How best to use Bio-Spira?

[djmodifyd]

well, i just put 2 pouches of bio spira in my 55 gallon last night....with 6 zebra danios...just to get it started.

my ammonia is at about 1.5 (down from 3) and my nitrites are at about 2....which if i remember correctly that means the cycle is going.

if this works...i bow down to bio spira.....
didn't mean to highjack a thread...just saying that it seems like it works!

 

[pedzola]

So... I just tested the water. This is pretty much exactly the 48 hour point from putting in the fish & bio-spira.


Ammonia is higher than yesterday. Nitrite still 0. Hard to read the color on the ammonia. Looks like .5-1.0. (yesterday it was .25-.5)

Should I get another packet of biospira and put it in?

Should I just keep waiting??? Is it supposed to take effect faster or what? :\

Don't want my fishes to get hurt/sick. :<

 

[YoFishboy]

I have experimented with Bio spira and had very good results, with no loss of fish or signs of distress. I have also had very good results with Seachem's Stability for instant cycling. It is easier to find and does not require refrigeration. I have a hunch that most people that have not had good luck with bio spira have purchased it from a pet store that did not refrigerate it properly. Still, if you have access to well seeded gravel, filter material, etc., it is good insurance to aid a quick cycle.

 

[gagaliya]

well, i just put 2 pouches of bio spira in my 55 gallon last night....with 6 zebra danios...just to get it started.

my ammonia is at about 1.5 (down from 3) and my nitrites are at about 2....which if i remember correctly that means the cycle is going.

if this works...i bow down to bio spira.....
didn't mean to highjack a thread...just saying that it seems like it works!

hey just curious, how did you get such high ammonia with just 6 zebra danio and in a 55 gallon tank within 1 night? did the tank already contain high level of ammonia to begin with, before you added the zebra danioos?

So... I just tested the water. This is pretty much exactly the 48 hour point from putting in the fish & bio-spira.


Ammonia is higher than yesterday. Nitrite still 0. Hard to read the color on the ammonia. Looks like .5-1.0. (yesterday it was .25-.5)

Should I get another packet of biospira and put it in?

Should I just keep waiting??? Is it supposed to take effect faster or what? :\

Don't want my fishes to get hurt/sick. :<

sorry this doesnt look good, you can try adding more and hope they will take hold, but if the ammonia keeps going up at this rate you are forced to do a water change soon. Did you try to shake the biospira before adding? what type of setup do you have, where did you add the ammonia? in filter, in tank water?

 

[Roan Art]

1) Fritz-Zyme is not Fritz TurboStart, two different product

It's called "Fritz-Zyme Turbo Start". Read their web page.

2) Fritz TurboStart requires refrigeration, and is shipped overnight directly from manufacture with ice packs.

If it has the wrong bacteria, it doesn't matter if it's refridgered or not. The one thing you do have to remember, IF you've looked at Marineland's Bio Spira ingredient list, is that TurboStart does contain Nitrosomonas. But that's the only "correct" one it contains. The rest of the bacteria are not there and have to develop on their own. This is probably why they can't claim 24 hour cycling.

3) Google shows some success from users with TurboStart

Compared to what? Fishy cycling? They can't even mention Bio Spira in their advertising speil. Wanna know why? Because they would be sued. Why? Because TurobStart does not work like Bio Spira and does not contain the same bacteria. Their big pitch is how much bacteria is in their bottles. Whooopee! It's the wrong bacteria!

Based on this, i think turbostart is the same as bio spira. Fritz-Zyme on the other hand is just your regular stuff like Cycle etc that doesnt work.

It is NOT the same as Bio Spira. Did you even go to the Marineland web site and research Bio Spira before you said that? Have you ever researched Bio Spira at all? If you had, you wouldn't be saying that. I already posted what the contents of Turbo-Start are, now let's look at Bio Spira:

http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/ML_biospira.asp

PRINCIPLE INGREDIENTS:
Purified water, patented and patent pending pure strains of Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira and Nitrospira.

No nitrobacter. Wonder why. Maybe because it's the wrong bacteria?

Seriously, the entire process of the development of Bio Spira is a fascinating read. They've covered the whole thing on the Marineland Labs web site.
http://www.marineland.com/science/nspira.asp

The most interesting thing is their very first article: "Nitrospira - Not Nitrobacter"

http://www.marineland.com/science/biospirarep/6Nitrobacter.asp

I just stared going through the Fritz site to see where their research was.
I love their comparison chart. Where is Bio Spira?
http://www.fritzpet.com/article_comparing.html

Here's an interesting and very long discussion at FishGeeks that I Googled into:

http://www.aquaria.info/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=23831&start=30

It's pretty long and I'm still reading it, so I've no idea of the outcome of their tests. Should prove interesting

Roan

 

[pedzola]

sorry this doesnt look good, you can try adding more and hope they will take hold, but if the ammonia keeps going up at this rate you are forced to do a water change soon. Did you try to shake the biospira before adding? what type of setup do you have, where did you add the ammonia? in filter, in tank water?

hmmm :< I called Marineland and the dude was like... don't worry about it... maybe it'll take a week or more to cycle but it'll be a lot less than the 6 weeks or so it would normally take. And I'm like so how high should I expect to see the ammonia before it goes down? How high is safe? And he's like... well at 4 the fish will start to die... it might go up to 3.5 - 4... like a regular cycle, but it'll go back down.

