Bio-Spira

[degbowl]

I had no choice but to put my fancy goldfish in a new uncycled tank. I went to LFS and bought Bio-Spira. The fish seem to be doing very well. When can I do pwc? I don't want to siphon out the bio-spira and dump it down the drain. Anyone have experience with bio-spira?

 

[rich311k]

What are your water parameters? is it working?

 

[degbowl]

I haven't tested yet. I ran out of ammonia test. I will test it later and post. The water has that haze when it looks like a bacteria bloom. It looks like it is working.

 

[joannde]

I know that goldfish are "messy", so I guess you need to balance that with the risk of flushing your bio-spira. How large is the tank and what size B/S did you use ?

I did use B/S to finish my cycle - I got impatient with the nitrite part of the fishless cycle. I waited 3 days until the nitrites got to 0 (proving the B/S was working). During those 3 days I just added some flake food as an ammonia source. I didn't do water change for a bit over a week, but since I was already 75% of the way through the fishless I probably already had some good bacteria built up.

My suggestion would be to test the tank and do PWC during the first 10 days only if (a) there are ammonia or nitrites over .5ppm or (b) the tank gets too dirty for the goldies health.

 

[JeffreyL]

Biospira

Joannde is right, try to wait a bit for a pwc. Her advice to check for ammonia, nitrites, etc is right on. On the plus side, the 'good guy' bacteria in the Biospira are naturally rather sticky. They latch onto any plant, gravel, filter material they come in contact with & set up multiplying. So you likely already have good, if somewhat small colonies where you want them. Let us know how it goes. I have had excellent luck using Biospira, and it is always nice to hear of others experience with the stuff. Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Laser]

I had good luck cycling a tank using cycle. They had a bottle that treats 235 gallons at walmart for 6 bucks.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

I have used Cycle before, and has never worked for me. Was just money down the drain. Bio Spira is the only product that actually works if you get a good batch, and it's kept cold. I've also recently used AP Stress Zyme with success as well.