Kelly Duffie once told me that the bacterial products don't work well with alkalinity values of less than 80 ppm. Well, in this case, we are very limited in our ability to use them. He mentioned that this would hold true for all or most of the bacterial formulations.
We have used these products, like Bob, for the management of filamentous alage with some success. But since we began raising and stocking tilapia we mostly recommend them as algae control. They are less espensive and actually take nutrients and channel them into fish growth on up the food chain. Bacteria, if they do their job, flourish and consume nutrients, then die back and have to be added again, and again through the growing season.
I too have been frustrated and confused by the huge influx of these products. They are relatively new to the industry so there is a lot of work to be done in determining how and when they should be used and whether it is actually worth the investment.
