biospira

[kilo]

I'd never heard of stability until Kuroshio mentioned it. Again, just like cycle...I tend to be very skeptical of products that are not refrigerated, dont have a short shelf life, and claim to be alive. Most of those products dont actually contain bacteria...they contain things that are supposed to make bacteria grow faster. Biospira is the only one that has a short expiration date, is refrigerated etc. It makes sense to me that when you put something alive in a sealed package, its not going to stay alive for too long without food. Being refrigerated would slow down its metabolism and let any 'food' in with the bacteria culture to last longer than if a bottle was placed on the shelf. Not to say it wouldn't help...or that it wouldn't work...just that I'm skeptical.

i'll try it out and tell you guys if it does work, i'm hoping it does work cause no where around here sells biospira and also i dont plan on mail ordering. Today i bought the stability, nitrite, nitrate, and an ammonia test kit. I'll tell you guys how it goes by showing my daily progress and tests i'll try to test every day if i can and on the bottle it says it should take around 7 days to finish. heres my tests as of today before my water change and before i added the stability.

Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrite: .5
Nitrate: 10

Are these readings good or bad?? i'm guessing bad cause i haven't cycled the tank...

 

[Lotus]

I've heard good things about Stability when used with a fish-in cycle and a fairly low bioload. Apparently it contains the bacterial spores, which then start to multiply when there is ammonia and nitrate in the water. I wouldn't say it's an instant cycle like Bio-Spira, but it should help get the biological filter established.

For those of you interested: I read a thread where Seachem was asking opinions on it. A couple of members tested it during a fishless cycle. Apparently, the 5ppm ammonia was too much for it to handle, as it's designed for levels around 1ppm to 2ppm. I believe that the conclusion was that it would be OK with a lightly stocked tank to help the traditional fish-in cycle. I honestly can't remember which forum it was on, as I got a link to it from another forum, and can't remember which that one was, either.

 

[kilo]

So i guess this means i'm fine at the moment and just continue along with the stability and report to you guys???

 

[FroggyFox]

Heck ya! Let us know how it goes

 

[Gunnie]

Will BioSpira immediately drop the nitrites and ammonia? Or how long will it take to do so on average?

cj

Bio spira is not intended for use in a tank with existing ammonia or nitrites. It's not that it won't work, but if you dump bio spira in a tank with high ammonia or nitrites, it had to play "catch up", and your fish might not survive long enough for it to have time to multiply and reduce the toxic level. If you have a tank in trouble with high nitrites or ammonia, if possible, completely drain the tank and refill it. Then add the bio spira immediately followed by the fish. If you can't completely drain the tank, then drain as much as you can and refill.

doh..I think I used my Biospira wrong...I dumped a packet into my fishless tank and waited about 48 hours before putting fish in. I just realized that I was supposed to put the fish and biospira in at the same time! Does this mean that I effectively wasted my biospira?

Is that why my water is still showing amonia (about 0.25 ppm) in the water?

Probably, but let's hope there are still some live bacteria in there! I have had excellent results 3 times with bio spira, and I always added my fish immediately after adding the bio spira. I know the directions say within 24 hours, but the bacteria is hungry when it is released in your tank, and probably starts dying off right away without a food source.

 

[Balloon Fish]

hey lotus is this the site you were looking for?? http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/showthread.php?t=3564
I think seachem stability might just work cause they have a pretty good reputation and also i love their fertilizers and there is probably no reason to put a product out in the market and not have it work like it says which can greatly damage their reputation.

 

[kilo]

Ok, heres the reading for today 5-26-05. This is the first test i have taken after i added the stability the reading is
Ammonia: .5
Nitrite: .5
Nitrate: 10
The only change today was the ammonia went from 1 to .5 but that was probably from the water change i did but we will see if there are any more changes tommorow.

 

[kilo]

heres the reading for my 2nd time of putting stability into the tank (yesterday) so this is like 24 hours after that and after this test i put in stability for the 3rd time and i'll test again tommorow
Ammonia:.5
Nitrite:2.0
Nitrate: 40+ (couldn't tell cause after 40 the colors looked almost excatly the same)
i'm guessing that this is an improvement cause there is more nitrates now and on the nitrite is that what you guys mean by the nitrite spike??

 

[FroggyFox]

Nitrite spikes usually go up off the chart...but if stability does what it says it should...then I would think that your spike shouldn't go too much higher. Too much higher or too many days at 2 would mean you need to start doing water changes to keep your fish alive. It is good that you have more nitrates though, for sure.

 

[kilo]

ok heres todays reading day 3 of adding stability

Ammonia :0
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 40 or either 160 but most likely 40 they both look the same on the chart

If my nitrite hits 0 some time soon does that mean i'm done cycling?

 

[Lotus]

It sounds like things are improving in the tank, kilo! Good news

No Balloon Fish, that wasn't the thread. It was a long thread where a couple of members were testing with ammonia and posting their results.

 

[kilo]

Ok thanks a lot lotus, if my nitrites do go to 0 does that mean i am done??

Heres the test for today
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .25
Nitratrates: 40
its the same as yesterdays, when do i start doing water changes??

 

[Lotus]

Yes, kilo, once nitrites are at zero, the cycle is finished. I would recommend a water change as soon as nitrites are zero to help reduce your nitrates. Nitrates are reduced through water changes, and it's best to keep them as low as possible (under 40 is good, under 20 is better).

 

[Grymatta]

hey Lotus..

when you mention doing water changes to do nitrates..do you mean also vaccumming the gravel as well as changing the water?

Or is changing the water enough?

 

[DarkMuse]

I, personally, always gravel vac when I change my water. It picks up any extra food and poop at the bottom. I think it just leads to a healthier environment for the fish.

 

[Balloon Fish]

when you change the water what you want to do is try to clean the gravel too unless you have plants there, which like the poop, otherwise just clean it and like darkmuse said, it'll be a healthier environment for the fish

 

[kilo]

haven't been able to post results but yesterday and today was the same as 2 days ago-
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .25
Nitratrates: 40
i'm going to test one more time tommorow, the bottle says after 7 days it should be done so if its not do i still continue??

 

[Kuroshio]

It shouldn't hurt at all. It doesn't produce any harmful bi-product as some other products do. As a matter of fact, it recommends adding some with water changes and monthly just for health and/or maintenance. Personal choice of course, I usually don't. But I've started 3 tanks with it and it has worked like a charm each time.
With those readings, it wouldn't hurt to do a WC anyway. Not that you need to, but it would probably improve conditions a bit. Glad to see everything work out.

 

[kilo]

so does this mean my tank is cycled even with .25 nitrites?? did you start any of your tanks with fish in them already?? cause thats what i'm worried about, having fish already and then putting the stability, will it still cycle??

 

[FroggyFox]

it sounds like it cycled...the definition of being cycled is that with a bioload your ammonia and nitrites are converted to nitrates without any detectable level of ammonia or nitrites. Sometimes if there is a .25 pesky nitrite reading hanging around it is from decaying matter in your gravel...have you cleaned that with a siphon lately? Either that or its just the tail end of the cycle. The tank will cycle whether you notice it and measure it or not