Fishless cycling question

[blkwdw13]

I'm in about the second week of cycling my 75g tank. When I put the ammonia in there it is gone with in 24 hours so thats good. Now the question I have is that both my nitrites and nitrates are super high right know, is this normal when the nitrates first appear and the nitrites will go away in a day or two? The readings of the test results just confused me a little.

 

[gst4life]

What are you testing with? test strips arent very accurate if you have them

 

[watermelon]

To this day, I still do not know why people still use the old method of fishless cycling. In my opnion, get Bio Spira and a few hardy fishes. Put the Bio Spira in with the hardy fishes in your newly set up aquarium. Don't change the water or anything like that or put medication in the tank, and in a week or a week and half, your tank will be cycled.

But I heard that a small minority of people get bad batches of Bio Spira and it does not work but that is a small minority. The basis of fishless cycling was to protect the newly introduced fishes from any harm. Bio Spira if done right would lower ammonia, nitrite throughout the time, the cycling takes place in the tank so the fishes would not be harmed.

Advances in technolgy such as the introduction of Bio Spira should have made fishless cycling obsolete.

 

[gst4life]

But some people like natural ways of doin it, instead of adding chemicals. But then again, I was a newb and didnt know about cycling 2 weeks ago, but Im lucky and my hardy danios are fine.

PS Does bio spora have un-natural chemcials in it?

 

[watermelon]

But some people like natural ways of doin it, instead of adding chemicals. But then again, I was a newb and didnt know about cycling 2 weeks ago, but Im lucky and my hardy danios are fine.

PS Does bio spora have un-natural chemcials in it?

You should read this, it is from the makers of Bio Spira..From reading it, it looks like it is just the good live bacteria:

http://www.marineland.com/science/nspira.asp

 

[gst4life]

Sounds fine. I would of used it if I knew.... :huh:


Lucky my 1 year old ADF added some bacteria to it before the danios and guppies moved in.

 

[rosita]

I think one deterrent from using BioSpira for many folks is that it's cost prohibitive. I paid $25US for a small packet good for 50-90 gallons. It worked perfectly, don't get me wrong, but I'm just a teacher and can't afford that with all tanks I start. A seeded media cycle in my 44g worked in 3-4 days--completed.

A greater challenge with BioSpira is accessibility--many can't find it even in large cities (although I do not know how thorough their searching is). I agree, watermelon, it does give one an "instant" cycled tank, but as with everything else in life, not for everyone.