And I'm like well isn't that bad for the fish? And he's like well you might lose some fish but it would be a lot less than if you hadn't used bio-spira.

:<

Not exactly instilling confidence.

So I dunno if I should go get some more bio-spira.

 

[gagaliya]

roan,
you are probably right. no i havent dont any research into turbo start, just read the cycling article and it seems very well written.

pedzola,
i like your writing style. Adding more bio spira will only help not hurt(except maybe the wallet), in case the ones you added were bad. Ammonia at 3?! that's insane.. Anything above 1, to me is considered critical.

So at this point you have 4 options, none of them are perfect:
1) Leave everything as it is and hope the biospira in the tank start to work and ammonia goes down tomorrow, if it doesnt, do water change.

2) Buy new biospira and add it to the tank, hope the new biospira will work or at least maintain the current ammonia level. If it doesnt, do water change.

3) Do water change now, and keep doing them daily as needed to maintain a <0.5 ammonia, until the tank cycles either by biospira or normally.

4) Do water change now, then buy new biospira and add it to tank. And see what happens tomorrow.

btw what tank setup you have? and where did you add the biospira? in the filter or water?

I was in the exact same boat as you, i picked option 4). It didnt work, then i went with option 3). After a while it became my daily routing, sleep work home water change dinner sleep work....

 

[pedzola]

75 gallon tank.

Eheim 2128 thermofilter. w/1 tray of ehfimech, 2 trays of ehfisubstrat, and a media bag full of marineland carbon on top of the last tray.

(The heater portion of this filter is fantastic btw - the temp probe and lcd readout are a very nice touch!!)

Anywho... I added the biospira to the top of the tank. Opened up the lid... shook it up... emptied out... swished the bag around in tank water to be sure... closed the lid.

I think I'm gonna go out and get another packet of the stuff and dump it in there.

Yeah it sucks that a bag is almsot $30 for 3 ounced but what are u gonna do. ;| Don't want the new loaches to die! They're still hiding and scared to death of me... new clowns aren't eating too much. Last thing I want them to have to deal with is ammonia on top of the new environment, new food, and everything else. Poor lil guys are already stressed enough!

LFS open til 9... im goin now. l8r -__^

 

[Roan Art]

hmmm :< I called Marineland and the dude was like... don't worry about it... maybe it'll take a week or more to cycle but it'll be a lot less than the 6 weeks or so it would normally take. And I'm like so how high should I expect to see the ammonia before it goes down? How high is safe? And he's like... well at 4 the fish will start to die... it might go up to 3.5 - 4... like a regular cycle, but it'll go back down.

And I'm like well isn't that bad for the fish? And he's like well you might lose some fish but it would be a lot less than if you hadn't used bio-spira.

:<

Not exactly instilling confidence.

So I dunno if I should go get some more bio-spira.

Pedzola,

Been VERY busy and have to back off the forums for a couple of days. The affinis Rainbowfish that I received today did not ship well at all and I have to baby them. I already lost one and a few of the rest don't look good.

Get more Bio Spira if you want. Start doing water changes and get the ammonia down to .25. Keep the ammonia down and the nitrites as well to .25. Treat it like a regular fishy cycle, but it mostly likely won't go over a week.

If you get Bio Spira, change the water until you get it as low as you can. Do 50% water changes 12 hours apart, then add the Bio Spira. Do not change the water for 48 hours again.

Roan

 

[Roan Art]

hmmm :< I called Marineland and the dude was like... don't worry about it... maybe it'll take a week or more to cycle but it'll be a lot less than the 6 weeks or so it would normally take. And I'm like so how high should I expect to see the ammonia before it goes down? How high is safe? And he's like... well at 4 the fish will start to die... it might go up to 3.5 - 4... like a regular cycle, but it'll go back down.

And I'm like well isn't that bad for the fish? And he's like well you might lose some fish but it would be a lot less than if you hadn't used bio-spira.

:<

Did you get the name of the guy you spoke to? If you did, send it to me in a PM. I'll blast the crap out of Marineland tech for that type of attitude and terrible advice, no holds barred.

Roan