TOP SELLER!

Revolution by Salty Revolution

Finally back in stock! This was one of our first products we made, and by far our most popular. Due to supply issues with the licences for the live bacteria following Brexit we have been able to get any for 11 months. But it’s back! So you’re probably wondering why it was so popular.

What is Revolution?

It is mixed strains of live sulphur based anaerobic marine bacteria. This is NOT carbon dosing and NOT Lanthanum chloride.

What does Revolution do?

Revolution does three things:
1 - It eats Nitrates! You pour it in the tank and your Nitrates go.
2- It eats Phosphates too! You pour it in and Phosphate goes.
3- It increases water clarity.

How do I use Revolution?

It comes in liquid form in a bottle. The bottle lasts for 6 months plus after opening, and doesn’t need to be refrigerated. Add Revolution daily until nitrates are around 1ppm. Dosing can then be reduced to one per week. We recommend manually dosing rather than using a dosing pump. It is safe to use, and even at 100 times overdose it will do no harm at all. You should see Nitrates fall a little a start, then over several weeks (typically 4 weeks if temp and salinity are stable) the Nitrates will fall to 1ppm and stay therel, even in heavily stocked systems. from then on dosing once per week is usually enough to keep Nitrates at 1ppm. You can dose more frequently and at higher doses if you wish, which will speed things up a little, but doubling the dose will only speed it up by about 20%, and quadrupling the dose will only speed it up by around 30%, so while its safe to pour the whole bottle in in one go, it is a lot less efficient than small doses every day.

How much Revolution do I dose?

You dose 1ml of Revolution per 40 litres of system volume per day. Here is a handy chart.

40 litre tank 1ml per day.
80 litre tank 2ml per day.
100 litre tank 2.5ml per day.
200 litre tank 5ml per day.
250 litre tank 6.25ml per day.
300 litre tank 7.5ml per day.
500 litre tank 12.5ml per day.
1,000 litre tank 25ml per day.

Once Nitrates reach 1ppm (typically within 4 weeks) reduce the dose to one dose per week if desired. You can dose more than this and it will speed it up a little. It is non-toxic and even at 100 times overdose will do no harm at all.

The science bit.

This is anaerobic sulphur based denitrification. This is safer, faster, and 10 times more efficient than carbon dosing.

It isn’t carbon dosing which can be risky as that can deplete oxygen levels. This works using anaerobic bacteria for sulphur based denitrification. Whereas carbon dosing is dosing a food source for a type of bacteria which is not well suited to eating Nitrate, this uses several strains of bacteria that used sulphur within the aquarium to eat nitrates. Not only is sulphur based denitrification much safer than carbon based, the number of bacteria needed is only 1/10th that of what you need with carbon dosing, so it doesn’t risk oxygen levels within the aquarium. In fact it’s so safe even at 100 times overdose levels it will do no harm at all to tank inhabitants.

Because it uses several strains of bacteria the bacterial population is much more stable too. Whereas as the single strain used by carbon dosing is prone to population crashes and booms which are very unstable, by using several strains that do best at different tank parameters as conditions in the aquarium change one strain will diminish in numbers as the others multiply to take it’s place.

Whilst it can work under any conditions, some things will help a lot. Keeping salinity stable at 34.0ppt to 34.5ppt (1.026 to 1.027), and temperature stable at 27.5c to 29c (82-84F), which are the conditions we recommend running at anyway as they are the most similar to conditions on wild reefs. Ensuring their is space for the bacteria to live helps too. We recommend using Salty Revolution recommended live sand at the quantity in our calculator (see sand listing for more details). In very heavily stocked systems use a ceramic or sintered glass media. Sera Siporax is currently probably the best media available, which is widely available online. Use 1 litre of Siporax per 1kg of live fish in the tank.

Revolution also works as a flocculent. The bacteria in Revolution stock to any floating debris in the water. The bacteria coat the particles making them sticky. These tiny particles then stock to each other and either settle out where they are broken down on the base of the tank, or, get trapped by your filtration. We recommend using our filter wool, and our carbon too for best results, but, you can use other brands if you wish.

Unlike carbon dosing you do not need a skimmer to use Revolution. We don’t run any skimmers, but, you can do so if you wish. You can leave UV and Ozone on. If using very high levels of ozone you may wish to increase dosing a little, but, it is usually not necessary to do so. Revolution will work in quarantine systems under most medications, and will work at low temperature and low salinity, but, at a reduced efficiency.

Storage and use.

Revolution is live bottled bacteria. It is not for human consumption. It is non-toxic. It does not need to be refrigerated. We only make it in small batches so the bottle you get will be as fresh as possible, and usually bottled within the previous 8 weeks or less. Revolution can be stored if not opened for around a year. Once opened use within 6 months. Do not store below freezing or above 36c if possible. Keep in a dark place. most people store it in their tank cabinet.