New 29G

[crazywolf]

I need some opinions and advice. My LFS gave me a pack of bio-spira for my 29g I'm going to move most of the fish in the 2 tanks listed below to this once it's cycled.

However my LFS suggested putting the bio-spira in with 3-4 fish to help get it going. Everything I've read says this should be fine. He was saying that the bio-spira won't build up enough bacteria to support moving all my fish over right off the bat. What's your take on this?


Also I am thinking of moving all the fish except the black skirt's. How does this sound? I know the black skirts get bigger than I expected. I will just leave them in the 12g for now.

 

[tstenback]

I think that would be fine pick something hardy like the danios and put 5-6 in there with it.
Not sure how the barbs and the neons will get along but im sure others here have been in that situation and could shed some light on those 2 species being together. HTH

 

[crazywolf]

Actually when i just had the 12 gallon they were all in together. The 6 barbs get along fine I have 2 large 2.5" and 4 1" ones that follow the big ones everywhere. I only had 3 neon's though now I have 6.

 

[jams.alaskan]

You should be fine for a while. Do let us know how you get on with the bio-spira. I had barbs (green) with neons and never had any problems between them. Perhaps others have had trouble, I don't know.

ALASKA

 

[crazywolf]

The bio-spira is awesome. I have been fighting the cycle in the overstocked 10g and 12g for awhile now and 12 hours after adding the bio-spira to the 10g I started getting nitrite readings. I doubt it's a coincedence. I also added it to my 29g last night and added 4 of my danio's so we will see how fast the tank cycles. I'm taking readings about every 12 hours.

 

[crazywolf]

Just a quick update. When I setup the 29g I added bio-spira waited about an hour and put 4 Zebra Danio's in. I check the ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte levels 2-3 times a day. The ammonia never got very high. I would wait 2 days then add a few more fish allowing the bip-spira to adjust. Well the tank is completely cycled now. I get ammonia 0, nitrIte 0, nitrate 20ppm. I now have the fish listed in my sig in the 29g and everyone is doing awesome. Also no fish suffered as my ammonia never got above .5 Although it helped kick start my other 2 tanks because they were already loaded down it wasn't until I brought the bio-load down quite a bit that they finished thier cycles. Now everything is rocking. I will still test 2 times a day until I feel secure that no spikes are coming. Then I will move to 2-3 times a week of testing instead. I would definitely recommend the bio-spira to anyone. Though I have heard on here that it's hard to get while they make more, my lfs had plenty and said he can still get plenty.

EDIT: Forgot to say I also do did daily 15-20% water changes on the 2 little tanks. I did 25% changes every other day on the 29g tank.

 

[Nina7777]

congrats on your success!

i used to see Bio-SPira everywhere, but now i never see it.

WOuld like to get my hand on some though for my 10 gallon!