Marineland Bio-spira

[snow_mink87]

I saw some good reviews on this cycling product, but wanted to get the forum's opinion on it. You can see the link for it here. All the other cycling products I've seen and heard about sound like total crap. How is it that refrigeration keeps the bacteria alive?
Thanks.
Morgan

 

[fish-aholic]

In my opinion these "auto-cycling" products are crap. I used one and my tank still cycled at the regular speed. There is no way you can start a colony of bacteria with a few drops of a liquid. All you can do is add ammonia and let nature do its thing.

 

[Amunet]

The bacteria stuff on most petstore shelves is junk...
Bio-Spira is different though b/c it is actually live bacteria, which is why you have to keep it refrigerated. This can be bad though b/c you could get a batch that's old so all the bacteria is dead, or a batch where it wasn't properly stored so.. all the bacteria is dead.

I myself have had no luck with bio-spira, however I don't think it's b/c of the product but b/c of the pH in our tanks being extremely low so the bacteria in the BS didn't work. *shrugs*

If you have the money to spend, you could always give it a try

 

[Will91]

I believe BioSpira is a fantastic product developed by a company that exclusively manufactures aquarium products. It contains two types of beneficial bacteria - one to process ammonia and the other to process nitrite. That way, when you add it at the same time as a few fish to get started, both important types of bacteria are there and ready to process the ammonia and nitrite. This is why a few fish, or ammonia, must be added at nearly the same time as the biospira to keep the BB alive. I used it and it performed exactly as promised. There was some recent discussion on BioSpira about two weeks ago so you might try a search. Try the MarineLand website and enter your zip code for local dealers. It is important it is kept refirgerated before use or if you get it online (Dr Foster Smith is a good one) double check that they ship with a cold pack.

 

[bordercollie05]

I saw some good reviews on this cycling product, but wanted to get the forum's opinion on it. You can see the link for it here. All the other cycling products I've seen and heard about sound like total crap. How is it that refrigeration keeps the bacteria alive?
Thanks.
Morgan

Hi, I just cycled my 28 gallon tank with biospria very sucessfully in about ten days. I've heard you should add all of your fish immediately, but I just added one and then increased it little by little like you would when cycling with fish. I never saw any spikes as I added fish though. I think the key thing is to be sure the product has been kept cold during shipping and storing in the pet store. Luckily my LFS knew all about handling it and even reminded me to go straight home with it and get it into the tank or fridge.

 

[snow_mink87]

So is BioSpira the only product that seems to work, or are there any others? Also, for cycling, is there any fish-specific ammonia products you can use for your tank that has precise dosing?
Thanks.
Morgan

 

[andywg]

Bio-Spira is the only one that truly works.

Bactinettes seems to handle Ammonia, but doesn't have the correct bacteria for dealing with nitrites.