Bacteria in a bottle

[bertoni]

I've used bio-Spira and dr tims and ammonia a couple of times, shortened the cycle and worked great for me. The stuff works.

How do you know it did anything?

Generally, the people who bash it haven't tried it and are "purists".

Personal attacks don't belong in the forums.

Some people use these products and think they work; others are sure that they don't work. I haven't seen any good evidence either way, for at least some products, anyway. Some have been checked under a microscope with negative results.

 

[chucko]

I can only share my own experience. I used fritz turbo start and about 4-5lbs of (maybe) live rock in my 120. Never saw ammonia spike, but I did get nitrites. I probably just missed the ammonia as I wasn't testing every day. About a week later I had nitrates which also dropped off. One and half weeks after initially adding adding water, I added my first fish and coral. Next week, moved another fish over from qt. Following week, a pair of clowns, followed by a couple more fish and coral. So about 6 weeks after first adding water, I've got about 7-8 and probably 2 dozen coral/frags. At some point I also added a Sherman bta(too good of a deal to pass up). I've had it over a month already. Only issue I have is my GSP won't grow and one fish (smaller Cardinal of a pair) got bullied and stopped eating .

 

[tmz]

I think people spend a lot of time trying to figure out what exactly bottled bacteria is and isn't when all that matters is if it actually enhances the strength/effectiveness of the cycle.


The worst that can happen is it doesn't work, right?

If the product includes heterotrophic bacteria and/or decaying material( organics from non viable bacteria) it may actually slow the development of ammonia oxidizing bacteria via competition by the extra heterotrophs which will take up the ammonia until the organics are exhausted.

 

[jevolk]

I am actually trying Dr Tims at this time . I totaly torn down my 180 , replaced the the crushed coral with 140lbs of sand added 75lbs 0f dry rock cleaned every nook and crannie. Basically starting over. the 85lds of rock i had was in a bin with water and a pump . i scrubbed all that ,it had to much algae build up, another reason for the tear down. so did aquascape filled with fresh saltwater and turned on the pumps. I let filter run for a week then added dr tims. according to directions. so I started testing ammonia and nitrite but was getting no readings . so i thought well maybe I cleaned the rock to well and there was no life left on them , so I started this weekend ammonia cycling ,(i have no fish in this system) doing a fishless cycle. bringing my ammonia level to 2ppm on thursday. i tested today the ammonia did lower down to 1ppm. so time will tell with this method.

 

[CStrickland]

If the product includes heterotrophic bacteria and/or decaying material( organics from non viable bacteria) it may actually slow the development of ammonia oxidizing bacteria via competition by the extra heterotrophs which will take up the ammonia until the organics are exhausted.

That's a good point, and it highlights a weakness in the discussion - it's really hard to talk about efficacy without knowing what is even in the bottles and what it's claiming to do. IIRC dr tim sounded like he was selling just nitrifiers, but I watched a while ago.

 

[jevolk]

I feel these products are worth at least trying so no use of fish to put under the stress of a cycle is needed.

 

[bertoni]

There's no need to use fish in any case. A bit of fish food will do the job.

 

[jevolk]

I agree

 

[tmz]

Fish should not be exposed to ammonia ;aquatic life is very sensitive to it. It burns cells and damages organs like the gills and eyes in trace concentrations as low as .25ppm. Levels during the nitrification cyle go well beyond that and are harmful to living things placed in an aquarium before the cyle is complete; ie, undetectable ammonia for a week or more.

 

[motohead400]

I cycled my 125 gallon system with 120+ lbs of dry rock in 2 weeks adding pure ammonia and using the Dr. Smith Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I could dose to 4ppm ammonia and have 0 ammonia and nitrites in 24 hours at the end of that time. I've never cycled a system otherwise so I can't say for sure if the bacteria in a bottle helped or not though, but from what I've read it usually takes longer than that.

 

[jevolk]

I started my cycle on thanksgiving morning. With ammonia starting level was 2.0ppm. As of last night I am down to .5 ppm. But a week prior to thanksgiving I put in dr tims . Time is the key.

 

[Mrs. Music]

I have used StartSmart just 3 weeks ago to help cycle a 125g QT. The stuff works, I had been pouring pure ammonia in the tank for a week straight, so much in fact the ammonia was over 10ppm. I added some start smart and 2 days later the ammonia was at .5, one day later it was at 0. I pour ammonia in the tank every other day and it's not detectable 24 hrs later. Fish will be going in soon.

I had a similar experience with Stability during a treatment in my QT.

 

[laga77]

I started the cycle for my new 120G FOWLR on 12-2 and it was completed yesterday morning 12-14. I used half of a small bottle of Dr Tim`s that was left over from my Seahorse tank and has been in the freezer since Sept. I also used a small bottle of Bio-Spira on 12-4, because I was not confident the Dr Tim`s was still good. Total cost of ammonia and bacteria was $28 for two tanks.