Marine Aquarium and Bacteria: Insights and Frequently Asked Questions.
Over the past few months, we have noticed a growing interest in the BEA Aequilibrium protocol and the differences between liquid and solid bacterial formulations, sparking curiosity among both new users and those considering adopting the BEA Aequilibrium protocol into their own management practices.
In this little insight, we want to explain the reasons behind our choice to develop Aequilibrium in freeze-dried form rather than liquid , while sharing insights that can help you better understand the background and highlight the aspects and potential of our protocol .
The “microbiological” part of our hobby has always been quite cryptic and mysterious, but after some research online we realized that the information available online in Italian is really minimal, often fragmentary, partial and contradictory.
Considering that this is a very vast topic and that it requires a relatively high level of knowledge in industrial microbiology and biotechnology (industrial-environmental-marine) to be approached with full knowledge of the facts, we thought we would put some order into the information available online , in particular with regards to liquid and solid bacterial activators .
We would like to emphasize that liquid formulations are absolutely not “evil”. There are infinite functional liquid products, present on the market for many years, whose effectiveness and absence of contraindications is proven. The choice of a liquid formulation compared to a solid one must always follow the needs of the aquarium and the enthusiast. The important thing, as always, is to know how to correctly interpret the needs of your system and try to make them coincide with your expectations, your objectives and the time available. We hope that this little article can help you to clear up some doubts and give you a more accurate vision of the production process and the reasons that led to the development and formulation of the BEA Aequilibrium protocol, in stabilized solid form .
Is it true that you chose a solid formulation to reduce costs and that it is an economical material?
Let's start from the fact that a freeze-dried formulation is absolutely not cheaper but rather it is "naturally" more and more expensive , also for the very simple fact that to produce it it is necessary to have (in addition to the bioreactors) an industrial freeze-dryer, an unusual and extremely expensive technical instrument. Furthermore, the enormously increased cost compared to the liquid, is also logically related to the concentration of active biological material, infinitely higher .
But that said, absolutely not. The price of the ingredients or raw material has never been a prerogative for any of our products. The choice of the type of formulation has nothing to do with the cost of the raw material and rather, it is strictly linked to the effectiveness of the product, the stability of the components and the balance of the different strains.
Last but not least, the ecological issue. We find it absurd to have a product composed of 98-99% water travel back and forth, to transport such a negligible percentage (1-2%) of biological material .
In many sectors (including professional aquaculture), following an ecological ideal of resource optimization, there is an increasing tendency towards the concentration of products, the reduction of volumes, packaging, ecological transport costs . We are simply in line with this process of resource optimization and we want to offer a product that fully reflects our philosophy.
Is it true that solid formulations lose effectiveness, are slower to act and can take months?
No. It is generally believed that dry formulations are slower to start because the bacteria are in a dormant stage and need a long time to return to growth. This is biased and fundamentally incorrect information for several reasons , especially when compared to liquid formulations: By stabilizing the material (with freeze-drying), when they are inserted into a system they are in a quiescent stage that, in the right conditions, allows them to return to active growth showing metabolic activity and cell division in just a few hours . The advantage of liquid formulations (in the rare cases in which they have been properly stored) is that they do not have this latency time. Even if the conditions are truly sub-optimal it is still 1-2 days, absolutely not weeks or even months.
If we have chosen a stabilized formulation it is precisely for its concentration , for its greater capacity/practicality of conservation , the reduced risk of contamination , the maintenance of the correct balance between the strains , the possibility of enhancing it with carbon sources, dedicated and stimulating substrates and in general for its greater effectiveness.
But liquid bacteria are already a growing culture, isn’t it better to avoid the “wake-up” phase and work with a culture that is already microbiologically balanced?
Although a superficial analysis might suggest this, by analyzing the production process and microbial metabolism with more precise information, it is easy to realize that in our sector, it does not work like this .
