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I have stumbled across a great product for cyling tanks also... patience

I've got a email reply from a LFS and they said they may have some Bio-Spira in stock. I"m going to check to see if they do.

As for NIC, are they widely available at LFS?

Are these steps correct for NIC to work?

1. Put water in tank
2. Put fish in tank
3. put NIC in tank
4. done?

Can it be done without fishes by using clear ammonia? It seems kind of stressful to put the fish without having properly conditioned water.



[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-02 16:26][/span]

FYI, NIC & BioSpira work by exactly the same mechanism (innoculation of your tank's biofilter--gravel, biowheels, widgets, what-have-you--with ammonia- and nitrite-consuming bacteria).

BioSpira is reported to work better and faster, but NIC does a fantastic job (IME) of getting tanks cycled without undue stress to your fish.

I tend to shy away from BioSpira due to its higher price, finicky storage requirements, and overall unavailability (the only place I can get it is ThatFishPlace in Lancaster, PA, which is like a 3 hour drive each way...)

NIC, or even old Cycle, works with different strains of bacteria than BioSpira, but has always done its job whenever I've used it.

To play devil's advocate, imagine buying a nice dose of BioSpira from your LFS fridge...what you don't know is whether it sat out at room temp for a month before it found its way into the fridge...With NIC, as long as it stays under 90F, its still viable.


[span class="edited"][Edited by jungle-jim 2004-07-02 15:10][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by jungle-jim 2004-07-02 15:10][/span]

NIC stands for New and Improved Cycle. It doesn't work as well as Bio-Spira. Bio-Spira pretty much instantly cycles your tank. It has always worked great for me. The only thing you have to remember is that when you put it in the tank there must be fish in there. Otherwise there is no waste being produced to feed the bacteria. The same goes for NIC.

Bio-Spira should be refridgerated, but it doesn't necessarily die when it is warmed up. The formerly dormant bacteria wake up and have nothing to eat. That is when they will die unless put into the tank where there is food.

---

They shade the glow of it with their mossy-misty costumes,
They wear masks of silk, porcelain, brass, and silver,
So as not to mislead with their own, ordinary faces.

So if my LFS has bio-spira I should probably buy it? How long will it last if refrigerated? They have 4 - 1oz bottles 3 - 3oz bottles of the stuff.

P.S. If anyone is interested I could get from my LFS and ship it out to you. That stuff works GREAT! It helped out my startup tank tremendously.


[span class="edited"][Edited by luisprado 2004-07-02 12:22][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by luisprado 2004-07-02 12:26][/span]

What does NIC stand for? And they are readily available at LFS?

Thanks for the replies!

In addition to that, cycle works in a different way then bio-spira. Bio-spira will cycle your tank where as cycle will only make the actual cycleing easier on the fish. Cycle works like ammolock more then it does like bio-spira.

Bio-Spira was the best choice when cycling a tank. Worked faster and better than any other leading brand. Its been off the market now for several months, supposably coming back on when the product is ready again(bacteria)...Meanwhile NIC is your next best bet in my opinion, and noone really knows if Bio-Spira will even be back.........
here is a link to look at:
http://www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/thread.asp?id=40223

There is a lot of debate about the product. I have used it twice and it worked great once and not so good the second time. I think the problem is that it has to be refrigerated. If it gets to warm or frozen the live bacteria dies. A lot of places are out because I think they only made so much. If you search the forum you will see other posts on the subject.