Marineland Bio-Spira Instant Cycle

[rileymc]

Hello all,

I am setting up a 55 gallon cichlid tank. I currently received ten of these pouches in the mail. With it, it says it gives an instant cycle to my new aquarium. It's healthy freshwater bacteria. Will my cycling process go from 4 weeks to 2-3 days? Has anyone ever used this before- what was your experience??



Thanks!

 

[coralbandit]

There are several 'reliable' brands.
Bio spira I believe was one of the originals for marine.
Then Dr.Tim came along with 'one and only ',and Tetra followed with tetra Safe Start [TSS].
They work for some and others say snake oil. Those who don't like it claim the bacteria is dead, as they don't understand that the bacteria has a decent 'hybernation' mode..Look at expiration date to make sure it is 'good'.
To me they are the missing ingredient to a fishless cycle if you know what I mean....
I know a couple keepers who stocked like the directions say and did fine, they tested and changed water like a fish in cycle should be conducted...
One used The TSS in a 75 with 3 good size SA cichlids and never needed to change water due to nutrients in excess?
The product needs a food source[ammonia source] to generate to full strength. It will not grow beyond what it is needed too, so you need something in the tank.
I would use it to speed up a fishless cycle, or conduct a test to see if it was effective to our standards.
Get your ammonia up to 2ppm and then dose the spira and see? When it hits 0 dose ammonia again..
Might as well use it.. It won't hurt...

 

[KFav93]

I had a problem with my tank cycling and I used seachem stability and it got the cycle going very well. I don't have experience with the product you have though. Sorry!

 

[Barliman]

Wasn't Dr. Tim the scientist behind Bio-Spira, then going off on his own with "One and Only?"

Regardless, I've not used the Marineland product, but I can vouch for "One and Only" and Seachem's "Stability." Both considerably shortened the cycling of my tanks. You might want to check out review videos on YouTube.