The cultivation of different bacterial strains is done in dedicated reactors specifically designed for the purpose, called chemostats and bioreactors respectively. The bacterial growth curve in a culture, represented on a time-cell number graph, is divided into four phases: latency (adaptation), exponential growth (rapid multiplication, perfectly balanced environmental conditions and nutrients), stationary (nutrients finished, balance between life and death) and decline (culture crash).
A chemostat is a continuous culture device, which maintains a bacterial population in exponential growth phase by constantly diluting the culture medium with fresh substrate and removing spent medium, thus controlling nutrient concentration and cell density.
Generally, in each chemostat/bioreactor the optimal conditions for the growth of a single strain are maintained, in monoculture, optimizing cell division and maximizing the biomass yield produced. In this type of bioreactor the replication rate is generally very high, but to maintain the cells in the exponential phase, the environmental conditions, the chemical/physical parameters and the availability of nutrients must be continuously monitored and adjusted in an extremely meticulous and precise manner.
If optimal conditions are not met, the crop will crash irremediably, often extremely quickly.
The collected liquid culture must therefore be stored under refrigeration, in absolute sterility to avoid contamination, for a short time, well defined depending on the organism and its use.
However, over time, although the refrigeration regime serves to slow down the bacterial metabolism and maintain the culture in its original state for longer, the presence of water, the prolonged lack of nutrients, the increase in the concentration of metabolites/catabolites and the unfavourable environmental conditions irremediably lead to a progressive alteration/degradation of the product and usually a reduction in its effectiveness.
Similarly, since these are generally mixtures of different species with extremely different replication times, environmental requirements and metabolic needs, the storage conditions can prove to be simultaneously favourable and unfavourable for the different strains present in the mixture, irreparably altering the initial balance of the formulation .
To maintain a correct microbial balance it is essential that the product is as stable as possible , but in liquid formulations , due to the presence of water and an environment potentially favourable to cell replication, it is necessary to insert chemical stabilisers and molecules with a bacteriostatic effect which can potentially manifest harmful effects and/or reduce the effectiveness of the product .
These considerations were the basis on which we decided to develop our products, and one of the many reasons why we chose to work with a solid formulation with microorganisms stabilized on an organo-mineral substrate.
Why did you choose to offer different formulations? Couldn’t you make an “all in one” product?
If we have chosen to prepare the bacterial protocol with 4 separate components it is to give beginners the possibility of having a well-considered and relatively “universal” “guided” dosage by relying on the calendars , but at the same time to give more expert hobbyists and operators in the sector the possibility of being able to carry out targeted corrections of specific imbalances.
The possibility of being able to specifically insert autotrophs , heterotrophs or enzymes allows for “fine tuning” and to effectively manage unexpected anomalies and particular environmental conditions.
Every aquarium is a world in itself, this sentence acquires even greater importance for farms and companies in the aquaculture sector. Having breeding systems that can have extremely variable environmental conditions and chemical-physical parameters, it is absolutely necessary to be able to intervene in a targeted manner on each individual imbalance, correcting one metabolic process at a time. For example, if we want to enhance nitrification and denitrification, we will work mainly with autotrophs . To reduce the levels of nitrate and phosphate of a eutrophic system, we can push bacterial proliferation with targeted dosages of heterotrophs and carbon sources, while we will administer an enzymatic-based product to speed up proteolysis and the degradation of organic sludge/detritus, and so on.
Conclusions:
We hope that the information shared in this little insight has given you a clearer and more in-depth view of our work .
The BEA Aequilibrium Protocol represents our vision of a future where systems care is based on science, technology and sustainability . We firmly believe that through understanding and applying innovative solutions, we can all contribute to a more conscious and “enlightened” aquarium hobby .
We have been through a long and complex journey to develop it, and it is our hope that this article has illuminated the path we have taken to offer you a cutting-edge product capable of harmonizing the biological needs of your systems, promoting a more conscious and targeted management of the microbial consortium.