need to use bottled bacteria. If there are only a few fish in the tank, the bacteria on the surfaces could be enough to deal with the ammonia they make.

 

[Yuval5520]

It's the conditioner in the first post, Microbe-Lift Xtreme which contains aloe vera. Many water conditioners contain it, but it is not good for fish long term.



That depends. I once forgot to turn my filter back on after a water change and only discovered it was off at the next water change a week later.

The bacteria live on every surface in the tank not just in the filter.
Plants take up ammonia as fertiliser and they turn it into protein not nitrite or nitrate.
This is why I had no ammonia or nitrite in my tank even with the filter turned off for a week.


If your tank has live plants, you may well not need to use bottled bacteria. If there are only a few fish in the tank, the bacteria on the surfaces could be enough to deal with the ammonia they make.

So i can just put the new filter with the old ceramic rings and everything will stay fine?

 

[Essjay]

It's impossible to say. All you can do is try it and see. Monitor ammonia and nitrite every day and do a water change if either read above zero. Once they both stay at zero for a few days, then you can start doing weekly maintenance water changes.

 

[Yuval5520]

It's impossible to say. All you can do is try it and see. Monitor ammonia and nitrite every day and do a water change if either read above zero. Once they both stay at zero for a few days, then you can start doing weekly maintenance water changes.

So just do my normal things? adding the bacteria after water change, conditionr, bacteria and if something happens i wiil do what u said

 

[Essjay]

All that's needed on a regular basis is conditioner added to the water before it goes in the tank if refilling with a bucket, or added to the tank before refilling with a hose.
Bacteria only need to be added when setting up a new tank or putting a new filter in a tank without transferring the old media immediately the old one is removed. Bacteria don't need to be added at every water change once a tank is cycled.