Well I guess this is good and bad at the same time. It looks like the ammonia is coming back down. But now my nitrites are up. And there is definately some nitrates present (prolly < 5 but definate shift from yellow to an orange tint on my test kit). At what level do nitrites become dangerous? Hopefully they are spiking now, because I dont want them to get much higher than .5. Throughout all this the fish seem to be taking it much better than I am. They seem to be acting normally and breathing doesnt seem labored. Of course this being my first tank, my only means of comparison for "normal" behavior comes from reading and watching fish at the LFS. But they are eating and I'm pretty sure thats a good sign.
USing Bio-SPira: What Numbers Should I see?
- Thread starter dimsem
- Start date
bio spira may often work, but at best is hit and miss. It is best to cycle the old fashioned way....which always works. If you still have amonia and nitrates do daily water changes of 30 percent to keep the ammonia and nitrates tolerable to your fish. Don't worry about slowing down your cycle the bacteria resides in your substrate and filter media not in the water. If you have another established tank filter media from it or some substrate will often kickstart a bacteria colony. Good luck!!!!!!!
judobadger said:
I know, but in this day and age who wants to wait 4 to 6 weeks when the miracle of technology claims it can get this done in 1 day. Of course I'm kidding, because if I would have known how this was going to work, I would have just taken the longer route. With what I spent on my fish, and considering that from what I read Tang's are more sensitive to water parameters, I certainly wasnt planning on putting my fish at any risk, which I apparently have now done. Oh well I will just have to keep my fingers crossed and do what I can to help them out. As always thanks to everyone for the info.
I have just cycled my third tank,
Tank 1 added bio spira ( shipped to UK ) which failed so ended up fishy cycling and a very stressful and multiple water changing 6 weeks!!
Tank 2 bio spira brought over in my sons suitcase, added to tank on same day as fish, tiny nitrite spike on day 3 only, other than that very stress free
Tank 3 fishless cycling with ammonia, took 2 weeks , no stress and no fish hurt
I think for the guarantee that a tank has cycled, and minimum stress I would definately do a fishless cycle again
Tank 1 added bio spira ( shipped to UK ) which failed so ended up fishy cycling and a very stressful and multiple water changing 6 weeks!!
Tank 2 bio spira brought over in my sons suitcase, added to tank on same day as fish, tiny nitrite spike on day 3 only, other than that very stress free
Tank 3 fishless cycling with ammonia, took 2 weeks , no stress and no fish hurt
I think for the guarantee that a tank has cycled, and minimum stress I would definately do a fishless cycle again
Once one tank is cycled you never need to go through a whole big long cycle again. You can just use some filter media is the place of Bio Spira
Buzz,
For what it's worth I would just wait a couple more days. It sounds to me like your biospira is working. It basically creates a short accelerated cycle. It took between 3-5 days to be totally cycled. I saw one day high ammonia, the next some ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, the next day little ammonia, high nitrite, some nitrate, and the 4th day pretty much everything was ZERO except nitrate.
I've never added ammonia guard or other crap. I do add prime to my tap water before I add it to the tank. I also added a little salt when my nitrites were high, but I think it only made me feel better and not neccissarily the fishies.
For what it's worth I would just wait a couple more days. It sounds to me like your biospira is working. It basically creates a short accelerated cycle. It took between 3-5 days to be totally cycled. I saw one day high ammonia, the next some ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, the next day little ammonia, high nitrite, some nitrate, and the 4th day pretty much everything was ZERO except nitrate.
I've never added ammonia guard or other crap. I do add prime to my tap water before I add it to the tank. I also added a little salt when my nitrites were high, but I think it only made me feel better and not neccissarily the fishies.
