According to my LFS, adding water conditioner and BIO SPIRA (from marineland labs) to a new tank allows you to fully stock the tank THAT DAY?! Bio Spira (needs to be refrigerated) supposedly has all the nitrifying bacteria in it. No more cycling, can this be true?
Bio Spira
- Thread starter Beavo68
- Start date
DiXoN
Fish Fanatic
i have heard good reports about this product but i dont think its within the same day though.
the info i have had was a couple of days of testing the water and adding fish.
this works but the product cycle is supposed to be not so good.
dixon
the info i have had was a couple of days of testing the water and adding fish.
this works but the product cycle is supposed to be not so good.
dixon
jams.alaskan
Forum Fan
I'm still on the fence on that one - it's in a seeled container - how does it survive without O2
ALASKA
ALASKA
Hi Beavo68 
I've heard excellent things about BioSpira.
This is an entirely different thing than Cycle or other similar products. What you are doing when you add BioSpira to a tank is adding actual bacteria.
This is the same as seeding a tank with bacteria in the form of gravel or filter media from an established tank. This works, so adding it from a bottle should work too.
______
Hummm, jams.alaskan, that's a good point. Perhaps the refrigeration slows their metabolism down, or something like that?
I've heard excellent things about BioSpira.
This is an entirely different thing than Cycle or other similar products. What you are doing when you add BioSpira to a tank is adding actual bacteria.
This is the same as seeding a tank with bacteria in the form of gravel or filter media from an established tank. This works, so adding it from a bottle should work too.
______
Hummm, jams.alaskan, that's a good point. Perhaps the refrigeration slows their metabolism down, or something like that?
heresmike
Fish Addict
Well... I bought some Bio-Spira for my 29 gallon. And since I'm in the IT business, I like to test things out before turning it over to the users. So, after I added the Bio-Spira, I added a small amount of ammonia daily to see what would happen. From Marineland's claims, I was expecting to see a mini-cycle, with nitirites maybe reaching 2.0 and then ammo and nitrites settling down to 0 w/i a day or two after adding the product. In reality, the nitirites spiked at way over 5.0 (my test kit only goes to 5.0), and the cycle took 2 weeks.
I dunno... did Bio-Spira speed up the cycle process any? Or was it the filter media I added from another filter? Or does Bio-Spira detoxify the ammo and nitrites so that, even though nitrites went over 5.0, the fish would've been OK with those levels? Or was my Bio-Spira not properly refrigerated?
Too many questions!!
I hated to take the chance and just go ahead and believe the claims, and I'm somewhat glad I didn't.
Anyone else have any other experience on this product? I'm curious because I have some more in my fridge for the next tank.
I dunno... did Bio-Spira speed up the cycle process any? Or was it the filter media I added from another filter? Or does Bio-Spira detoxify the ammo and nitrites so that, even though nitrites went over 5.0, the fish would've been OK with those levels? Or was my Bio-Spira not properly refrigerated?Too many questions!!
I hated to take the chance and just go ahead and believe the claims, and I'm somewhat glad I didn't.
Anyone else have any other experience on this product? I'm curious because I have some more in my fridge for the next tank.
Bol
Fish Addict
After much research, I took a shot, and used it to start up a 46g tropical community tank.
Set up the tank with conditioned water, waited a day, then added Bio-Spira and what was probably, oh, a "2/3 maximum" fish load. My tank cycled (to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, ~10 nitrates) in nine days. The highest ammonia reading I got during that time (with daily testing) was less than 1.5 ppm. The highest nitrite reading I got was less than 1.0 ppm.
A few things I feel I should add:
1) The water conditioner I used was Marineland's Bio-Safe. Marineland is the company that makes Bio-Spira, and recently I've heard a few whiffs of rumors that Bio-Spira works better (or only works, according to a few people) if you use Marineland's conditioners (Bio-Safe or Bio-Coat). Like I said, just an inkling of a rumor, so I'd take that with a great big grain of salt.
2) I did see a minor nitrite spike (up to 0.5 ppm) about four or five weeks into the cycle. Two water changes, two days apart, and the nitrites went back down to zero, and have stayed there ever since (about seven months).
Whether this is due to the Bio-Spira is uncertain, because I was also experimenting with my filter cartridge cleaning routine during that time.
This is just a tale of what I experienced, one time. As always, your mileage may vary.
Set up the tank with conditioned water, waited a day, then added Bio-Spira and what was probably, oh, a "2/3 maximum" fish load. My tank cycled (to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, ~10 nitrates) in nine days. The highest ammonia reading I got during that time (with daily testing) was less than 1.5 ppm. The highest nitrite reading I got was less than 1.0 ppm.
A few things I feel I should add:
1) The water conditioner I used was Marineland's Bio-Safe. Marineland is the company that makes Bio-Spira, and recently I've heard a few whiffs of rumors that Bio-Spira works better (or only works, according to a few people) if you use Marineland's conditioners (Bio-Safe or Bio-Coat). Like I said, just an inkling of a rumor, so I'd take that with a great big grain of salt.
