I just recently set-up a 40g acrylic tank. I planned from the very beginning for this to be an Afican cichlid tank, specifically Lake Malawi and its various inhabitants. I filled the bottom with crushed coral and used about 25 lbs. of lace rock for decoration. All in one day, I placed about 10 africans in there, 5 are about full grown, and 5 are juvenilles, along with some Bio-Spira. The filter was brand new (AquaClear 500), just got it in the mail the same day. I didn't use any media from an established tank, started from scratch. Amonia is at 2 ppm. The next day, the fish seemed fine, I tested the amonia and got .25 ppm. A drop of almost 1.75 ppm overnight! This goes to show that the nitrifying bacteria is working! I can't believe Bio-Spria actually works. If you definetly have to set-up a tank asap, I strongly recommend this product, although its a big expensive ($20 for 3 oz., good for 90g) its worth every single penny! No more waiting weeks to cycle the tank, this takes mere days!
Bio-spira works!!!
- Thread starter dragonfish
- Start date
Hmmm... I'm a bit disappointed. I'd expect to see 0 ppm and 0 nitrites... maybe your bioload just exceeded the new bacteria's ability to process. I hope you check ammonia and nitrites daily and share your results with us.
I'd love to try this stuff myself, but I've yet to find anyone locally who stocks it.
Jim
I'd love to try this stuff myself, but I've yet to find anyone locally who stocks it.
Jim
Jim - the package and the lit say that it "speeds" the process, not that it is instant.
I cannot get it either.
I cannot get it either.
The only "real" test for this product will be a "body of evidence" in its favor...not manufacturer claims, not manufacturer research, not even testimonials referenced by the manufacturer. More people like Dragonfish need to use it and not experience a bunch of dead and/or stressed fish.
Dragonfish added a lot of fish up front so he may have experienced the equivalent of a mini-cycle? As long as the fish survive the startup and are healthy, the product was successful. If more than a fish or two die or there is an outbreak of disease, then the product is not successful.
Dragonfish...did you measure pH and nitrites (in addition to ammonia) during the startup of your tank? Are they at zero yet? What type of water changes did you do during your BioSpira startup?
Dragonfish added a lot of fish up front so he may have experienced the equivalent of a mini-cycle? As long as the fish survive the startup and are healthy, the product was successful. If more than a fish or two die or there is an outbreak of disease, then the product is not successful.
Dragonfish...did you measure pH and nitrites (in addition to ammonia) during the startup of your tank? Are they at zero yet? What type of water changes did you do during your BioSpira startup?
update
I just tested the water and got these results: The pH is at 7.8 and the amonia is at .12 ppm. The Nitrites are pretty high at 1.1 ppm. This means that the nitrobacter has been consumming the amonia and has converted it to nitrite, it should finally be converted to nitrate. GOtta get me a nitrate test... Tanks been running for about 23 hours total since startup. I haven't done any water changes yet, the guy at my lfs told me to let bio-spira do its thing for about a week, then change about 30% of the water. That's exactly what i'm going to do. The fish seem normal and have been expressing lots of hunger; everytime i come up to the tank to take a look, they go crazy checking and looking around the surface for food. There's no signs of any diseases or parasitic infections. So far so good. I also want to mention that I used aquarium salt at a dosage of about a tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. I'll keep you guys posted on the situation.
I just tested the water and got these results: The pH is at 7.8 and the amonia is at .12 ppm. The Nitrites are pretty high at 1.1 ppm. This means that the nitrobacter has been consumming the amonia and has converted it to nitrite, it should finally be converted to nitrate. GOtta get me a nitrate test... Tanks been running for about 23 hours total since startup. I haven't done any water changes yet, the guy at my lfs told me to let bio-spira do its thing for about a week, then change about 30% of the water. That's exactly what i'm going to do. The fish seem normal and have been expressing lots of hunger; everytime i come up to the tank to take a look, they go crazy checking and looking around the surface for food. There's no signs of any diseases or parasitic infections. So far so good. I also want to mention that I used aquarium salt at a dosage of about a tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. I'll keep you guys posted on the situation.
Originally posted by slipknottin
Why do you think no online retailers have the stuff?
possible marketing plan?
While it could be part of their marketing strategy - my guess is its moreso because Bio-Spira must be refrigerated. So that makes it hard for the online retailers who would have to ship it.
There was a long thread about Bio-Spira in the DIY / Equipment section here - and someone recently posted a link to a thread at another board. It was quite lengthy but I read it and it seems so far numerous people have had very good success using this. It was there I believe that I read two reasons for its lack of wide availability was the upfront investment a LFS (who are also probably skeptical) needs to make in it (it is an expensive product aand needs refrigeration) - as well as a problem at Marineland's facility where they lost a lot of their culture - thereby limiting how much prodcut they can distribute right now. Whether that is true or not - I do not know.
Anyway, I was very skeptical at first about Bio-spira, but the more success stories I read, the more my skepticism fades
Dragon, you're not planning to add more Bio-Spira to the tank just yet, right? Let's see how the intitial portion will hold up.
Re: update
Thanks for keeping us posted. This really is interesting. A minor quibble: it looks like nitrobacter and nitrosomas are not the bacteria responsible for oxidizing ammonia/nitrite in freshwater aquaria. Dr. Tim Hovanec, who has since joined Marineland, published several refereed paper in scientific journal in which he made the case that Nitrospira were the relevant organisms for ammonia/nitrite reduction. Nitrospira - Biospira... interesting, no?
Jim
Thanks for keeping us posted. This really is interesting. A minor quibble: it looks like nitrobacter and nitrosomas are not the bacteria responsible for oxidizing ammonia/nitrite in freshwater aquaria. Dr. Tim Hovanec, who has since joined Marineland, published several refereed paper in scientific journal in which he made the case that Nitrospira were the relevant organisms for ammonia/nitrite reduction. Nitrospira - Biospira... interesting, no?
Jim