Bioload with BioSpira??

I don't think there is a definitive answer. As long as there is nitrite in excess of what the biofilter can consume, the bacterial colony will grow. It's not clear if the the biofilter will grow faster if nitrites are at 1.0 ppm vs .5 ppm (personally, I think time is the limiting factor more than nitrite level), but it is clear that the fish will be more stressed. I'd keep doing what you're doing.

HTH,
Jim
 
Thanks for the speedy reply- I can relax a bit about the numbers. I'd rather it took longer and caused my fishies less distress.

Is 25% once a day enough?
I'd been doing it twice, but skipped this morning and things are no worse for it.
 
To update- I had been doing twice daily 20% water changes, so yesterday AM (4/5) I opted to skip the morning change and see how things tested out later in the day.
The afternoon test showed <.50 ppm nitrites, so I again postponed the water change.
To my surprise, this AM (4/6) I have <.25 nitrites and a solid nitrate reading.

So-
Water in 3/19
Fish in 3/26 w/BioSpira
No ammonia readings ever
Nitrites worst on days 7-10
Lower nitrites noticed day 11

Not that I'm out of the woods yet, but I am breathing a bit easier.

My conclusion is that BioSpira was a definite help in hastening my cycling process, but is by no means the miracle everyone wants. You still have to test daily and be ready to adapt to whatever your water throws at you. I tested twice daily and still ran into a bit of a surprise when my nitrites went kablooey.

Advice of the day to other newbies:
A $10 test kit saved my fish- I would never, never, never advise anyone to cycle a tank without a fresh, complete test kit!
If you can afford the tank you can afford the kits necessary.
And test kits only work when well used.
 
Well you came through and with no losses! I think this was a tough challenge for BioSpira-- a new 90 gallon tank with 44 tetras and rasboras and 7 Corydoras cats added right from the start, with some potted plants. No ammonia readings at all, though some nitrates.

"Excellent"
-J. Montgomery Burns
 
Looks like you're out of the woods. Congrats!

I agree that BioSpira did help immensely... I wonder if the dosage was doubled if that would help....

Jim
 
Well- I did think a couple of times about getting another dose and seeing if it would help out any with the nitrites. If it had gone on much longer I definitely would have tried it but as it stands things are winding down on their own.

This AM (day 13) the nitrite reading was barely showing.
I haven't done the PM test yet, but expect it to be at least as good- and hopefully 0.0.

Edit: Just did my PM test and by golly!!
I have 0.0 nitrites!!
Hooray and Yeehaw!

So from new tank to 0.0 nitrites took me 13 days.
This was at 7.0 pH and usually around 78-79ºF.
All in all I lost (approximately) 12 fish out of the initial 71... most of them Cardinal Tetras.

I do of course realize that adding as many fish as I did really tested BioSpira to its fullest capacity- which was my intention. I wanted to know if it worked, as well as how well it worked. I believe I have pretty much answered that- it helped shorten cycling considerably.
 
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coulda been a very costly test though but i guess if you got the money for a 90 gallon tank you got the money for the 70 fish too
 
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