No Bacteria Growth

[uglylittlegirl]

I know I need to have bacteria forming in my tank before I start having my fish in my tank, but getting the bacteria to grow in my tank has been a real hassle. I tried getting a rock from my friends fish tank who has brackish water but it didn't work, and I bought biozyme, and started using up but all it did was raise my Ph level too high and nothing else happened. I heard Biosphere is really good but I haven't been able to find it in any of my local fish stores. I have no idea what else I should do, I thought about borrowing my friends filter and using that to help start it but his tank isn't in the best shape and I don't want to get my tank off to a bad start. I heard a lot of bacteria starters might take a month to see results, but at this point I've been trying for over a month, so I am willing to wait another month just to get my bacteria started. Also I am using sand instead of gravel, I hope thats not the reason why its so hard.

[muddskipper26]

if u mean bio-spira yes it works great. order it online if you have to. but once u put it in u have to stock ur tank quite a bit for it to totally cycle your tank fully. it took all my tank less that 48 hours to cycle.

[uglylittlegirl]

Oh wow, ok that sounds GREAT! Yea, I realized my mistake right after I posted. Thanks again!

[uglylittlegirl]

"u have to stock ur tank quite a bit for it to totally cycle" What did you mean by that? Did you mean stock it with the fish?

[muddskipper26]

yeah. i put like half of my fish in my 40 right after i bought the bio-spira, cycle was completed the next day! no signs of stress or fish loss. dont waste ur money on anything else. bio-spira works. but i bought 3 30 gallon packs for my 40 juyt for safe measure. what size tank r u talking about. oh yeah btw the reason why the rock didnt work is because all the bacteria died with the salinity change from the move from brackish to fresh. you could also do a fishless cycle that takes a month or more :(

[Mgamer20o0]

go to your lfs and ask for a handful of gravel. make sure you have ammonia also.

[muddskipper26]

bio-spira is much easier if u can find it.

[Mgamer20o0]

bio-spira is much easier if u can find it.

but costs a lot more money.

[uglylittlegirl]

Money really isn't an issue for me and this fish tank, I loved fish all my life. Thanks so much for the help, which fish would be ok with that? I have a 55g and I was going to stock it with a Beta, 8-12 Lemon Tetras, and 6-8 YoYo Loaches

[J double R]

bio-zyme is snake oil. (personal experience)

[uglylittlegirl]

I just found a website to buy the bio-spira from so I'm super excited to start this.

[yourchoice]

If your friends filter has white floss in it you take a small peice even about two inches and put it in a small container with that tank water.When you get it home give it a sqeeze and a shake and add it to to your filter.It`s okay if it smells real swampy that`s natural.Then for a 55g you add two flakes of fish food day per day.Start testing you water .My tank completely cycled in 4 days using a cannister filter.

[yourchoice]

Also you should be added a water condition to remove tap chemicals.