Bio-Spira, does it work?

icecubez189

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Feb 15, 2006
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Someone told me about Bio-Spira, the amazing foreget about NTS product that lets you add fish after 24 hours of adding this stuff to your water. is it just as good as a week long fishless cycling? has anyone used it here with success?

thanks!
 
I've used it in every new tank, ever since I cycled my first tank with it.

It's well worth its money. I wouldn't say it cycles it 'overnight'. It takes about 3-5 days. You have to carefully monitor your Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates after you add it to your tank. Sometimes, you need a second dose after about a week.
 
I've cycled 13 tanks with either Bio Spira alone, or Bio Spira in conjunction with other media.

I have a 90% success rate of a 24 hour cycle. The largest tank I cycled in 24 hours was a 75g and I used Bio Spira and the Magnum HOT off my 36g. Call it cheating a bit, but it was a bit of an experiment. I think of it as adding two packages of 90g Bio Spira at once.

One 65g tank took 3 days with no filter media. One 36g tank took two weeks and it was my OWN darn fault. One 75g tank took 1 week and that was with several seedings of filter material.

Still, even 1 week is far better and easier on the fish than 4-6 weeks without Bio Spira.

All the rest of the tanks cycled in 24 hours with no addtional help.

If you decide to try it, follow the directions on the Bio Spira package EXACTLY. SHAKE THE HECK OUTTA THE BAG ;)

Do not put anything in your tank other than Prime or Marineland's Bio Safe to condition the water.

Do not change the water for at least 48 hours.

Add your fish at the same time as the Bio Spira, you don't add it and then add your fish later.

Roan
 
Mine experienced about a 2 week mini cycle. Of course, I did it with 15 fish in a 60 gallon. I registered nitrites in day 3, ammonia at 0 in day 7.

My water has .5 ammonia(ammonium?) out of the tap(do to chloromine). This may have been the reason for the mini cycle. Total ammonia spiked at 1.0. I figure .5 of that was detoxified by PRIME at setup, or ammonium to start with. Nitrites started to register in 2 days. The whole process took two weeks, the fish seemed happy the whole time with no obvious signs of distress.
I've also used it to jumpstart a tank in mid cycle.

I do recommend a few things:

- Shipping and Storage play a role in the effectiveness of the product.

- Shake VERY well before putting it in your tank

- Add it about the same time you add your fish(within a few hours). Add it too early, and the bacteria will start to die, add it too late, and it may take a little longer to "cycle"
 
Success here, too--4 days. As stated above, keep an eye on ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. I waited to add fish until there was 0 reading on ammonia, wouldn't want my lungs burned by harsh chemicals, so why my fish?
 
icecubez189 said:
i use API ammo-lock to condition my water, will it interfer if i add bio spira afterwards?

yeah ...
From what i've seen Roan post the only good thing is prime to use with bio spira.
 
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