Question on Biomate

[patricklhc]

What does biomate really do?

It reads

High tech bacterial solution for saltwater tank

Reduce mulm and phosphate in a biological way

Processes mulm of substrate and rock

Can I use it to replace zeobac? Or are there additional benefits if both are used together?

What do kz mean "processes mulm of substrate and rocks? I mean on a full zeovit basic 4 system mulm will be produce on rocks and sandbed?

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[illumnae]

I suspect it's a different strain of bacteria used to break down solid waste in the tank. These are bacteria that help to break down solid waste quicker so the bb can process them.

Using an example from another brand, microbe-lift has several different types of bacterial products. Of the products, night out 2 is the one containing the bb that breaks down ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. They have other products called therap and sludge remover that helps break down solid waste (but also contains small amounts of actual bb). Special blend is a more even mix of both types of bacteria.

Basically it's a different kind of bacteria serving a different purpose. Used together with zeobac they support each other not replace each other.

Interesting fact: in the past, this was the type of bacteria marketed as bottled bb by many brands. This is because this type of bacteria reproduces via spores, and the spores can be bottled long term without dying, unlike actual bb which reproduces only via splitting and is hard to bottle long term (before today's modern technology discovered how). These bacteria don't contribute to the actual nitrogen cycle but break down waste faster, creating more food for bb hopefully letting bb reproduce faster, but inevitably creating ammonia spikes that exacerbate new tank syndrome. This is why bottled bb had a bad reputation previously as being "snake oil" and unable to replace traditional cycling.