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Best Bacterial Additive to Start Tank?

9supratt4

9supratt4

So what is the best bacterial additive to add to the tank at the beginning to jump start and possibly avoid a cycle?

I know there are people on here that use the additive and have fish the next day, so please don't say it isn't possible ;)
 
Sunny

Sunny

NJRC Member
Article Contributor
Biospira or Dr. Tim. They both will cycle the tank in a day or max two.

I have used Biospira many times with great results.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Dr. Tim created bio spira and then left and formed his own company and hence you have two different products that are essentially the same. I have used both.
 
TanksNStuff

TanksNStuff

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Steve, is this for your tank or for Arin's?

I know she's anxious to get fish in her tank.
 
J

jaa1456

I wouldn't use any of that stuff at all. I set up a 29 gallon to test the bio spira, my ammonia reading was off the chart the next day, I let it go for a week testing everyday, it never came down into the chart. I tested my other tanks thinking the test kit went bad, but they came back normal. I did a 50% water change and tested the ammonia and finally got a reading on the chart. Let it go another week and no changes. Emptied the tank out and I'm letting it go the natural way.
 
iTzJu

iTzJu

Officer Emeritus
NJRC Member
jaa1456 said:
I wouldn't use any of that stuff at all. I set up a 29 gallon to test the bio spira, my ammonia reading was off the chart the next day, I let it go for a week testing everyday, it never came down into the chart. I tested my other tanks thinking the test kit went bad, but they came back normal. I did a 50% water change and tested the ammonia and finally got a reading on the chart. Let it go another week and no changes. Emptied the tank out and I'm letting it go the natural way.
Click to expand...

You could of gotten a bad batch or expired bottle. I've used Bio-Spira with my very first 45 Gallon tank and my 90 Gallon tank that I have now and never had issues. I let the tanks sit for about a week and test. Not saying that these things are 100% but they do work.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Bio spira and Dr. Tims are bacteria, if dosed and then not given any food, yes they will die and your cycle will continue. If you do not feed it, i.e. add fish or inverts then yes it will die off and do nothing. When you dose them, you need to add livestock within 24 hours, within a few hours is even better.
 
Brando457

Brando457

mnat said:
Bio spira and Dr. Tims are bacteria, if dosed and then not given any food, yes they will die and your cycle will continue. If you do not feed it, i.e. add fish or inverts then yes it will die off and do nothing. When you dose them, you need to add livestock within 24 hours, within a few hours is even better.
Click to expand...

What about ghost feeding the tank, would that suffice?

My only livestock I could add are my cleaner + blood shrimp, which I'm a bit hesitant to do :X
 
Brando457

Brando457

Should I add my shrimp today mike? Or if I put some food in will that suffice.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2
 
J

jaa1456

iTzJu said:
You could of gotten a bad batch or expired bottle. I've used Bio-Spira with my very first 45 Gallon tank and my 90 Gallon tank that I have now and never had issues. I let the tanks sit for about a week and test. Not saying that these things are 100% but they do work.
Click to expand...
I thought that as well, I called the number on the bottle. It brings you to United Pet Group, they ran the barcode in their system said it was good, but they want me to send the bottle with the remaining bio spira left. I'm gonna send it out this Monday or Tuesday.
 
J

jaa1456

I think of this instant cycle stuff this way. Is like taking the ingredients to make a pizza and throwing them into a oven, you come back in 15 minutes. Yea now you have melted cheeses, cooked pepperoni, hot sauce and cooked dough, but its still not a pizza. You need to take your time and latter out the dough and put the pizza together.
 
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