Couple questions about fishless cycling, Bio-spira and online ordering

[TrickyD119]

I'm currently fishless cycling one of my tanks and even though I thought I seeded it pretty well, nitrites have not yet begun to form.

Since I have no other local resources to increase my seeding I was thinking about ordering some Bio-Spira online.

2 Questions:

Am I correct in thinking that adding Bio-Spira to my tank that is a week into the fishless cycle already would essentially just be like a massive seeding that would *probably* speed things up even more?
Can you please recommend an reputable online store that sells Bio-Spira if this is indeed a good idea?


edit: In addition to wanting the Bio-spira for this tank, I was also thinking it would be a good idea to keep some in my fridge as my sponge filters won't be fully seeded for two months (at least that is what I heard) and so I figured it would be a good idea to have some available for my QT tank if a problem comes about where I need it.

[Harlock]

On question one, yes, it is supposed to dramtically decrease cycle time. I have heard of people who were cycled in a day or two, to people who were cycled in a week. I have also heard of people who had a bad batch or had troubles in shipping and apparently the BIO-Spira lost viability somewhere along the way. I am in the last group. I ordered from Lighthouse. I really do not know how I feel about BIO-Spira because of that. If I could buy it locally from a store who ordered directly from Marineland or a very reputable distributor and I was assured that the product never froze or got too hot, then I'd give it another try.

So, for question 2 you may have already guessed, I cannot recommend a reputable online source for BIO-Spira. In the FWIW department, I'll likely just do a fishless cycle next time. That's from someone who tried BIO-Spira and did not get the great results some people seem to have gotten.

[TrickyD119]

I appreciate the honest response Harlock.

If you don't mind, I'd like to add one more question regarding the Hospital tank.

Provided I decide against or can't locate a reliable source for Bio-Spira, would contintually adding ammonia to the hospital tank keep the bacteria alive until I actually need it?

[Harlock]

I appreciate the honest response Harlock.

If you don't mind, I'd like to add one more question regarding the Hospital tank.

Provided I decide against or can't locate a reliable source for Bio-Spira, would contintually adding ammonia to the hospital tank keep the bacteria alive until I actually need it?
That's the theory, yes. Of course, you'll still be looking at a 60% or better water change before QTing the fish. In most QT tanks, you're looking at most a 90% change in something like a 10 gallon tank, so nine gallons. If you have a Python for water changes, that would take maybe 5 to 7 minutes. I am kind of absent-mined at times, so I can sort of see me missing the ammonia dose a day or two and losing some bacteria anyway.

I would just keep sponges in my main tank(s) to keep them seeded, which is what you were talking about in the first post anyway. If you're looking at keeping the QT tank seeded fishless with ammonia until you can get them into your main tank, or have reliable seeding from sponges in the main tank, (so, like 2 months of fishless in the QT tanks, just in case?) then I say go for it.

[TrickyD119]

Sounds great, thanks again

[gsk177]

Tricky, I do not know if I would recommend keeping a QT on the side by just adding ammonia. Unless you are really really meticulous and test daily for NH3 (ammonia) levels you risk either missing a dose of NH3 and killing some or most (depends on how long you forgot) bacteria or you risk adding too much NH3 and again killing some or most of your bacteria. The manual addition of NH3 requires testing BEFORE you add it. Maybe after a few weeks of daily testing you will get a feel for how much you can add, but still I wouldn't just blindly add NH3 to a tank without knowing what the NH3 levels were before hand.

With that said, I like Harlocks idea of keeping some extra sponges or maybe even a bio-bag stuck in your filters on your main tanks to use when the need arises.
I like to always keep "too many" biologicals going. That way I can use them for new tanks or sometimes trading them to friends setting up new tanks who in turn give me new media.

[gsk177]

Also, on a side note. Do not just blindly assume that the addition of established media will mean an instantly cycled tank.
I am currently in the process of a fishless cycle with a new 55g. I took one entire sponge from an Aquaclear 500 that has been established for over a year and put it to work on my new Aquaclear 500 on the new tank with the ADDITION of 2 bio bags that had been seeding for around 2 weeks.
Im at day 4 in my fishless cycle and STILL haven't been able to lower my NH3 levels more than .2ppm per day. Thank god I didn't just throw fish in there. I really wanted to check and double check this tank out as it will be housing a fish that I have owned for over a year. I am VERY glad I did now, because Im sure NH3 levels would have gone up enough to stress him badly at the very least.

[TrickyD119]

Thanks for sharing your experiences gsk, by the sounds of it, I might just be better off leaving the QT alone for now.

I did buy two new Hydro sponges (1 each for my 20g and 30g) specifically for the purpose of using in the QT, but the one in the 20g has only been in there 2 weeks and the 30g is still fishless cycling.

That brings up another question though… If there is always a chance that the biological media that I have is insufficient to immediately cycle my 10g QT, then how would I prepare for a situation where I need it, but it doesn't cycle?

Just theoretical, but what is the best backup plan to have ready in that situation?

[gsk177]

I think you will have a much easier time when using cycled media to use in a tank SMALLER than the one the media came from.

If it were me in your situation, I would take the sponges and use them as media in my main filter on my 30g as well as some other media. WHen the time came, take the one 10g sponge out and use it in your QT tank.

Do you know what type of filter you will be using for your 30g tank? Be specific...brand, size, etc. It may help me create a plan of action.

[TrickyD119]

Do you know what type of filter you will be using for your 30g tank? Be specific...brand, size, etc. It may help me create a plan of action.
I've got a Penguin Bio-Wheel 170 HOB, 1 Hydro IV Sponge and 1 Hydro I Sponge in the 30 gallon (both sponges are new).

I've got a whisper 20 HOB that came in a kit for the 20g, a Hydro II that is new and a misc. yellow sponge that I used to cycle the 20g that came out of the 30g before I stripped it down.

[gsk177]

First off, I dont think you have any sort of filtration issue. Meaning I think you have sufficient filtration.

In the 30, keep the sponges running all the time. If you dont want to run them all the time, take the actual sponges off and put them in the filter that you are going to run on that tank. You should be able to use those sponges later to instantly seed a 10g QT tank becuase the bioload of the 10g should be fairly low.

In short, for a 10g QT tank, you shouldn't need much seeding at all. Regaurdless, I would do very frequent water changes on the QT tank and test it as well.