Bio-Spira Mail order found

[Biggen]

In case anyone is interested, I found a store in TN that ships out Bio-Spira through the mail. I talked to them and they told me they ship out about a half dozen or so orders a week of this stuff. They ship it out with a cold pack inside the container. The owner told me that the cold pack will last up to five days. They normally ship priority mail but will ship next day if the customer desires. Shipping is $5.99.

The name of the store is: The Fish Store
Phone number is: 1-888-411-7913 ask for Bernie

I went ahead and ordered 3 ounces of this stuff. I am very interested to see if it works. One of my new tanks has a nitrite reading of around 8-10 ppm and I would like to see if this is the "magical cure" everyone else is talking about. It supposedly will reduce this level to 0 ppm in 24 hours. If nothing else, it will make for a good experiment. I'll let everyone know how it works.

 

[reefrunner69]

You know what this means...right? If the nitrites drop on there own before it gets there....you'll have to set up a new tank for the experiment.

 

[wabyrd]

Shipping is $5.99.

How much is the product?

 

[Biggen]

You know what this means...right? If the nitrites drop on there own before it gets there....you'll have to set up a new tank for the experiment.

I actually thought of that. SW anyone...



For the 1 ounce packets, its around $8. Defenately not for the faint of heart. But, again, this is supposed to be the end of tank cycling as we know it. We'll see...

 

[wabyrd]

For the 1 ounce packets, its around $8.

That's not bad. Consider what we have paid for "Cycle" and "Stress-zyme" and all the other "live bacteria" formulas that didn't work. I'd pay $8 for a product that finally worked well.

 

[littlelouie]

I would love to read your results Biggen

BTW...congrats on the advisor role

Louise

 

[TankGirl]

Read my review of this product in the "Product and Retailer Reviews" section - there is a link at the bottom of the page.

 

[Biggen]

I would love to read your results Biggen

I will be getting it in by Tuesday or Wednesday. As soon as I see that it has worked, I will definately post my thoughts about it.

Read my review of this product in the "Product and Retailer Reviews" section - there is a link at the bottom of the page.

Oh yeah. Already read it. Great job by the way.

 

[wabyrd]

To make it easier to find, Marineland has a place on their website that will let you search for local merchants that carry the product. It doesn't have any online retailers listed though.

 

[TankGirl]

Yep, you have to hunt them down yourselves!

I do know that Bernie in TN will ship this to you, and even has a few international customers. It would cost me the same to get it from Bernie as it costs at my LFS, even with shipping.

Maybe we can all pester our LFS to start carrying it. However, the one near me that DOES carry it does not push this stuff at all. I have talked to them about it and they seem to understand what it is for, but they apparently sell very limited quanties. They say I am the ONLY person to ever come in and ask for it. It costs me about $12 per one-ounce package, so I definitely do not use it much, and luckily I have had to rush out and get some only once when I crashed my tank by accident. To me that is the best use for it. I don't have a problem seeding a new tank and cycling it along like normal, but when your precious babies suddenly find themselves in an ammonia spike it is sure nice to dose the tank and go back to normal the next day! That cuts down on illness brought on by stress.

 

[Biggen]

Here is the thing. The required start up cost is $600 bucks. That pays for the refrigerator. Marineland then offsets that cost by stocking the refrigerator with the product.

I think a lot of LFS are timid of buying it because they are not sure it can be moved fast enough. I am sure this stuff has an expiry date on it. I think it would be easy to sell if the LFS employees actually believed in it. If it does work, it should be on every new hobbiest need list. Imagine for a moment... No more fish dying because of ammonia and nitrite toxicity...

 

[TankGirl]

I agree completely. In the store I go to where this is available, I will be browsing and overhear the employee asking someone if their tank is cycled before they buy a new fish, and if they indicate they don't know about cycling, or otherwise express ignorance, and the employee does not suggest the BIO-Spira. I think the complete newby to the hobby or someone who is not interested in researching, just in buying fish, will think this is a bogus product, especially at the price, and will scoff at the idea, and suspect the store is trying to fleece them. It will probably take a while for this concept to catch on, especially when there are still shops out there telling people to "put water in the tank and let it run for about an hour, then add these 15 fish, and you're good to go!" I still hear people in the stores insisting that they have NEVER "cycled" a tank, and that cycling is a load of c--p. They are cycling, they just don't know it! That's enough venting for me now, I get carried away....

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

I noticed this post and had to add my two cents!
For those who have been wondering about Bio-Spira and not been able to find it, let me tell you-- it does work! I'm a regular at The Fish Store and Bernie and I had been discussing Bio-Spira for a few months prior to it being introduced early this year. I was really skeptical. I've seen lots of products claiming to instantly cycle a tank with less than stellar results. I took some home and added it to a new tank. And it worked. I tried it on another tank. Worked on that one too. In all, I've used it to jump-start four tanks and it's worked perfectly every time. It even works on tanks that've begun cycling and exhibit elevated nitrite levels. Needless to say, it made a believer out of me. I've seen it available at a few shops around here and Bernie is still cheaper (including the shipping!).

Steven

 

[reberly]

I've called 3 different LFS in the Cincinnati area about Bio-Spira and they all had no idea what I was talking about. Very frustrating.

Ryan

 

[Biggen]

Well I got the Bio-Spira in. Unfortunately, the cold packs had melted and the product was not cold at all. Bernie had said the cold packs last 5 days. Well, the stuff shipped out on Monday and I received it Wednesday. Over the course of 2 days, the packs had melted so I don't know where he is getting his "5" days from. I went ahead and poured one of the 1oz packs in my 29 gallon tank on Wednesday. As of right now (Fri morning) my nitrite level has not moved. It is still around 10 ppm or so.

I guess the bacteria had killed off due to the heat up. Kinda disheartening as I was super exciting about this stuff.

 

[TankGirl]

I was told that the product is kind of like milk, in that if your milk gets warm it will not instantly go sour, but it will shorten it's shelf-life. So chances are over the course of the two days it was warm for only a relatively short time (assuming it was cold for at least one of the two days) and it should be fine.

BTW, it is the documented experiment of Voodoo and Bernie on another aquarium board that got ME started on BIO-Spira, so you can trust what they say about it.

Liz

 

[Voodoo Chilli]

Thanks for the vote of confidence, TankGirl.

I'm really suprised about the cold packs not making it to you, Biggen. I know Bernie has shipped that stuff all over the county-- even outside the country-- and not had any problems yet. I'm inclined to believe it was mishandled during shipment. Although there probably was a big bacterial die-off, I would have to guess there still is a fair bit of viable bacteria. If that's the case, your Bio-Spira won't be as "potent" as it normally is-- but it should still work.

 

[Biggen]

Well I ordered 3 1 ounce packs. I went ahead an dumped in another one this morning. I will test out the nitrite levels tomorrow morning and see if they moved...

 

[xplanes]

Sorry for dumb question but I have read referenses to LFS in this forum. What is it? A supply store of some kind?

 

[fishfreek]

LFS = Local Fish Store or Local Fish Shop

Aditional commonly used abrevations can be found by looking on the main navagation menu on the home page.