Quote:
Originally Posted by Aquattro
Nope, sorry, no clumps. And if there were clumps, that's bound and probably not really active in what I want bacteria to be doing, and therefore, again, insignificant. The only bacteria I'm concerned with are those on substrate, which are not removed in any amount, by any means, that concerns me.
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When dosing carbon (and zeo is carbon dosing as well), a biofilm of bacteria is formed. It can form on the sand, rock, zeolites, carbon/gfo, biopellets, glass - whatever. This occurs because dosing organic carbon removes a limiting factor in growth, allowing nitrogen processing bacteria to thrive. These ARE the bacteria you're concerned with. The 'clumps' or biomass bacteria occur when the biofilm becomes too thick, and excess bacteria break off (also happens when shaking zeolites and releasing 'mulm'). But this is just a visual example of what already occurs when dosing carbon; the bacterial count in the water column goes up. You actually WANT to skim/remove these because in doing so you also remove nitrogen and phosphorus from the system. So while it's true that generally you shouldn't be concerned about removing 'too much' bacteria from the water column by protein skimming, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. It happens to a degree in every reef aquarium, and moreso in those that dose organic carbon.
BTW I do feel this is relevant to the conversation, as dosing carbon (and the resulting increase in bacteria) should actually be considered as an increase in the bioload of an aquarium IMO. That is, if you are dosing carbon, you should increase the capacity of your skimmer accordingly.