Bio-Spira Question

[Rozmere]

Hello, I have a quick question that I need answered quickly.

Recently I have had the pleasure of adopting some nice little fishies for my aquarium which has been setting empty for about a year now. I am a fairly experienced freshwater fish keeper with many many years of successful aquariums in my past. However, I currently have a delema, I have a full community of fish now and have not had the chance to cycle my tank before receiving them. I currently do not have enough money to buy a secondary tank so, I need to find a fast way to cycle this tank.

I continplated getting some gravel from a friend's cycled tank to speed the process up but I would really like to give this new product Bio-Spira that I've been hearing about a try. My question to all of you that have had experience with the product is can I dump it into a tank that's been up with fish for about a week and is obviously experiencing somewhat high ammonia and nitrites?

Also, I've sent an e-mail to the makers of Bio-Spira to ask them but have not received any response yet.

My water was at 7.0 and safe all the way arround before I got the fish and plants but once they were added the whole chemistry is way out of wack (6.2-6.5 PH, high ammonia, high nitrates, etc.), so I need to do this quick!

-John

 

[tawolcott]

Start doing massive water changes now and very frequently. You're fighting a losing battle. U need to get the gravel, take some of their filter media and anything else they have. Maybe even ask them to do a water change and take a large amount of their water to mix on. If they run multiple filters.. just take the filter whole. and still do water changes.

Please tell me you treated the water for Chlorine/Chlorimine before dumping it in the tank

Why would you take the fish before having the tank ready is the obvious question.

 

[Rozmere]

Start doing massive water changes now and very frequently. You're fighting a losing battle. U need to get the gravel, take some of their filter media and anything else they have. Maybe even ask them to do a water change and take a large amount of their water to mix on. If they run multiple filters.. just take the filter whole. and still do water changes.

Please tell me you treated the water for Chlorine/Chlorimine before dumping it in the tank

Why would you take the fish before having the tank ready is the obvious question.

Well, I have never had an unsuccessful cycling period yet so if I "lose the battle" as you say it would be a new experience and it won't be becuase I didn't give it my all. I've been doing water changes and of course I make sure that there isn't any Chlorine or Chlorimine in the water I'm far from being a newbie. My question was about "Bio-Spira", it's a product containing live bacteria that you can add to the aquarium to hasten the cycling process tremendously.

-John

 

[theotheragentm]

Do the 70% water change now. Do a 50% daily until your ammonia and nitrite read 0. Your nitrates should be under 30PPM. Treat for chlorine and chloramine when changing water and match temperature by hand as best you can.

Run the old filter and gravel with your current setup. Keep up with water changes.

 

[mom2reds]

The only thing I have heard about bio-speara is that it must be kept cold all the time up untill you put it in your tank. As far as it working I have heard it is hit or miss I would give it a try if you have a place to get it from that can asure you that it has been handled correctly through out the shipping and all.
Oh and welcome to AA they really are a great group of people on here

 

[QTOFFER]

BioSpira really does work...if you can find it, and if it's been stored properly. The foil pouch contains LIVE nitrosomas bacteria in water. It MUST be refrigerated from the time it leaves Marineland until the time it is added to the tank. Sadly, not all stores appreciate this.

After adding the product don't do a water change for a few days, or you'll just be removing the bacteria. Also, don't disturb gravel, decor, or the filter. The bacteria need time to colonize these surfaces. These bacteria don't live in the water column; they live in biofilm colonies attached to surfaces.

There are other products out there that claim to contain live bacteria, but they don't work. BioSpira is the only product about which I have heard success stories. I used BioSpira on my very first tank - I experienced a small ammonia spike that went away after two days. I never saw nitrite, and within a week, I had measurable nitrates.

If you can't get your hands on some viable (refrigerated) BioSpira, try to get some gravel or filter media from an established tank and cycle the tank the old fashioned way. You will have to do frequent small water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites down for the health of the fish you already have. This will slow down the cycle, but it's alot better than losing alot of fish to ammonia/nitrite poisoning.

 

[rkilling1]

To anwswer you question: Yes you can simply add the bio-spira to the tank. It doesn't really matter when you add it. Just make sure that when you do it has a food source, so in your case, your not going to have a problem.

I second the recommendation on getting seed material from your friend. As long as he maintains his tank and don't have any known problems, I would skip the bio-spira all together and take some substrate mung (the nasty brown stuff) or part of his filter. Honestly, the best way to help yourcycle is to have the person do a PWC and do deep gravel vac's in the process. Add this nasty water to your tank and it will cycle within a week (Depending on how much mung you put in there).

It would be much cheaper and you would know that you have LIVE bacteria. Bio-spira works GREAT, but that doesn't mean that it was taken care of the whole time. One mishap in the ride to the store and it becomes pretty much useless.

In the mean time, insure your levels on NH3 and NO2 don't raise above 0.5 PPM (0.25 ppm if you can). Trying to get them to zero will just hurt the cycle time. I definely would not say "You're fighting a losing battle". No matter what, at some time the cycle will be over. The sooner the better.

Do you have any test results?

From the sound of your posts, you know this whole game so I am not going to tell you have to maintain your tank.

 

[mattrox]

I know this is not answering your question John the previous 2 posts do that, but I want to add my $0.02 to the discussion.

I always cycle with fish, ammonia from hardware stores (that I have seen in Australia) generally have a detergent in them. And I don't like the idea of a rotting shrimp festering in my tank. I have not found a biospyra supply here in Aus so I do it the old way.

I usually try to give the filter a head start with used filter media from a known 'clean' tank or squeezings from the sponge. At times this is not possible so I have 6 weeks of daily pwcs, sometimes twice a day. I have been in the fortunate position that I can siphon the water directly out on to the garden, so I have not found this a chore. I only change 25-30% at a time. I agree with you, that it is not fighting a losing battle. I have succesfully cycled with some very finiky fish so the stress that they are under must be minimal.

 

[tawolcott]

When someone says "I have a full community of fish now and have not had the chance to cycle my tank before receiving them", it sure doesn't sound like we're talking about 1 or 2 'hardy fish' to get the process started.

To dump a 'community of fish' into an uncycled tank is inhumane. Those who are 'experienced freshwater fish keeper with many many years of successful aquariums in my past' should know that and know that result of doing such a thing.

Personally I doubt the whole premise, am disappointed in the reaction and am done w/ the thread. I hope the fishes survive and find a compassionate home.

 

[theotheragentm]

Everyone needs to calm down. The situation is what it is now. Let's deal with it.

Do water changes regularly (daily). Like mattrox noted, doing water changes very often will be necessary for a while. It's not going to hurt to try Bio-Spira and it will give you a kick start on the cycle along with adding the old filter and substrate. Add the Bio-Spira after a water change so it gives some time to settles as you will have to keep up with water changes.

 

[mom2reds]

It sounds to me like Rozmere is be responsible and trying to make the best out of things. She is off to a good start just by comming here to get good consturctive advise not all of us knew what we were doing when we start and made a lot of harmfull mistakes IE: i had 3 male guppies in a 1.5 gallon tank. Then I found this site and became a responsible fish keeper.

Keep up the water changes and listen to the good folks on this site.

 

[QTOFFER]

Let's not jump down anybody's neck, OK? That's not how things are done here - especially on a new member's first post.

I think that Rozmere's question has been answered and this thread has served its purpose.