Success with Bio-Spira

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jamesrm

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Sep 11, 2006
Messages
235
How many of you have used Bio-Spira and found it useful for your cycle?
 
After getting outdated advice from my LFS regarding cycling with fish I added Biospira to the tank and the cycle finished within a few days with no casualties. Great stuff if your in a hurry.
 
I love it and use it whenever I set up a new tank (I'd rather use BioSpira then transfer my own filter media since I worry about transferring algae spores) and after adding more than what I know is a "reasonable" number of fish and after treating with meds (Maracyn / Maracyn II knocked out all my good bacteria). I've never had it fail.
The only thing that stops it from working is improper handling - if it warms up at any time during the transport it starts to die. Keep it cool on the way home from the store. I bring a small cooler and wrap the BioSpira in a towel for the trip home. Of course the way the store handles it is out of your control / knowledge so make sure that you test ammonia and nitrites to ensure that's its working. I've never had either exceed 0.5ppm when I've used the product.
 
bio spira is still kinda hit and miss. if it works, it works well and you have a cycled tank in under a week.
if it doesn't work...you're kinda hosed. you can get a refund from the company, but that doesn't regain lost time, or dead fish.
 
I used it to speed up my cycle. I used shrimp and I wanted to see if it would speed it up. It did and helped me get through my cycle. Mine took 1 1/2 weeks I think it was after the biospira to cycle. I took the shrimp out though as it as grossing me out.

Still pleased with the results!
 
I got it about 3 weeks into my fishless cycle. I got a dud package. I have faith in the store, and the pack was cool when I added it. /shrug
 
Mishandling of BioSpira can occur at any time during shipping, so even if the store knows what they are doing the truck it was transported in may have been the issue - hence why it is "hit or miss", but I'll still use it every time I need to boost my biofilter. You just can't "assume" its going to work - good fishkeeping means testing even when everything seems to be going just fine :)
 
I got some Bio spira today to speed up my cycle. Hopefully it works. The store had it in a fridge and I had a cooler with some ice in it which I used to transport it after wrapping it some bags. I added it earlier today...how long till I see some results? And can I still do water changes?
 
I am using it to cycle two new tanks. Here is my experiance so far (Both tanks are around 86 degrees for optimal bacteria growth)


Added Biospira and dosed ammonia to 2ppm, noticed around day 2 some nitrites, and day 3 some nitrates. This is day 5 and its going well. I add ammonia when needed to replace what was naturally consumed. I suspect it will be cycled in a few more days, no longer than a week.
 
If there are no fish in the tank then there is no need to do water changes. If there are fish then do water changes to try and keep the ammonia and nitrites down to 0.5ppm (but that shouldn't happen). Also, if there are no fish you need an ammonia source (daily doses of fish food works).
If you do need to do water changes just change the water - don't touch the substrate or the filter material.
 
The people I talked to at Marineland said not to do water changes if you could avoid it, and only do small ones when using Bio-Spira.

Obviously, do what you have to in order not to hurt the fish though if your doing a fishy cycle.
 
I had no problem using Bio-Spira. I even used the smaller freshwater package for a 55 gallon brackish tank and had no problems at all. I just added the fish and the package and thats all.
 
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