biospira didn't work

[xyyz]

i purchased some biospira from a LFS. the stuff seemed to be stored well enough; it was in the refrigerator and hadn't expired.

i put my corries, australian rainbowfish, some amazon tetras, and a ghost knife into the 20 gallon tank and poured in the biospira that was good for a tank up to 30 gallons.

i've tested the water daily; the ammonia's at 1.5ppm, and the nitrites are at 1ppm.

what's going on here? was the biospira? i thought the stuff handles the nitrites and ammonia as soon as everything is added, keeping everything around 0ppm.

if this was the case, i'd be better off not buying the stuff and doing a fishless cycle.

 

[Lager]

It is probably partially working since you have nitrites in a few days. I would do a water change ASAP and you may need to get a second dose. The product does not always work.

 

[xyyz]

wonderful... i should've saved myself the $15.

 

[Purrbox]

Unfortunately there's no way to know that the BioSpira was stored properly the entire time before you bought it. As Lager has stated, it probably did work at least some since you are seeing Nitrites. I'd recommed doing a larger water change to get the Ammonia level below 0.5ppm.

 

[bluerose]

The other (sketchy) bacterial products I've seen have recommended dosing daily for 4-5 days... first day double dose. They weren't very expensive though.

Pity the stuff's so expensive.

 

[DSenn]

Try Nite-Out. You also added a lot of fish to your tank at once. You should add gradually, regardless of using these products. Nite-Out is also right out on the shelves, with no need for refrigeration, so you don't have to worry about storage or temperature change. Cheaper too.

 

[bazil323]

It's working, you just added a lot of fish too soon. Like was said, the fact that you're getting some nitrites means that there is some beneficial bacteria working for you. Otherwise, you'd just see ammonia. When you are cycling with BioSpira and don't add any used old filter media too, you can only add a handful of small fish or one large fish.

Anyway, even if you'd fishless cycled, you probably would have overloaded what biofiltration that was there. I'd add another dose of BioSpira, a smaller dose would probably work.