Regular Member smwilliams Posted February 27, 2007 Regular Member Share Posted February 27, 2007 ok, so i tired the bio-spira stuff on both my tanks. i have a 29 gal with 3 roughly 2.5" goldies. tank's been running since jan 8th with 300gph filtration. temp at 70-72 degrees F. today's readings were .25ppm ammonia, 1.0ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate. since i put in the bio-spira (saturday) the nitrate has gone up about 5ppm. i was going through the nitrite spike prior to adding it. i didn't add as much as i was supposed to of the bio-spira, because it treated 30 gal and i split it between the two tanks. is it normal to take this long to cycle??? i am committed but really tiring of it. i bought a python to ease my pain but it didn't fit my faucet. on the other hand... 10 gal with 2 1" dwarf puffers. running since thursday (2/22). 80 degrees F. added bio-spira saturday. friday i read .25 ammonia, so i know it was already present. ok, so today i tested and read 0ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite and 10ppm nitrate. is it possible that this tank will be cycled in a few more days? i put some media from my bigger filter in to start with, i don't know if that has helped, or if it was the bio-spira... also it's been kept warmer. i don't know if the 29 gal is being difficult or if the 10 gal is too good to be true. any thoughts??? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member viscosity2004 Posted February 27, 2007 Regular Member Share Posted February 27, 2007 Your older tank may have a little more than it can handle, so your cycling is going to take longer. As far as the bio-spira, I'm not surprised you're seeing a shift in your cycle. That's what bio-spira does -- it's a form of dormant nitrifying bacteria that's pre-packaged for your convenience. The true test is whether or not it will remained cycled after you've run out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Regular Member daryl Posted February 27, 2007 Regular Member Share Posted February 27, 2007 BioSpira is a slurry of free beneficail bacteria - the types that process ammonia and nitrite. When you add it to the tank, the bacteria will "activate" and start to process the wastes. BioSpira (bacteria) like it warmer - so it is not suprising the the warmer tank was doing a bit better.... BioSpira bacteria are in the water, though, when you add them. They are NOT attached to the media in a filter. They can and will process plenty of waste from the water, but not as much as they would were they attached to a platform of media where the waste passes by regularly and there is plenty of oxygen. It will take at least a week for the majority of the bacteria from the BioSpira slurry to attach to your media. Until they do, when/if you do a water change, you will be pouring the good bacteria that you paid for down the drain. This is the HUGE pitfall of using BioSpira in a tank that contains fish you are trying to protect as the tank cycles..... You need to try to keep that nitrite lower than 1ppm if you can - perhaps with judicial use of Prime or Amquel+..... nitrite is by far the most insidiously toxic thing in a cycling tank.... Sounds like you are almost there, though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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