Are Bio Spire and Smartstart the same thing?
- Thread starter jillire
- Start date
Wow, that's a good question... Smart start is THE best to start cycling a tank. I haven't had to use it as my tanks are habitated and long since cycled sooo.... Anyone else have an answer?
The "replacement" for BioSpira is Dr. Tim's One and Only - H20 Pure. Dr. Tim split with Marineland and put out his own, "new and improved" version.
Some links:
Dr Tim's
Dr Fosters and Smith carries it.
A link to a podcast of a pretty in depth interview with Dr. Tim about the product is near the top of this page.
Some links:
Dr Tim's
Dr Fosters and Smith carries it.
A link to a podcast of a pretty in depth interview with Dr. Tim about the product is near the top of this page.
I used Stability by SeaChem..worked well..
But what's more important is that you use it correctly.. might offer ammonia eating bacteria..but where is the nitrite consumers..?
But what's more important is that you use it correctly.. might offer ammonia eating bacteria..but where is the nitrite consumers..?
I prefer Smartstart. A tank cycled slowly and carefully with a few fish will usually cycle in four to eight weeks.
I prefer the fishless cycle with ammonia method. I used Tetra's "safe start" which says it has the patented Bio-spira bacteria. So if you are talking about whether or not Safe Start is the same as Bio-spira then the answer is that Safe Start contains the Bio-spira bacteria.
If you are asking whether or not Smart Start is the same as Bio-spira then the answer is no, I looked up Smart Start and it turns out that it is a kit containing two different water conditioners and does not contain any kind of bacteria let alone the Bio-spira bacteria.
If you are asking whether or not Smart Start is the same as Bio-spira then the answer is no, I looked up Smart Start and it turns out that it is a kit containing two different water conditioners and does not contain any kind of bacteria let alone the Bio-spira bacteria.
Tetra Safe Start is supposedly the unrefrigeratored version of the old Biospira. I have used it once, successfully. Dr. Tim's is a different product created by the original inventor of Bio Spira. I have also used it successfully multiple times. (Although once it did not work. That time I"d ordered it online and I wonder if temperature variations damaged it.) I prefer Dr. Tim's although I can't say exactly why. I have dumped Dr. Tim's in a tank undergoing a mini cycle (.5 nitrite) and had it remedy the situation overnight. When setting up a new tank, I also used it in addition to using an old filter for "instant" cycle.