Biospira tank cycle help!!!

Thats easy. Cycle simply doesn"t work. Hence,no need to refrigerate if the bacteria is already dead. They say its live but wron

Marinemom
 
proof please?


ohh i know!!! what type of magnification do you need to see the bactiria that do nitrification.

i think my father still has a 1000x microscope at his house from when he worke don them. i know at the least he has a 100x
 
I have had the opportunity to hear a presentation by Dr. Timothy A. Hovanec, the inventor of Biospira, at my local freshwater fish clubs. There is quite a bit of science behind Biospira. I have used it for a freshwater tank and it worked very well. He did seem to focus more on the freshwater side of the hobby with a little on saltwater. I think the freshwater Biospira product is more mature than the saltwater version.

I also get that impression when I hear about how successful Biospira is in freshwater compared to saltwater. If properly refrigerated, the freshwater Biospira seems to work about 80-90% of the time. I feel that Biospira is a product heading in the right direction. It actually does work most of the time (at least for freshwater) as opposed to the ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œbottled bacteriaââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ sitting on the shelf at room temperature. I think the saltwater version needs more research.
 
The biggest problem with bio-spira actually occours between the middle man and your LFS. A lot of time they will pack it with frozen foods to save on shipping, but this in turn can freeze the bio-spira, thus killing the live bacteria. Personally I favor the Prodibio system. They have products that can help you set up a reef, but it still takes time.

But with any reef system, nothing is instant. I am sure one day technology will get us there, but when that comes....





... I will still setup a tank the "old fashion" way which is tried and true. Live rock, and wait for it to cycle on it's own...





:)
 
I have been doing freshwater tanks for ten years and in December I started a saltwater reef. It has been my experience in all these years that cycle has never worked successfully for me or other people I know in this hobby. In some of the cases use of this product made things even worse causing bigger headaches.That's proof enough for me.

Marinemom
 
I just can't see the point of adding an expensive potion. The bacteria already exists on the LR.

Even in a fresh water set up it would be far cheaper and probably more reliable to use a piece of decoration or some filtration media from an established tank.

Besides, the bacteria require bio-load and increase/decrease in relation to it. So, if you add a vast number of bacteria they simply die without the required bio-load to sustain them.
 
I was with a friend who bought bio-spira. When he put it in his tank it smelled like rotten eggs. Is it supposed to smell like that?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7229935#post7229935 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Bluemorningwind
I just can't see the point of adding an expensive potion. The bacteria already exists on the LR.

Even in a fresh water set up it would be far cheaper and probably more reliable to use a piece of decoration or some filtration media from an established tank.

Besides, the bacteria require bio-load and increase/decrease in relation to it. So, if you add a vast number of bacteria they simply die without the required bio-load to sustain them.
Click to expand...

Right, that is why the instructions say to add fish 24 hours after adding Biospira. If you wait too long the bacteria will start to die. Yes you can add filter media from another tank but many people do not have access to another tank and I would not want to get it from the LFS.

I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t remember it smelling like rotten eggs so I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know if that is how it smells or not.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7230911#post7230911 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by emoore
Right, that is why the instructions say to add fish 24 hours after adding Biospira. If you wait too long the bacteria will start to die.
Click to expand...

If that's the case, what keeps it from dying in the bottle anywhere between the manufacturer and your tank (there are many stops along the way)?
I don't know for sure, but I have always doubted the value of bacteria in a bottle, live sand in a plastic bag or magic powders that make your corals color up and grow faster. I suppose my position could be somewhat one sided. I've seen some pretty incredible claims made, and when actually disected, the products were, well,........ search for SANO or Aco equalizer for example.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7231030#post7231030 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DgenR8
If that's the case, what keeps it from dying in the bottle anywhere between the manufacturer and your tank (there are many stops along the way)?
I don't know for sure, but I have always doubted the value of bacteria in a bottle, live sand in a plastic bag or magic powders that make your corals color up and grow faster. I suppose my position could be somewhat one sided. I've seen some pretty incredible claims made, and when actually disected, the products were, well,........ search for SANO or Aco equalizer for example.
Click to expand...

You have to keep Biospira refrigerated. I agree that bacteria in a bottle or in a bag stored at room temperature will only have dead bacteria. Biospira needs to be kept cold at all times. According to the inventor keeping the bacteria cold keeps the bacteria ââ"šÂ¬Ã…"œinactiveââ"šÂ¬Ã‚ for a certain amount of time.

I do believe it works but there are many variables that can make it go wrong. I think proper storage is the number one cause of it not working.

Yes I agree that there are a lot of snake oil products out there but I think Biospria at least has some research behind it.
 
You shouldn't need to add fish within 24 hours to keep the bacteria alive. A saltwater system with live rock has plenty of metabolism underway. The instructions aren't making any sense to me. Live rock lasts far longer than that, although feeding is a good idea.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7232023#post7232023 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bertoni
You shouldn't need to add fish within 24 hours to keep the bacteria alive. A saltwater system with live rock has plenty of metabolism underway. The instructions aren't making any sense to me. Live rock lasts far longer than that, although feeding is a good idea.
Click to expand...

My experience has been with new freshwater systems, thus no live rock. I agree you probably donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t have to add the fish within 24 hours if you have live rock. But you need to feed the bacteria eventually.

I donââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢t know how good it would work with saltwater with live rock. I do not use it for my saltwater tanks nor on any of my freshwater tanks since I can seed a new tank with filter media from an established tank. My point is that the time that I used it on a new freshwater tank it worked very well.
 
I don't keep FW systems, so I'm commenting only on the use in saltwater systems, especially those with live rock.
 
There seems little point adding this expensive potion if you need to add fish to maintain the population of bacteria. You may as well just add fish without the potion. The bacteria will end up at the same point with or without the potion.

I guess you might assume that the potion is active and actually working and therefor the fish suffer less shock (stress) and you feel good about adding them.

Whatever the case, within a short time we end up at the same point, except I didn't pay a goodsom sum for a magic potion.

Also, I have no problem at all adding mature filter media from a LFS that I trust. I'm willing to put their livestock/rock in my tank, so no difference at all.
 
This is why I read more threads than I post.

As a newbie you want someone to HELP you out and for the most part people on this site rip you a new one for MAKING A MISTAKE! that they have probably made themselves. Calling people a twit for buying something that "in theory" makes perfect sense is something only twits do.

There are really helpfull people on this site that are willing to help a fellow reefer out, but there are more people too quick to criticize, and this does more harm than good for someone seeking help.
 
its called OTS ( old thread syndrom ) ohh yeah you know thats a good one!

id like to get manufacturer opinions from the cylce people and ask " why doent yours need ot be cold yet bio spira does"


anyways its not killing the tank so its probobly doing more good then harm
 
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