2) I did see a minor nitrite spike (up to 0.5 ppm) about four or five weeks into the cycle. Two water changes, two days apart, and the nitrites went back down to zero, and have stayed there ever since (about seven months).
Whether this is due to the Bio-Spira is uncertain, because I was also experimenting with my filter cartridge cleaning routine during that time.
This is just a tale of what I experienced, one time. As always, your mileage may vary.
It's good stuff. I volunteer at my LFS and we also do set-ups and maintenance for people. Whenever we set up a tank, we know that people can't wait to get the fish, so we use Bio Spira. Works well if you put in the full load of fish, that is because you have to have something producing ammonia to feed the bacteria so it doesn't all die. A common mistake is when someone adds Bio Spira thinking it'll only "speed up" the process but they don't add the fish. BIG NO-NO!!!
Socrates
Fish Fanatic
I used it. Put 12 fish in a 40 US gallon along with a 1.75 times over-dose of Bio-Spira.
No spikes of any kind, until a day after the mysterious disappearnce of a Neon (who was not unhealthy from any indications even earlier in the day before he vanished). I've still never found the body. That was about 8 days in and about 24 hours later there was a 1 ppm Ammonia spike, but a few Jungle tabs and poof, no problem.
On day 9 I also added 8 more fish (I added them not realizing the spike was occuring). A couple days later I added 3 more.
Anyway just this week (about a month in) I saw a random 1.0 ammonia spike and a corresponding nitrite spike of about .3. That has been going on about 3 days and is working itself out. The ammonia is gone and I expect by tommorrow the nitrite will be too. I think this spike is the result of some over zealous feeding, but I can't be sure... there is a lot of food stuck under the gravel and I've been holding off vacuuming so as not to interupt bacteria growth.
I used Bio-Safe to treat the water initially and I use Bio-Coat when I add fish or swap out a few gallons of water now and then.
Anyway, I dont' know if it's perfect, but it does seem to work. This many fish in an uncycled tank should be a death sentence, I think.
No spikes of any kind, until a day after the mysterious disappearnce of a Neon (who was not unhealthy from any indications even earlier in the day before he vanished). I've still never found the body. That was about 8 days in and about 24 hours later there was a 1 ppm Ammonia spike, but a few Jungle tabs and poof, no problem.
On day 9 I also added 8 more fish (I added them not realizing the spike was occuring). A couple days later I added 3 more.
Anyway just this week (about a month in) I saw a random 1.0 ammonia spike and a corresponding nitrite spike of about .3. That has been going on about 3 days and is working itself out. The ammonia is gone and I expect by tommorrow the nitrite will be too. I think this spike is the result of some over zealous feeding, but I can't be sure... there is a lot of food stuck under the gravel and I've been holding off vacuuming so as not to interupt bacteria growth.
I used Bio-Safe to treat the water initially and I use Bio-Coat when I add fish or swap out a few gallons of water now and then.
Anyway, I dont' know if it's perfect, but it does seem to work. This many fish in an uncycled tank should be a death sentence, I think.
Beavo68 said:
Yes and no. It contains both bacteria that are needed in aquarium: Nitrospira sp. and Nitrosomonas sp.. However, if you put a lot of fishes to your tank, I really don't know, does this small bottle contain enough bacteria. Probably no...
But Bio-Spira is now only product (I think) that really contains Nitrospira sp. bacteria other than other products contain Nitrobacter sp. bacteria that are "not" needed.
Jams.alaskan said:
As you can see from the side of the bottle, there is "best-before-date". The product is need to use as soon as possible after it has been manufactured. It lastes only couple week or so...
heresmike said:
That's very interesting. You should contact the company that produces this product and ask them about this. I haven't had any chance to testi it myself, because it is not sold here where I live. Have you tested overdosing? Does it help?
heresmike
Fish Addict
My package (a foil pouch, not a bottle) does not have a "best before date". The only thing I see is 02141 15D. This looks more like a lot number. Unless 02141 is a julian date... the 141st day of 2002, which would make it very old! Doubtful that it's a julian date however, since the package on Marinelabs website has what looks like "2022A 15D" stamped on the side. I sent an e-mail to Marinelab to ask about that.mrV said:
Where did you get the info that it only lasts a couple weeks after being manufactured? I heard 6 months from others, but cannot find anything related to this anywhere on Marineland's website.
TheWaterBoy
Fish Fanatic
Keep looking cause its on there. I believe its under FAQ's but I wil check and be sure. Here it is:
Bio Spira FAQ
a. Long Term Storage (1 year): 50°F (10°C)
b. Mid Term Storage (6 months): 39°F-87°F (4°C-31°C)
Really? One year? Even 6 months? Hmm... First time I read about BioSpira, it was said, that they don't send them over see because it lastes too long and the product will be unusable.TheWaterBoy said:
"heresmike" said:
Ah, I didn't remember that in usa they use those codes and no one really do know "when is best-before-date", only manufacturers.. Ask it from you lfs, they probably have those lists and they can check what that code means.
/www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/fo...ad.asp?id=20043Where the river goes
Fish Crazy
I've tried bio spira and wouldn't waste my money on it again.
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