Fishless bio spira

centralharbor

centralharbor

fat panda cory
Sep 23, 2004
189
0
0
Haven't really been on this forum for a long time, but I've been reading up on some things to see if anything changed since I plan on expanding soon.

Anyway, before I begin, I have never used bio spira, ever. I also remember this idea from someone else a long time ago, and although it wasn't explained this thoroughly, I don't want credit for this idea, but you can give me credit for posting it. :) Anyway, onto the topic at hand.

---------

I've searched and read many irate posters' experiences on using dead bio spira; I have a suggestion. Before dumping in the bio spira, dose your tank with ammonia to the proper fishless cycle amount (5 ppm if I remember right). This will help in a few ways:

1. Makes sure your bio spira works.
2. Decreases your chance of killing your fish by 100% since there isn't any fish in the tank.
3. Allows time for the nitrites to settle as well as the ammonia.

By doing a fishless cycle with bio spira, I'm sure many of you would totally avoid the panic of getting a bad batch and finding out AFTER you put that prize winning discus in there. You also can avoid rushing to get fish since you can keep dosing your tank with ammonia until you buy your fish, which could be as far away from the start time that you do this, but if you wait too long, that would defeat the purpose of bio spira.

Anyway, if any of you do decide to do this, don't forget to keep dosing ammonia until you get your fish, even if you know it works, or you run the risk of killing your bacteria.
 
I have done this, I was doing a fishless cycle and my fish were shipped a week earlier than expected. My ammonia was about 3 and nitrite was .5. After putting in the Biospira, 12 hours later they were at .25/0. I added a few drops of ammonia and 4 hours later was at 0/0.
 
I wouldn't bother.. just add the Bio-spira with the new fish and ammonia readings should stay at zero.

If for some reason it does not work (it got warmed up and died, you forgot to shake it REAL good first, ect) then go get another batch. It's cheap.

It's a very popular product and it's pretty rare for it not to work.
 
iansmith said:
I wouldn't bother.. just add the Bio-spira with the new fish and ammonia readings should stay at zero.

If for some reason it does not work (it got warmed up and died, you forgot to shake it REAL good first, ect) then go get another batch. It's cheap.

It's a very popular product and it's pretty rare for it not to work.
Click to expand...

i dont think its that cheap. its also not that common for it not to work because of it going bad.


its a very good idea to do a fishless cycle with bio spira. i pull media from a cycled tank and then fishless cycle.
 
I prefer the live media route...bio spirea seems 50/50 to me and what I have seen posted everywhere.
 
I have used Bio Spira as directed with excellent results....but I have also acheived the same results with Seachem Stability as directed for much less cost and you don't need to refrigerate it. I think it's one of the best products around that actually delivers on its claims. No adding ammonia, or ammonia spikes...quick...I add it a couple days before the fish go in the tank with a few fish flakes...then I add just A FEW fish...again, I have had NO ammonia spikes when used as directed. Then after a week, I add a few more fish...and so on.
 
iansmith said:
I wouldn't bother.. just add the Bio-spira with the new fish and ammonia readings should stay at zero.

If for some reason it does not work (it got warmed up and died, you forgot to shake it REAL good first, ect) then go get another batch. It's cheap.

It's a very popular product and it's pretty rare for it not to work.
Click to expand...

Why risk a tank full of fish just because you didn't want to wait a day to see if your Bio Spira works?

The point of me posting this thread was not to discuss if bio spira works, or even if it's the best product. I just wanted to inform people that you don't have to risk your fish when trying out bio spira on an empty tank. This is a good (and probably the only practical) way of testing if your batch is alive, without even risking a single fish. If you decide to dump this stuff in with fish, great, I hope yours works, but for those more cautious, dosing ammonia might be a better idea.
 
I used 2 batches of bio spira and it still took 5 weeks to do a fishy cycle for me. So in essence it did not work for me after spending $48 on 2 batches. So IMO it is crap. But I know I must've gotten 2 bad batches. They should offer full refunds if the tank does not cycle in 48 hours.
 
You are going to complicate things with that fishless bio spira...Just go buy some feeder guppies or something and put it in with bio spira..Now you are going to get some PETA people saying that the guppies will be harmed and fishless is the way to go but I am not that extreme..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom