I tried this and it worked. Has anybody else tried it?

[briandh76]

When I first set up my 75 sw I put 40 lbs of lr in it and a damsel. I let the tank start to cycle on it's own. My wife and I got very impatient and talked to the lfs and they sold us marineland BIO-Spira to try. It dropped everything to almost 0 ppm in 36 hours. I'm just curious if anyone else has ever tried BIO-Spira with success.
http://marineland.com/products/mllabs/ml_biospira.asp

 

[dralarms]

I used it on my 1st slatwater tank, it is the only product that actually works. BUT It's cheaper to cycle with a dead shrimp. Or in my case I used stuff from my 1st tank to start the cycle on my others.

 

[lando]

Bio-spira will give you good readings in a very short period of time. However, I question it's longevity. The main prolblem with this type of product is that it really gives you a false sense that you are ready to add fish. People us this, add fish (most of the time too many too fast) and then wonder why their water parameters are all messed up and fish are dying of ammonia posioning. From here on out it is a constant struggle to keep paramters at acceptable levels. It just does not prepare the tank to support fish long-term. If you are an impatient hobbiest (it is hard looking at an empty tank) youcan use this product to jump-start the cycle and maybe add a fish to finish things up. Bottom line...there is no substitution for cycling the slow and natural way.

 

[dralarms]

Bio-spira will give you good readings in a very short period of time. However, I question it's longevity. The main prolblem with this type of product is that it really gives you a false sense that you are ready to add fish.

This is true, I hadn't considered the fact that although you are "cycleing" quickly, the bioload you introduce can have at the very least a short term effect on your tank.

Thanks Lando for clarifying the situation.

 

[MYTY1705]

I used this product as well and added a fish within 48 hours. I only had one fish for another 10-12 days then added another. I had no problems with any of my readings after the second day. I think if you add the fish slowly enough you would be ok. But you can not add 3-4 fish after the second day.

 

[skipm]

Adding too many fish to fast is one of the newbie mistakes that is common along with overstocking. Adding a cycling product/booster if fine but allow the cycle to complete before adding livestock. IMO I would rather add fish one or two at a time (depending on the size of the tank and the fish) and not try to push the bacterial population beyond what it capable of handling as far as waste in my tanks. I also think that patients will only lead to a more enjoyable reefing experience. JMO, Skip

 

[briandh76]

I used this product as well and added a fish within 48 hours. I only had one fish for another 10-12 days then added another. I had no problems with any of my readings after the second day. I think if you add the fish slowly enough you would be ok. But you can not add 3-4 fish after the second day.

Yea I only added a couple of fish after using it.

 

[MarineFlake]

I used it. They advertise you can fully stock a tank after about 48 hours. I think the main reason for varying results is misunderstanding. Your flooding the tank with bacteria and preparing it for a full stock. If you fail to feed all that bacteria (Understock) then expect die off. In my case, I used it to head off an ammonia spike after I moved my 75G to my home. Works great!

GL!