Question On Bio-spira

[saturnal]

First off, I should say that this isn't a poll to see who likes Bio Spira and who doesn't. I just want to get your thoughts about my situation because, I don't have a good enough explanation for what's happening with my cycle.

So I'm cycling a 30-gallon freshwater tank. Here's exactly what I've done so far:

1. I filled the tank with dechlorinated water. I used a regular conditioner with nothing in it that would affect the ammonia level one way or the other.

2. I put in some gravel and rocks that I had washed.

3. I turned on the heater and filter (Fluval 404), and let it run for about a day. Note: this filter was bought used, and I didn't replace the bio media in hopes it might help start the cycle. I asked the person if they had any disease in their tank where this filter was used and they said no. So I took their word for it.

4. I added about 20 drops of ammonia (10% solution from Ace Hardware) at a time until the level was brought to about 4ppm. This took a total of 120 drops.

5. I added 1 oz. of Bio-Spira about 12 hours after adding the ammonia. I figured if it contains bacteria like Marineland says, then it could be used as a good seeder.

6. About 10 hours later, I tested the levels in the tank which were:

Ammonia = 3-4ppm
Nitrite = 0.25ppm
Nitrate = 10ppm

7. I was rather shocked that the nitrate was already at 10, so I tested my tap water for it, and it showed zero nitrate.

So this isn't really making sense to me. If Bio-Spira really does have active bacteria in it, I could believe that the ammonia could be slightly down and the nitrite slightly up. But the nitrate level seems really high considering it was only 10 hours into the cycle when I tested. I didn't test the levels this morning, which would've been around 18 hours into the cycle, because I wanted to wait a full day.

The person I bought the filter from said they hadn't run the tank in a couple weeks. So I figured most of the bacteria in the filter media would've died during that time (if not all of it).

So again, I dunno. Does anyone have an explanation for these levels? Maybe I'm just paranoid? Does Bio-Spira really work this fast?

 

[saturnal]

Ok, so maybe I'm not paranoid. I just performed the water tests again now that it's been 24 hours into the cycle and they are:

ammonia = 2ppm
nitrite = 0.5ppm
nitrate = 20ppm

So I assume if the nitrite never spikes and the ammonia keeps going down while the nitrate keeps going up, the tank is basically already cycled and just needs to clear out the initial ammonia spike I dosed it with. Yikes.

 

[ncjharris]

There is, somewhere, a post on cycling with Bio-spira, with readings, discussions etc. It was started before Xmas, but I can't for the life of me think where. Hang on......

 

[saturnal]

There is, somewhere, a post on cycling with Bio-spira, with readings, discussions etc. It was started before Xmas, but I can't for the life of me think where. Hang on......

Yeah I'd be interested in finding that thread. But I'm happy to say my tank is just about cycled in 3 days time.

After 2 days:
- Ammonia = 1ppm
- Nitrite = 4-5ppm
- Nitrate = 30-40ppm

After 3 days:
- Ammonia = 0ppm
- Nitrite = 0.5ppm
- Nitrate = 80+ppm

Again, I bought the filter that was used in an already-cycled tank, so I can't credit Bio-Spira for this 100%, but I think it did help.

 

[Torrean]

the bacteria in that filter is almost definitly dead. I'd definitly credit biospira with this. Out of curiousity was the filter left dry or in the water? If it was in the water was it running?

 

[pokagon55]

If the filter media was without a food sorce and oxygen the you can be pretty sure the bacteria was dead. The bio-spira works very well. I know that for sure after trashing my bio-filter with Malichite Green. I used that stuff and it worked in about three days.

 

[saturnal]

the bacteria in that filter is almost definitly dead. I'd definitly credit biospira with this. Out of curiousity was the filter left dry or in the water? If it was in the water was it running?

The filter had not been running for 2 weeks, but the canister still had water in it I think. When I went to pick it up, it was next to the sink, like it had just been emptied.

 

[Araxen]

the bacteria in that filter is almost definitly dead. I'd definitly credit biospira with this. Out of curiousity was the filter left dry or in the water? If it was in the water was it running?

The filter had not been running for 2 weeks, but the canister still had water in it I think. When I went to pick it up, it was next to the sink, like it had just been emptied.

It's definately the bio-spira. I just cycled my 15 gallon tank in 3 days with it. I used a whole thing of "up to 90 gallon" treatment in my tank since it said you couldn't overdose and my levels today are:
- Ammonia = 0ppm
- Nitrite = 0ppm
- Nitrate = 80+ppm

I setup my tank on Saturday with sand substrate and let my bio-wheel filter clean out all the sand floating around. My bio-spira arrived from aquariumplants.com on Wednesday. I put the bio-spira in soon as UPS dropped it off on my porch. I went a couple hours later to the LFS and bought 4 tiger barbs. The day next day my readings were simliar but with a little ammonia and nitrite(don't know the exact numbers off hand). I saw some albino barbs at wal-mart and I picked up two of them and put them in about an hour after I let them sit in the bag in the tank.

So atm, I have 6 tigers barbs and so far a cycle tanked after 3 days. Soon as they grow big enough I'll move them on to a bigger tank and add some green tigers to complete my collection. =)

 

[GaryHug24]

I used Bio-Spira as well on my new 30 gal tank. Have not seen any cycle issues with 6 fish. I put (at the recomendation of my LFS) the fish and the Bio in at the same time after declorinating for 24 hours and letting the temp get up to 78. I am bringing my water in to the LFS on Satureday for a test before adding the second round of fish.