Do fish food preservatives affect bio filtration?

triton_uk

New member
I feed my aquarium with a large variety of foods including bottles of (off the shelf) zoo plankton and various pellets and flakes.

I have noticed a lot of these contain food preservatives which are obviously designed to kill bacteria or stunt bacterial growth in the food some how. My questions are:

1) Will these build up in my aquarium?
2) Will they be having an effect on the bacterial filtration in my aquarium?

Cheers

Jimmy
 
That depends. Read the label and name the preservatives you are concerned with. Some of those things are antimicrobial at high concentrations (in the food) but are actually food for the bacteria at lower concentrations (diluted out into the tank).
 
Okay,

Seachem Reef Zoo plankton:

Ingredients: Fenneropenaeus chinensis, Artemia, Rotifer, Protein Hydrolysates with carotenoids, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Carboxylic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

Would any of these be a problem over the long term?
 
If you never do water changes, feed heavily, and run your tank for years, it may become a problem. In short, if you are doing basic maintenance, I wouldn't worry.
 
Okay,

Seachem Reef Zoo plankton:

Ingredients: Fenneropenaeus chinensis, Artemia, Rotifer, Protein Hydrolysates with carotenoids, Ascorbic Acid, Citric Acid, Carboxylic Acid, Sodium Benzoate, Methylparaben, Propylparaben

Would any of these be a problem over the long term?

Sodium Benzoate - Only bacteriostatic under low pH (pH < 5) conditions. So no problem.

Methylparaben and Propylparaben - These are more antifungal than antibacterial. In low concentrations they shouldn't create any problem. They will probably hyrdolyse in tank water anyway.
 
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