josephtsui

If i have a bio- spira, and i have a tank of declorinated water, and a running filter.
Should I just add the bio- spira, or should i add food flakes to increase the quantity of ammonia contained in the water?

please list out the detail procedure of the using bio- spira please.

pinkfloydpuffer

Usually I've heard that you should add fish immediately after adding biospira. At least make sure to add some sort of ammonia source or the bacteria will just die.

josephtsui

what the bio- spira actually is?
nitrate??
anyone who used it before can tell me how much does it speed up the cycle?

Shawnie

Hi josephtsui..bs is the active beneficial live bacteria you need for a cycle...you add the bio spira with your fish..wait a week to 10 days and test your water parimeters and go from there as far as your maintenance ..goodluck!

Lucy

The beneficial bacteria turns the nitrites into nitrates.

josephtsui

are u sure that u can put the fish in immediately after adding the bio- spira?

pinkfloydpuffer

Yes definitely. If the bacteria doesn't have a source of ammonia it will die.

josephtsui

but i have heard of waiting for some days before i put the fish in..

Lucy

What do the directions say to do?

Shawnie

the bacteria in the bs need the ammonia from the fish food/waste to survive..

josephtsui

but should i only give food flakess to feed the bacteria?

pinkfloydpuffer

You could. or you could put fish in. Just something needs to feed the bacteria.

josephtsui

but is there a greater risk of having a dead fish??
does the bio- spira created to sustain the bio- load of the fish?? 2 angelfihs and cory?

and are there ammmonia and nitrite in tap water??

pinkfloydpuffer

there shouldn't be, but you could always test it. sometimes there's nitrates.

If i remember right the biospira comes in different sizes, and says on the package how many gallons it's good for.

josephtsui

that's pretty much what i need to know...
however, in ur experiences, does it realy work?

pinkfloydpuffer

I've heard of alot of forum members who used is successfully. I haven't used it myself, but there are many who have.

Shawnie

in my experience, it saved my fishies lifes..and yes does work when cycleing with fish...

without fish, you must feed the tank for the week - 10 days to give the bacteria some source of ammonia

josephtsui

i don't really understand, why would u need 10 days to feed them if u dont have ffihs, when u can actually put the fish in immediately?

Shawnie

when you add bio spira, your suppose to add fish with it...wait 7-10 days to test your water parimeters then do maintenance changes according to your water test results...

you said you might want to do it without fish so that means the bacteria wont have any thing to feed it so you must feed the tank for the 7-10 days so the bio spira can cycle the tank...

does that make more sense?

josephtsui

yey, realy really thanks a lot
i think i will add the BS and wait for 1-2 days to let them stabalize and add fish.
thanks you everyone

Shawnie

it wont stablize without fish or fish food to go with it.....if I was you id add the bio spira and the fish, then sit back for 7-10 days and enjoy your fishies

josephtsui

i would like to do that as well, but i am jsut a bit afraid that in some ways the fish can't sustain the water... i will check all the pH, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate after adding the BS, and if they are fine, i will got for the fish!

Shawnie

josephtsui...once you add the bs, you DO NOT check anything for a week ...you will freak out trust me ...

bio spira will die without the fish or fish food so if you feel better without the fish, just make sure you feed the tank after you add the bio spira at least twice a day about a pinch each feeding...

jdhef

If you don't supply a source of ammonia (either store bought ammonia, fish food that decays and produces ammonia or fish who constantly produce ammonia) the beneficial bacteria that converts the ammonia into nitrates will have nothing to eat, and will starve to death. Then, since there was no ammonia converted to nitrites, the bacteria that eats nitrites and coverts them to nitrates will starve to death and die off. At which case your back to square one.

BioSpira and Safe Start are actually just bottles of the bacteria that eats ammonia, and eats nitrites. So once you add it to your tank, the bacteria is there, it doesn't have to build up slowly over the course of several weeks. That's how it instantly cycles your tank.

I have used it in the past, and it worked pretty well, except that after one week I checked my parameters and found I had low levels of nitrite present. So I had to do 50% water changes for a few days until the nitrites zeroed out. I think my problem was due to treating my water with Stress Coat. I bought the BioSpira after filling my tank, and once I got the BioSpira home and read the directions on the package they had a specific water conditioner that they recommended.

josephtsui

once i set out the tank with gravel and wood and stuff but without fish, would there be any ammonia and nitrite?

jdhef

There shouldn't be, unless for some reason your tap water contains it. Ammonia is introduced into the tank by fish waste. The bacteria that eats the ammonia grows slower than the amount of ammonia that the fish produce. So eventually the ammonia concentration can grow so high that it will kill your fish. But at some point there will be enough bacteria to consume all of the ammonia and convert it to nitrites.

The purpose of cycling without fish is so that you spike the ammonia without harming any fish since there are none in the tank.

BioSpira/SafeStart on the other hand just puts all the bacteria needed to eat ammonia and nitrate all at once, so there is no lag time for the growth of bacteria.

dinatwin

jdhef Great Explanation!!

josephtsui

thanks a lot, i think i will add fish with the bio spira at the same time.

pinkfloydpuffer

Good choice. Best of luck to you!

Steve420

I've used Tetra SafeStart to cycle my tank (which I have heard is the same as Bio-Spira) and had good results.

As everyone else has mentioned, without adding some source of Ammonia right away, all the beneficial bacteria in BS will die off. I wouldn't worry too much about your fish being able to survive in the water. I cycled my tank with a school of neon tetras and all are happy and healthy,

One other thing to keep in mind is that I've heard not to use Prime water conditioner with BS or Safestart. Apparently, these counter-act each other. There is a really good thread about it on here, which has information directly from a BS rep. I used Prime to treat my water, but waited about 2-3 days before I added my SafeStart.

Good luck and keep us posted!

EDIT: here is the link to the Bio-Spira/Prime thread
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aq...bio-spira.html