Biospira cycles tank in 24 hours??

[808smokey]

Has anyone ever used or heard of this before? It's made by Marine labs, called "Biospira". It says right on the package that it cycles your tank and makes the water fish safe in 24 hours. It treats up to 55gal tanks. If you read the ingredients it's made up of 3 organic bacterias and some other stuff. It also says "Do not Freeze or expose to heat, LIVE ORGANISMS". I've never heard of such a thing but I got suckered and ended up buying it. It was only $4.99. I asked the kid at the store and he said it's a "new product" and people buy and use it all the time and no one has ever complained that it didn't work. I checked all the chemicals 30 hours later and it seems to all be correct. I went there to buy water and LR to get it going and they don't sell water they sell that instead

Opinions or thoughts anyone??
Thanks
*EDIT*
I'm still going to wait a couple weeks to make sure it's truely cycled. I'm patient enough to make sure the fish will survive but I thought this would "Speed up the cycling process" without the use of shrimp or fish to be sacrificed to get it going.

 

[drakken]

BioSpira is for FRESHWATER only. I know some people that used it with good success.
That being said there is no "Cycle in a bottle" for saltwater. I have beaten the cycle twice in a 28 and a 55 gal tanks. The way I did it was to add live rock and sand from an established SW tank (not the LFS).
Even though I beat the cycle I still take it slow on adding livestock. Do not try to rush a SW tank.

 

[808smokey]

Originally posted by Drakken
BioSpira is for FRESHWATER only.
Yes that is true, kinda..? The package that I have says right on it "For use in Salt Water aquariums". It has a picture of a clown fish on the front. The guy at the store said it was a brand new product. He also said they just recently started to carry the product. He seemed pretty knowledgeable, not your typical high school kid who just works there. Here's is the link to the Marinelabs site Marine labs.com it's just the FAQ section.
Q: Can I use BIO-Spira® in a saltwater tank?
A: There are now two BIO-Spira® formulations …one for freshwater aquariums and new BIO-Spira® MARINE for use in saltwater aquariums.
I can't find the product on there site. I just don't think they've updated there site yet

So I'm guessing that it actually works. I purchased a small shrimp for $6.00 from my LFS and he seems to be "OK", he's only been in there for a couple hours. I'm still going to wait before adding any fish. I'll let everyone know if this stuff actually works. So far though the water levels appear to be normal. :cheer: :cheer: :cheer: I went there to buy some LR and it was $9.99 a pound

Needless to say I didn't buy any.
Anyhow thanks for your input Drakken

 

[kage]

On Nov. 29, I finally got my 55 gal. set up and running. I went to my LFS to get some damsels after everything was ready.
I had read many times that damsels were hardy and would be
the best choice, of course.
LFS said, "why don't you try this new 24 hour cycling product
and go ahead and come back tomorrow and buy whatever fish you want instead of the damsels?"
He said that it was new but several customers have had success with it. It cost $26.99 at this particular store.
So I did it. The next day with LFS advise, I added 1 clown, 1 damsel, 1 butterfly fish and 1 sailfin tang.
All I have left is the damsel. The others died over a 4 week period. I was adding Kalkwasser too, and I have since found
that my PH was too high. LFS said it was OK, but it was 8.6 throughout the month. I had my water tested 3-4 times during that month and also went back and bought another BIO SPIRA
when I started having problems. Total mistake. Should have had the patience to do it right. It was terrible watching my fish die and with the $ lost on the cycling and the fish, about $200.
(Had to purchase meds too for Ick because they were very stressed). I definately will never rush again!!!

 

[808smokey]

Originally posted by Kage
It was terrible watching my fish die and with the $ lost on the cycling and the fish, about $200.
(Had to purchase meds too for Ick because they were very stressed). I definately will never rush again!!!
Sorry to hear that. I'm not trying to rush either but I thought it was worth a try. The place I bought at was Petland I was going to wait til Saturday/Sunday and if the water levels were correct then add one Yellow tail damsel. Then wait at least another 2-3 weeks before adding the next fish which be another damsel. After that I'll probably wait an entire month before anything else goes in just to be safe. The fisrt tank I had I lost a couple fish from rushing but I WILL NOT do it this time
Thanks for the reply Kage

 

[kage]

The fish that I do have left is a yellow tail damsel and I must say that even though he's little...he's spunky. I figured that I would lose him too, but he's OK. I'm going to wait another month and then maybe get another fish if everything checks out OK.

 

[birdy]

Personally, I do not like any product which says you can cycle in such amount of time. Why rush it. nothing done right in this hobby is done quickly. Get your sand and LR and cycle the tank correctly, what is one or two months in a hobby you will in in for years? Cycle with uncured or shipped LR or a cocktail shrimp. Set up a proper biological filter in your tank, and you will be able to keep the fish you want with out death and stress and disease, and you will not have to spend thirty dollars on some magic stuff.

 

[kage]

Can you explain the ammonia spike thing to me?
I have a test kit and the ammonia always was at 0
everytime I tested it. I didn't want to go by my own judgement since I'm new at this, so I took water samples to LFS several times and was repeatedly told.."your water is fine"

 

[harlequinnut]

Assumming that the product worked and your tank is cycled, you've added too many fish at the same time, even for a cycled tank. A safe time frame would be to add no more than 2 small fish or 1 med-large fish at 3-4 weeks interval. JMO HTH

 

[bang guy]

IMO only bad things happen fast in a saltwater tank.

 

[kage]

LFS said to add several fish to keep bio load and keep tank cycling properly.
It doesn't matter now, anyway. The fish are gone and I know from experience to go slowly from now on.
I'll be glad when this hobby is advanced more and there won't be so many conflicting opinions on everything. The LFS was supposedly a marine biologist.
I just wanted to relate what happened to me and hopefully it might prevent someone else from losing fish that way.

 

[dreeves]

That's pretty good Bang...certainly dead accurate...

 

[aarone]

Originally posted by Bang Guy
IMO only bad things happen fast in a saltwater tank.
lol I totally agree. i ould not trust it for a SW tank. Just asking for more trouble
aaron

 

[808smokey]

Hi,
I forgot about this post but I wanted to let you all know that it did not work the way it was "advertised" I had originally posted that I was going to wait before buying fish. But I couldn't stand it. I bought 2 domino domino damsels, pepper shrimp, red scarlet hermit. One domino dropped dead in less than 24 hours, the other one died after about 7-9 days, he had ick REALLY bad. Now part of this is my fault. I had a test kit, an old one, and it gave me incorrect readings. I tested the water after a few days and everything seemed "right". So i bought the guys I listed above. Then after that disaster I bought a new test kit and the tank is cycling the way it's supposed to. All the levels were way to high. THe Ammo was .50. The Ammonia finally reached Zero yesterday.
Anyways all I'm trying to say is:
I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND THIS PRODUCT TO ANYONE.
I'm sticking to the proven ways of waiting. Should have listened to you guys from the get go

Currently the inverts have survived and had no probloems at all. But I only have a Crab tank, not a fish tank. Or you could call it an IOWLR