Dr. Tim's One and Only

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.
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I thought it was over something internal between Dr. Tim and the company (or something along those lines) and not because of the product itself.

I used biospira when I first setup my 30 gallon and it worked well...but I want to say it was sometime in the spring and it was refrigerated as was recommended.
 
My understanding is that biospira was NOT discontinued because it did not work. It was sold to Tetra, which came up with a nonrefrigerated version for freshwater and gave it a new name. (Biospira is still available for salt.)

If you don't believe in these type of products, don't use them. But unless you're speaking directly from experience, you might not want to make blanket statements that they are useless. If you are curious about Dr. Tim's, he has a Web site with more information.

As mentioned, I keep a bottle on hand for emergencies. It's not expensive and IME it works most of the time.
 
I did tons of research on bacteria-in-a-bottle before starting up my tanks. I was convinced that Dr. Tim had it right after all of my research. I read and read and even listened to a fairly long podcast interview about the stuff.

I ordered more than needed (it says you can't overdose) and had it overnighted in an insulated box. Expensive. I do think it helped speed up my cycle, but it certainly didn't give me the instant cycle promised. However, I did this in the winter. Although One and Only doesn't have to be refrigerated, it is mentioned several places that it is vitally important that it not freeze. I ordered it in the winter. And while I don't think it froze in transit to me, it's very hard to know if it could have frozen in transit to the supplier I ordered it from. So, I guess I'm reserving judgment. Now that I have cycled tanks, I don't know that I'll need it in the future, but if I did try it again, I think it would be in summer. I would also try to find a LFS that had it and ask them about how it was shipped to them. On the positive side, I really like that the bottles are date marked, so you can be sure it's not too old.
 
many of the product out there may actually have viable bacteria in them

Dr. Tims is one product. Bio spira when properly handled will conatin live bacteria. if Dr Tims is the same product it would be the same case here.

there are others that also contain viable bacteria.. but we need to realize that these bacteria may be dormant.

it may take a few weeks for them to become active.

many will shorten the cycle while others may actually 'instant' cycle.(usually 24-48 hrs)
 
Nitrifying bacteria are not able to form spores. So, how do they survive in a sealed bottle for 6 to 12 months?

Seachem's Stability uses a different type of bacteria in spores. I used Stability last Fall to kickstart a 40g. None of fish died. But I don't know if Stability helped or if Mother Nature helped.

I used Tetra Safe Start (which uses some kind of spore forming bacteria) in a 20g tank last Summer. It did nothing.

I won't buy bio-boosters. Now that I have 2 fully cycled tanks, all I would need to cycle a new tank is to transfer some media from existing canisters to a new one.
 
I guess I'm just too chicken to ask my LFS for any mature media. I don't trust PETCO, and the aquarium-only place is always crazy busy and I don't want to be a pest.

This morning I was still at 1-2 ppm ammonia. I'll check it again when I get home from work this evening. I think the new bottle is helping, just slowly.

Oh, and for the record, I waited through almost five weeks of non-cycling before I added Dr. Tim's. This tank has been set up since the end of December, and it still isn't cycled... but maybe it's finally getting closer. Maybe.
 
Bacteria may not form spores but they do go dormant and can survive for quite a long time.

the tank is populated from dormant bacteria in the air and on other surfaces.. this is how they are introduced introduced into tanks and how fishless cycles work.

it is these dormant bacteria that are in some of the bottles of products we see.

fishfixation, this is one time that pH may affect the bacteria as they have problems in acidic pH
 
This morning my pH was about 7.6.
 
I tried TLC SmartStart and it didn't work for me. It advertises to instantly cycle your aquarium. I added a bottle which was recommended for 50 gallon into my 10 gallon which had 4ppm of Ammonia. My tank didn't finish cycling until 3 weeks after.
 
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