LFS = "What are you talking about?"

[clem1999]

i was just chatting with a few lfs in the area and told them what i had done so far. once i told them about putting in a raw peeled shrimp they didnt understand why i was doing it. therefor;
1. what exactly is it doing for my tank?
2. do i take it out after so much time?
3. bio spira: is it for real?
4. with LR, should i cycle with or w/o damsels?

 

[reef_magic]

1) it puts the ammonia in your tank that u need to start your nitrogen cycle and build up beneficial bacteria for your tank (biological filtration)
2) take it out after your tank reads .50 ppm of ammonia
3) i dunno what ur talking about here
4) wait, if u have shrimp in their u dont need damsles or LR. is the LR cured or uncured? cured is directly from the LFS and it will be killed if put in an uncycled tank. if u order it offline, then it is uncured and will start your cycle with die-off
Hope This Helps

 

[clem1999]

thanks.. bio spira is something you can add to skip the cyle basically and you can add live fish and inverts in 24 hours. there is also a freshwater version. i saw some bad stuff on here about it but 2 lfs have told me it works (of course)
my LR is cured and there is stuff growing all over it. is that a good thing? so far i have followed 007's instructions.

 

[reef_magic]

what did he tell u to do?
i wouldnt use anything to skip anything. the only way to keep a SW system healthy is by going the natural way.
if ur LR is cured, and ur tank is not cyc.led yet, it is very likely the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate spikes will kill most of the stuff on it.

 

[clem1999]

they just never heard of putting in a shrimp. they said to use damsels. they did tell me that they now use bio spira and have not had a problem but i agree with you and many others to stay the "natural way"
i know i just wait now but what am i looking for? algae growth, tests to go up then down. the cycle is completed when?
thanks

 

[bang guy]

WOW, I've been a proponent of using fish food to cycle tanks for quite a while.
I just feed the tank as if I had a couple of fish in it and over the course of 2 - 8 weeks (depending) the ammonia and nitrite cycle.
The advantage of using flake food is that it's fairly easy to maintain ammonia below 0.5 and save the hitchhikers from being poisoned.
I've never heard of an LFS pushing this as they usually want you to kill a few damsels.

 

[clem1999]

bump

 

[thedraven]

Hey Clem, Ive used the marine bio-spira with my new tank and I can honestly say it was a waste of money. LFS are usually just looking to make money (the same lfs that sold me this 'usefull' product also lied to my face many times and I no longer shop there) off of newbies - guys like us. It did nothing to speed up my cycle, which still took about a month. Listen to the guys here, they know what theyre talking about.
Using raw shrimp is a good idea that I avoided initially, and I regret using damsels to cycle. Sure it worked, but I was left with two highly aggressive fish that tortured anything else I introduced to the tank. Needless to say I had to take them out of the tank (which is NOT an easy task - theyre notorious for being difficult), which took about two hours and for what? So I could hand them over to my friend for his tanks. Do yourself a favor and be patient - your tank will cycle soon enough and youll be on your way.

 

[cincyreefer]

Bio-Spira is just cultured bacteria. It will speed up the cycle because it will introduce bacteria, instead of waiting for it to start growing whent the ammonia spikes. It is a good product, but it has to be used when adding something that will introduce ammonia or it will die off. It also has to be kept cool and doesn't have a very long shelf life.

 

[thedraven]

Just a note: I used Bio Spira after introducing two blue damsels into my tank some days prior. There was plenty of ammonia in my tank to support the bacteria (I did daily testing). My BioSpira was kept refrigerated and was nowhere near expiration. I still noticed no enhanced cycle. Not to flame anyone, but this is just my experience with the product.

 

[dburr]

bio spira is something you can add to skip the cyle basically and you can add live fish and inverts in 24 hours.
Just remember, Rome wasn't built in a day. I totally agree on doing things naturally. Patients is THE BIGGEST thing in this hobby. Never try to do any fast. Like build fish load, coral load, change water parameters, ect. It will always come back to haunt you later.:yes: Just go slow and enjoy later.
Also, I can't believe you could add inverts in 24 hours. Sounds like a death sentence for them.
Cheers, my .02

 

[bang guy]

In my experience tank stability is only partially dependent on bacteria. Trying to shortcut the cycle phase might work somethimes but adding fish after 24 hours is not going to be a healthy proceedure.

 

[pontius]

Bang Guy, I plan on using flake food also when a start my tank in a month or so. here's my question, I was reading the other person's comment about not putting in cured live rock until the tank is cycled. is this correct? because I thought the live rock was supposed to help the tank cycle, and that the flake food would help build up beneficial bacteria on the rock? so when I start the tank, should I only use the flake food until the tank is cycled and THEN add the cured live rock? if so, at what point to I add live sand? what about base rock? I assume base rock would be ok to add at anytime, right?

 

[bang guy]

If it were my tank I would add all the dead sand I was going to use and then the live rock. Then feed the rock with fish food keeping a close eye on ammonia to keep it below 0.5ppm. Keep feeding even after it has cycled to maintain the bacteria population until you get fish. A properly cycled aquarium will show ).0 for ammonia even when being fed flake food.
Once fully cycled add live sand. Then after another week add a fish. I usually start my QT at the same time as the display tank. Q-Tanks cycle a lot faster. So, once the display is ready the fish has already been in the q-tank 3 or 4 weeks.

 

[pontius]

but won't there be an initial ammonia spike when live rock or fish food are added that will last for about a week? if so, is it true this will kill the good stuff in the cured live rock? thanks.

 

[bang guy]

Yes, the ammonia will climb. The idea to maximize the life on the rock is to keep the ammonia level below 0.5ppm.

 

[pontius]

so you're saying don't add the live rock until the flake food has been added so the ammonia will have spiked and be on the way back down? if so, adding the live rock won't cause the ammonia to spike again? thanks.

 

[jlem]

Cured rock should not produce an ammonia spike because it has already gone thru a cycle and is saturated with beneficial bacteria. The only way to really know if the beneficial bacteria in the rock/sand is ready to support a bioload is to introduce a small bioload ( shrimp or fish food ) and see if you have an ammonia reading. If you use uncured rock then the dieoff that will occur will cause a cycle and you do not have to add flake food if you do not want to.

 

[clem1999]

i added cured rock not knowing that info. i am about 1 week through cycle and ammonia was up at .5 4 days ago and now it was tested today at .25. i had put a shrimp in and took it out a few days ago. it appears that some stuff growing on the rock is still ok and the hermit crab that came on the rock is ok too. am i still ok with everything i have done?
when levels spike, what do they usually hit?

 

[bang guy]

Originally posted by Pontius
so you're saying don't add the live rock until the flake food has been added so the ammonia will have spiked and be on the way back down?
No, that's not what I'm saying.