Fishless cycle + Biospira

Beeker said:
I can't say I would recommend trusting my fish to a packet of bacteria that may or may not be alive to get the tank started. Maybe the ammonia should be brought down a little first, but I can't honestly say that I would change all the water, add biospira and immediately add fish. I have heard of too many situations that the biospira did not work, and have experienced it myself. It was either due to being a bad batch or improper keeping at the store.
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I have to agree with you here. I started 4 tanks with Bio Spira + fish, but when I started the 5th tank, the Bio Spira didn't work. Thing is, you don't KNOW it's not a good batch until you've got your fish in there.

I'm not going to take that chance again. I'm gonna try fishless Bio Spira + bio balls and ammonia

Roan
 
4 out of 5 isn't bad...but all it takes is that one time I guess. But why even use bio spira if you already have 4 tanks? You can easiliy seed the new tank with some material from the others.

All I know is there are 2 or 3 people in this thread alone who have said bio spira doesn't work with fishless, so why even try it and risk your money?
 
ozziegt said:
4 out of 5 isn't bad...but all it takes is that one time I guess. But why even use bio spira if you already have 4 tanks? You can easiliy seed the new tank with some material from the others.

All I know is there are 2 or 3 people in this thread alone who have said bio spira doesn't work with fishless, so why even try it and risk your money?
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Because

a) they aren't using the same method
b) I like to experiment
c) I have a hunch :)

Roan
 
d) I already spent $15 on the stuff :laugh:

I don't see how it would not work though. Bio Spira is the nitrifying bacteria that eats ammonia right? Well theres 5 ppm in that 72 gallon tank. Using the biospira is the equivalent of seeding the tank from another filter on an established tank. I don't expect the stuff to get rid of 5ppm of ammonia overnight, I just want to move the cylce along so my dad can get off my back about having an empty tank for a month. I'm wary of adding on the filter from my 20 gal (I screwed something up and it won't cycle, I've been doing water changes every 3 days for a few weeks now, I'm afraid to move anything from the tank to my big one that hasn't soaked in bleach)

Regardless, I bought enough BIO Spira for 29 gallons, and its a 72 gallon tank. I'm stuck with it already, so my question still stands.
 
dump the tank water

BioSpira cannot catch up to that high ammonia level. Dump all the tank water, refill and condition water, add BioSpira, add fish. Odds are there are some bacteria starting in the filter now, already, adding the Biospira may be enough even if not the right amount. Best to add only a few fish, not a full load.

If it were me, I'd go buy the right amount of BioSpira and dump the tank water down to the gravel. Follow the directions.
 
I don't know if I've made myself clear or not. I don't intend on adding fish untill the tank is completely cycled, which with the BIOSpira ahould take 1-2 weeks. The entire point of a fishless cycle is to add a full load of fish at one time.
 
Yes. I thought I had a hunch too. So I tried doing exactly this...adding bio spira in the middle of a fishless cycle. It didn't work. Same with the other guy (or gal) in this thread. But knock yourself out, it's your money. :)
 
Xielos said:
I don't know if I've made myself clear or not. I don't intend on adding fish untill the tank is completely cycled, which with the BIOSpira ahould take 1-2 weeks. The entire point of a fishless cycle is to add a full load of fish at one time.
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No...this is wrong. With biospira your tank is cycled as soon as you add it. If you try to cycle the tank for 1-2 weeks after adding bio spira it may or may not work.

I do not think fish produce 5ppm per day. In addition, my experience showed that the bio spira didn't seem to work on ammonia that I had added by fishless cycling. I said the same thing: "why won't it work?", but alas it didn't.
 
How would it be any different from seeding the tank from an extablished one?
 
FWIW...

On Sunday night, I brought the ammonia in a fishless tank up to about 2ppm (ammonia from Ace Hardware). On Monday morning, I added a little Bio-Spira (part of a 3 oz. packet - the rest was split between two other tanks with fish in them).

On Wednesday night the ammonia was down to 1ppm, nitrite was at .5 and nitrate was at 30. Tonight, the ammonia was around .6 (between the .5 color and the 1 color), the nitrite was around 2.5 and the nitrate was about 40. That looks to me like it's cycling... We'll see in a few days.

Specs:
2.5g (US)
Flourite Substrate (~3")
Grassy plant sparsly planted (Dwarf hairgrass? - the clerk didn't know)
heater, in-tank filter (tiny, lowest setting - hex tank, HOB won't work, don't like the UG)
temp: 80 F (the 4W florescent (=15w incan.) bulb is keeping it pretty warm (I know, probably not enough to grow the grass thingy, we'll see))
pH 7.4
GH and KH are both around 250 (though I question the GH value - will test again in a couple of days)
was filled with tap water treated with tetra aqua safe - no water changes have been done.

FWIW,

Liz
 
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