Bio Spira Does it work for freshwater fish

[little fry]

I was just wondering does this bio spira stuff work for freshwater fish cause i've been looking for it and it say marine tanks so just asking

 

[Joeyb1731]

no bio spira does not work for freshwater tanks. the stuff you would get would be safe start by tetra. It does work, i used it with success but even though it says add fish right away, u can only add 1 fish. And MAKE SURE its kept in the fridge, if its not then dont buy it.

 

[homebunnyj]

If you can only add one fish, how is that any different from fish-in cycling??

 

[chrispar0323]

all that crap seems to be a waste, just like the other product you asked about in previous post, just cycle a tank the like youve read on miss fishys site

 

[Joeyb1731]

its not really much different then a fish in, except i guess you can say with less stress on the fish then if you didnt use it.

 

[Scooper]

If you're using a product like Bio Spira then use Seechem Stability. It costs half the amount of Bio and works great. I just used it and cycled my tank extremely quickly.

 

[emmanuelchavez]

I've used BioSpira, and if used properly, it works. It's been discontinued though, and Tetra bought the rights to it, so they redeveloped the formula and doesn't need to be kept in a fridge. It works well if used correctly too.

 

[Joeyb1731]

i wouldnt trust anything thats not in the fridge. It is live bacteria. live bacteria can not live at room temp on a shelf for months. The reason it was kept in the fridge is to keep the bacteria alive.

 

[ValRasbora]

Just wondering how much gravel from my ten gallon should I add to my 20 to help it cycle? I added about a 1/4 cup or so. I don't completely understand cycling... can anyone help plz?

 

[Joeyb1731]

if you read through all the stickys you should be able to figure it out. missfishys is the best but quickly. Cycling a tank is building up proper levels of bacteria to break down ammonia and nitrites in your tank, most levels of ammonia and nitrite are hazardous to fish. cycling is the process of adding ammonia to the tank until the bacteria forms and breaks ammonia down into nitrIte, then it eventually breaks nitrite down into nitrAte. Nitrate is not hazardous to fish in moderation the way to get the nitrate to stay at a good level is through water changes. Now the type of cycle you want to do depends on the person but i suggest a FISHLESS cycle which is adding ammonia to the tank daily with no fish in the water until the bacteria is built up to break it down, then you will see your ammonia drop and nitrItes climb, then after that the nitrItes will drop and turn to nitrAtes. once this has happened your tank is now cycled and is safe for fish as long as you keep up with water changes, the frequency of the changes is based on the bioload (poop and amount of feeding) produced by the fish. Adding gravel from an established tank will jumpstart your cycle and produce some needed bacteria but it still needs to cycle because it is only a small amount. To seed the tank you can take a new pair of pantyhose and make a sock out of it fill it with the established gravel and place it in front of the return on your filter depending on the type you have. a better way to seed is to squeeze out a filter pad from your friends tank or your other tanks or actually use the filter pad in that tank. The entire process should take 3-6 weeks however it can take longer. hope that helps.

 

[ValRasbora]

thanks, that helped. I get it now, I knew what cycling *was* but not how to do it.