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Do I just some bio-spira and pour the ammount in my 12 gallon tank wait an hour, add my 3 zebra danios in? Is that all?

No No No


Don’t do that. It still will take at least a few days before the tank is cycled (in the best case). BioSpira are bacteria and loads of ammonia and nitrite and your danois, although hardy, would not appreciate these conditions.

Follow the instructions on your BioSpira package for the dosage to use and CAREFULLY measure the ammonia and nitrite values. I recommend you get the liquid test kits for this purpose. Furthermore, make sure that you add the recommended amount for subsequent days after the initial set.

Can you give us a more detailed description of your tank (planted, parameters, etc.)?

Ingo

Last edited by Little_Fish at 11-Jul-2005 07:40

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Yes, It is a 12 gallon eclipse marineland tank..

Its got their bio wheel fliter and 14 plastic plants made by aquawater. The plants look real as can be. The tank is planted heavily... Natural Gravel.. heater etc... I was thinking of these two group and am going with one...

group (1)

Dwarf puffers (4)
Ghost Shrimp (3)
Dwarf suckign catfish (2)

Group (2)

Tiger Barbs (6)
Ghost Shrimp (2)
Dwarf Sucking catfish (1)

Let me know... isn't the bio-spira you add it the same time as the fish? The tank has been running for 3 days now... I think i am ready... help me out guys..


Thanks

Steve

Steve,

Let me know... isn't the bio-spira you add it the same time as the fish? The tank has been running for 3 days now... I think i am ready... help me out guys..

As I stated above, do not add fish with the BioSpira.

You say you have your tank running for 3 days. What did you do with it in that time? Add anything, like food or ammonia?

Do you have ammonia and nitrite test kits, if so, what are the readings, if not, get them and measure your values before you add any fish.

To your stocking schemes, did you do your homework on these fish? Do you know that dwarf puffers are rather nippy fish? What is going to happen to the danios once the cycling is complete?

Ingo

PS:

The tank is planted heavily

- make sure that you don’t use this phrase by itself when you ask for other advice. Your tank is not planted at all; it is just full of plastic (no offense).


Last edited by Little_Fish at 11-Jul-2005 08:51

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Add anything, like food or ammonia? nope.just ran filter and heater

Do you have ammonia and nitrite test kits. kit is on it way from big al's

To your stocking schemes, did you do your homework on these fish? yes i did Do you know that dwarf puffers are rather nippy fish? yup What is going to happen to the danios once the cycling is complete? well take them back to my lfs

I only consider the danios because they are hardy and the puffer are not. Will the puffers survive the bio spira process?

laynlex,

Let me state my option again, even if you might not like it.

Do not add any fish until the cycle is complete. I understand that you are anxious to get fish in your tank, but it is not time yet. You haven’t even started a cycle.

No Fish with BioSpira!

Ingo

Last edited by Little_Fish at 11-Jul-2005 11:57

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

well...i dont know the entire recipe of bio-spira but they r just all the same..its bio-starter for tanks. if u left ur tank running for 3 dyas without doing anything..ur bacteria in the tank might start dying off due to lack of fud....u should test ur water...specially for ammonia...try get a water sample and bring it to ur lfs and have it tested (they usually do it free of charge)..this is just to keep u going...if ur test/s came back 0 for ammonia..and u dont want to use fish for cycling..start adding ammonia into the tank...then...u should do regular testing to see the ups and downs of ammonia and nitrite to nitrate. then, ur cycle is complete..and thats the time u may introduce like say.. 20-25% of ur tank's bio- capacity. never put all fish at the same time.

with regards to stocking question... DP and shrimps...i just dont know how long the shrimps will survive in there..that goes with the tiger barbs as well.

I am so confused with all these different answers...

Okay my tank is set up and all... All are marineland products good?

bio-safe takes the harmful checmicals out then you bio spira then add fish becuz if you dont add fish the bacteria will lack of fud.. is this correct?

why can't you add fish with bio spira? isn't it just a bacteria booster that needs ammonia to feed and multiply? If so where will it come from? Have to admit thatI'm unfamiliar with bio spira but not to other cycle starters such as stress zyme or cycle. they all require a source of ammonia for the bacteria to feed upon, do they not?

OK, never mind. went to the marineland website and read they're stuff. It's actual living bacteria to boost your cycle. but they do say you can add fish in 24 hours safely and that you cannot overdose it. good luck

My ammonia readings were actually pretty high (don’t remember the value) after I used it for one day. The nitrites were not even detectable yet. And I used the suggested dosage.

I think they might push it a little to promote the item when they say you could add fish as soon as 24h after the initial seeding. I started to see the nitrites fall after day 4, if I remember that right.

Ingo

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Proud Member of the New Jersey Aquatic Gardeners Club

Biospira is also sensative to how it is stored and shipped - especially temperature. When I setup my tank 5 or 6 weeks ago I looked into using it and decided not to since getting good stuff was near unlikely from what I've read on various fora. To kick my cycle off I just got used media from a friends well established tanks... which is the only consistent method I've read about that works.