Please explain why Bio-Spira doesn't Work

[adova]

So, I have listened to the posts for years about how you cannot bypass the cycle for new tanks and I religiously added ammonia, dead shrimp or whatever to cycle a tank.

Recently, I had a bad Velvet outbreak and had to move my fish to a QT that was not established. Within a day or two, ammonia was off the charts. I did water changes and added Bio-Spira and the tank "cycled" and ammonia has never been a problem since. Other params stayed in check as well.

Why is this not an option for a new DT? What downsides am I missing?

Shawn

[thegrun]

Honestly many of the bacteria in a bottle products out there now are quite good. The bad reputation comes from years ago when that was not the case, most of what was available even 5 years ago was mostly snake oil. I think it is still a good idea for those new to the hobby to go through a natural cycle for a better understanding of the biology and chemistry involved, but I know in a pinch Dr. Tim's One and Only will cycle a tank in a few days.

[BigBlueTang]

Honestly many of the bacteria in a bottle products out there now are quite good. The bad reputation comes from years ago when that was not the case, most of what was available even 5 years ago was mostly snake oil. I think it is still a good idea for those new to the hobby to go through a natural cycle for a better understanding of the biology and chemistry involved, but I know in a pinch Dr. Tim's One and Only will cycle a tank in a few days.


I agree.
I use Bio spira for all of my QT's, but I let my DT cycle normally, as it was my first tank. Just dropped in a raw shrimp. It was fun, but excruciatingly slow :)

[Brieninsac]

I cycled my DT with Bio-spira in a week. I also use when starting up my QT.

[reefbroao]

Every time I've used bottled bacteria it has worked. I wouldn't even try if its a totally un-cycled tank though.

[adova]

I am glad to see so many responses. I would like to note, that I got mine from Amazon at about $11 (or so) for the big bottle if my memory serves correct. As I said, I originally got this for QT, but since I re-booted the DT, I am going to give it a shot and will post back some detailed results for the record...

I suppose I will dose with pure ammonia to 2ppm and record it. I will let it "simmer" for a day and then add the bio-spira. I will then record by the day (Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate) and report...

[Ou8me2]

The only product I can speak about is Dr. Tim's One & Only Nitrifying Bacteria. it's legit stuff and I have been in the hobby since the late 90's. So I think the fun of cycling a tank wears off after a few tanks. :rollface:

[A.Astore]

I am with you here. If you have nothing to die off your rocks (you cured your dry rock for example which I did in Brutes so there was absolutely no die off because if went immediately from Brute to DT) and add enough of the BioSpira I see no reason BioSpira would not place the bacteria in the tank which is what you are waiting to build up during the cycle. You have no die off, have active bacteria sitting there that has not been overloaded with die off, don't see how you have to wait. I literally had no spike in the DT when I set it up. I put two of the large bottles of Biospira in (bought off Amazon as well) to help populate on the suspended on the sand to cause it to settle but figured if it helps populate the bacteria in general awesome. I have had absolutely no issues with water parameters and even feed fairly heavy due to having a sun polyp coral and needing to fend off the scavengers that act like they never eat when I am feeding it. I don't know that I would rely completely on it alone if I was getting wet rock shipped to me and there being a large die off from it; however, I don't have experience using it in that way.

I am a firm believer in the stuff though and have successfully added livestock to the tank even without the lengthy cycle thanks to BioSpira with no issues. The key to it though may be you can't start with rock that will have large amounts of decay.

[iReef1234]

I personally can't bring myself to buy bottles of bacteria when I can eventually grow my own. I take it the bottled bacteria is for speeding things up rather than really being necessary?

[iReef1234]

And back in the day when I started reefing the bottled bacteria was akin to "betta water". It was indeed snake oil. Maybe that's why I'm leery.

[Spar]

I personally can't bring myself to buy bottles of bacteria when I can eventually grow my own. I take it the bottled bacteria is for speeding things up rather than really being necessary?

correct, it is in no way necessary. you could just stick in some raw shrimp and let the bacteria grow on its own, over a 4-6 week period or so. of course, you would need to add bacteria from something like live rock or media from someone else's tank to get it started.

the main goal to speeding it up is that you can add fish much quicker. if you recall back in the day, people would add fish to get the cycle going, which is extremely cruel to the fish going through the ammonia spikes. having no fish for 4-6 weeks is pretty boring (albeit, I am at 3 months with no fish right now....).

I used bacteria in a bottle 10-15 years ago and it still seemed to work fine for me even back then.

[boostedvq]

I did the raw shrimp method when I first setup my tank. However after upgrading tanks, I added the bottled bacteria after I moved all live rock and livestock from the old dt, to trash cans, then to the new DT. even though I minimized the time the rocks were out of the water, I used the bacteria for piece of mind. Didn't lose any livestock doing this.

Hope that helped.

[rffanat1c]

I've used it a few times. Works just fine, but it's never been as instant as it says for me. I still see ammonia and nitrites for about 3-5 days (I use straight ammonia to start the cycle with bio spira). I would never stick fish straight in with it because my tests showed those two elements were still there days after adding the bacteria but yes it has taken weeks off my cycle. However that's still no excuse to start stocking like a mad man!! Slow is still key there.

[moatdaddy]

I used seachem seed, first time using it. tested regularly for ammonia, zero since day one and stayed that way. no spike. These work. If you are questioning it, don't imo. Bacteria is able to packed into a bottle now, good enough for me. i have used 2 different types multiple times. no issues. just set up a new 300 gallon system and cycling thru my nitrate and phosphate.

When thinking about how this works it is rather basic. Ammonia is a problem, but we can solve it with ammonia converting bacteria. As long as we keep nitrate and phosphates in check after the conversion we have a stable system for a QT.

I used seed this time for bacteria, and have an ATS(Algae Turf Scrubber) for the export removal of nitrate and phosphate. I would do this on QT and DT for both purposes. While i also recommend a protein skimmer even on a QT it may not be feasible or budgeted. That is what i love about the ATS, a small pump, some pvc and then cheap lights should get you some export at a lower cost.

[reefbroao]

By no means am I trying to argue but I don't see why I would wait 4-6 weeks when I've successfully started 2 tanks with bottled bacteria that had no cycle what so ever. I've had other tanks cycle forever and it's just grueling. It's like not wearing crutches because hey, your leg will heal sometime right? It costs under $20, there's just a non-existent risk and an enormous reward. I guess I'm just blessed to be in my 20's so I never dealt with the junky phases of these products.