Ok so heres the problem. 2 weeks ago I setup my tank. one week later I added some bio-spira with the fish. Tank cycled fine for like a day, So I added 6 little fish in the tank. Ammonia went to like .50 and almost to 1.0 nitiretsat 0 and nitrates at .25 so I did a water change about 30gal. waited about a day then took another reading ammonia still at 1.0 and now nitrites up to .50 and nitrates are still at 5.0. So I changed out another 30 gal and waited again took more test readings still the same. water out of my tap is 0 for everything. Now If I add more bios spira would that help the cycle along or would I just be wasteing my cash
Water Problems
- Thread starter syntax357
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even when you add biospira there is a biological process going on- the amonia eating variety have to poop nitrite before the nitrite bacteria will have anything to eat and both have to grow thier numbers to match the amount of fish in your tank the fact that you have seen nitrite and nitrate means that your cycle is happening- keep doing 20% water changes every other day until it levels out and remember that every time you add fish you're going to have a mini cycle
Sounds like you got a bad batch of bio-spira. I'd take a water sample to the LFS and raise a stink to get a refund (new pack) and add it right away.
have you checked to make sure the test itself isn't the problem? and does your water have a lot of chloramines- if your water conditioner is nuetralizing chloramines it creates amonia which it should then nuetralize also however it will show up on you test until the biofilter has eaten it
and i thought it was a bad batch of biospira but then i realized that if it were a bad batch (ie all bacteria is dead) then you wouldn't have nitrite or nitrate ---and you have both
and i thought it was a bad batch of biospira but then i realized that if it were a bad batch (ie all bacteria is dead) then you wouldn't have nitrite or nitrate ---and you have both
I think it would be alright to add more biospira and wait 24 hours test again and see if there's improvement- if your levels are still high do a water change again
I have never used bio-spira(no where around here will carry it :rant: )but it is my understanding that you are not supposed to do any water changes for a certain period of time after adding it to your tank? Just thought I'd through in my thoughts. 
Nothing wrong with the Bio Spira. The problem is that you added more fish. You're supposed to add the FULL load when you add the Bio Spira, and not add fish a day later.
So what's happened is that your tank cycled in 24 hours and a lot of the excess bacteria died. All that was there was enough to support the fish you had in, plus probably a few stragglers. That's what's supposed to happen.
Then you dumped more fish in and taxed a very fragile and immature biofilter. When you did the water change, you removed any stragglers that were trying to establish themselves.
Now your tank is re-cycling.
Yes, get more Bio Spira. Change the water -- 50%. Add the Bio Spira. DO NOT ADD ANY MORE FISH Do NOT change the water for 48 hours. If after 48hours the tank has not cycled, then you need to start doing water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites under control until it finishes cycling.
Once your tank reads ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~10ppm, then it is cycled. Do NOT change the water for 5-7 days after it is finished cycling. Do not add fish until at least 2 weeks after it has cycled, and at that point only add 1 or 2 per week.
Roan
So what's happened is that your tank cycled in 24 hours and a lot of the excess bacteria died. All that was there was enough to support the fish you had in, plus probably a few stragglers. That's what's supposed to happen.
Then you dumped more fish in and taxed a very fragile and immature biofilter. When you did the water change, you removed any stragglers that were trying to establish themselves.
Now your tank is re-cycling.
Yes, get more Bio Spira. Change the water -- 50%. Add the Bio Spira. DO NOT ADD ANY MORE FISH
Do NOT change the water for 48 hours. If after 48hours the tank has not cycled, then you need to start doing water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrites under control until it finishes cycling.Once your tank reads ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates ~10ppm, then it is cycled. Do NOT change the water for 5-7 days after it is finished cycling. Do not add fish until at least 2 weeks after it has cycled, and at that point only add 1 or 2 per week.
Roan
Like Roan said, DO NOT CHANGE WATER FOR AT LEAST 48 HOURS AFTER YOU USE BIO-SPIRA. the bacteria you are trying to colonize to your filter media is still free-swimming trying to find an oxygen rich enviroment (in the water, of course) to colonize. if you changed water before that, you might as well put the bio-spira in the toilet. BTW how big is your tank to be changing 30G of water???