"Naturally" means "once a bio filter is established," which can take a long time even with Dr. Tim's. It's not easy to preserve live nitrifying bacteria for a long time. For example, they die when it's too cold. Who knows what temperatures your bottle has gone through?
Dr. Tim's One and Only
- Thread starter FishFixation
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"Naturally" means "once a bio filter is established," which can take a long time even with Dr. Tim's. It's not easy to preserve live nitrifying bacteria for a long time. For example, they die when it's too cold. Who knows what temperatures your bottle has gone through?
From what I know, most of the bacteria-in-bottle on the market are wrong, as in wrong type of bacteria.
Well, I added a couple capfuls from a new bottle last night, and this morning I'm seeing some improvement. My ammonia is now between 1 and 2 ppm, whereas yesterday afternoon it was between 2 and 4 (I hate how similar the colors are!).
Prior to purchasing it, I had read mostly positive reviews online, so I'm a little surprised to hear what you all have had to say. But I'm curious - has anyone tried it, or are you just skeptical of the concept in general? (And I totally understand why a person would be skeptical.)
Prior to purchasing it, I had read mostly positive reviews online, so I'm a little surprised to hear what you all have had to say. But I'm curious - has anyone tried it, or are you just skeptical of the concept in general? (And I totally understand why a person would be skeptical.)
Dr. Tim's One and Only is the successor of the much acclaimed, but now discontinued freshwater Bio-Spira. It's made by the same researcher who designed the Bio-Spira, but now packaged and sold through his own company name. I had heard that it and SafeStart are the only two that stand much of a chance of working...
Last night I added a couple capfuls from a new bottle of Dr. Tim's (one I had ordered online before I found it in a LFS), and this morning I'm seeing signs of improvement - my ammonia is now between 1 and 2 ppm, and it was between 2 and 4 ppm yesterday afternoon. If this really is working like it seems, I can only assume that the first bottle I tried was dead... and a waste of $9.00.
Last night I added a couple capfuls from a new bottle of Dr. Tim's (one I had ordered online before I found it in a LFS), and this morning I'm seeing signs of improvement - my ammonia is now between 1 and 2 ppm, and it was between 2 and 4 ppm yesterday afternoon. If this really is working like it seems, I can only assume that the first bottle I tried was dead... and a waste of $9.00.
why not just do water changes? its only a three gallon tank, and doing it the old fashioned way is much better for both the tank AND your wallet.
i have never tried this before, but neither am i skeptical of it in particular. just no way around it: the less chemicals in your tank = the healthier it is
i have never tried this before, but neither am i skeptical of it in particular. just no way around it: the less chemicals in your tank = the healthier it is
Dr. Tim's is nitrifying bacteria needed to establish your bio filter and thus to "naturally" neutralize ammonia and nitrites. It works differently from Prime, which de-toxifies by chemically changing the ammonia and nitrite, but not removing it.
Dr. Tim is the man who created biospira, a product that was decidedly NOT snake oil. Biospira is now Tetra Safe Start (and I can't attest to its efficacy.) But I have used Dr. Tim's several times and find that is does work -- although not 100 percent of the time. Out of several bottles I used over the past six months, I believe one was "dead." In the other cases, one bottle handled my nitrite problem overnight.
I always keep it on hand, myself, for good measure just in case of emergencies.
Although I agree with one of the previous posters -- with a three gallon tank, I'd probably just be doing water changes at this point to keep ammonia down.
Dr. Tim is the man who created biospira, a product that was decidedly NOT snake oil. Biospira is now Tetra Safe Start (and I can't attest to its efficacy.) But I have used Dr. Tim's several times and find that is does work -- although not 100 percent of the time. Out of several bottles I used over the past six months, I believe one was "dead." In the other cases, one bottle handled my nitrite problem overnight.
I always keep it on hand, myself, for good measure just in case of emergencies.
Although I agree with one of the previous posters -- with a three gallon tank, I'd probably just be doing water changes at this point to keep ammonia down.
I'm using Dr. Tim's to aid my fishless cycling, so there's no reason to do water changes at this point. However, I will be getting some fish this week, so if it isn't sufficiently cycled by then, I will, of course, do as many water changes as necessary. I was just hoping to get the tank cycled before adding fish.
It would be nice to see a "biological booster" product that comes complete with a shelf life and perhaps a temperature sensitive sticker on the bottle that would indicate if the product had been time/temperature abused. I would tend to trust a company with legitimate ethics like that. But lets face it, if biospira was such a great product it would still be manufactured. Marineland opted to halt production due to marginal success rates.
One product that i "know" works is some clear ammonia and about 6 weeks of good ol' fashioned patience. If you are impatient like me, seeding the tank and filter with some substrate and filter squeezings from an established tank can reduce the wait to a matter of days or less. And all of this is hella cheaper than any of the products on the market.
I recently attemped to cycle a tank with two of the newer "bio booster" products that i got directly from the man who developed it. The two products were a system designed to cycle a tank in a few hours. My test was a fishless cycle where I brought my ammonia level to somewhere between 3 and 5 ppm. I gave the product two weeks to show it's effectiveness, however IME, it did not work. My ammonia level didn't drop. My previous fishless cycle, using ammonia, established substrate and filter squeezings was complete in about 3 days. I am not saying the products were total bovine excrement but they did smell worse than actual bovine excrement and I'm not very inclined to add something like that to my tank weekly as directed. If it really worked, then why should I need to?
FishFixation, I apologize for my skepticism, however, it's good to hear of your success with Dr. Tim's. As a fellow Eclipse tank owner, I wish you all the best.
One product that i "know" works is some clear ammonia and about 6 weeks of good ol' fashioned patience. If you are impatient like me, seeding the tank and filter with some substrate and filter squeezings from an established tank can reduce the wait to a matter of days or less. And all of this is hella cheaper than any of the products on the market.
I recently attemped to cycle a tank with two of the newer "bio booster" products that i got directly from the man who developed it. The two products were a system designed to cycle a tank in a few hours. My test was a fishless cycle where I brought my ammonia level to somewhere between 3 and 5 ppm. I gave the product two weeks to show it's effectiveness, however IME, it did not work. My ammonia level didn't drop. My previous fishless cycle, using ammonia, established substrate and filter squeezings was complete in about 3 days. I am not saying the products were total bovine excrement but they did smell worse than actual bovine excrement and I'm not very inclined to add something like that to my tank weekly as directed. If it really worked, then why should I need to?
FishFixation, I apologize for my skepticism, however, it's good to hear of your success with Dr. Tim's. As a fellow Eclipse tank owner, I wish you all the best.
Really? You must be really lucky for this to work 
How long can the nitrifying bacteria stay alive without any air? And they are very, very scaarce in the water column because they cling on to surfaces rather than free-swim
How long can the nitrifying bacteria stay alive without any air? And they are very, very scaarce in the water column because they cling on to surfaces rather than free-swim
