Bio Spira- Pros and Cons

[MikeDeL]

I havent heard anything about Bio-Spira used in SW, but of course I have just started. But just about everyone I have talked to on a few differant FW forums that have used it to start a FW tank say that they dont see ammonia show up but they get a huge nitrite spike. I personally wouldnt use it, because youre not exactly elimenating the cycle, you are just cutting part of it out and exposing your entire stock to a nitrite spike.


Mike

[PeeJ]

If the tank is cycling, there should be no stock in it.

[PeeJ]

Yea just leave it alone.

Are the salt and fresh water bacteria even the same thing? Seems to me BioSpira would "die" if exposed to salt water. I alwayts thought it was only for fresh

[Richard]

IME Bio-Spira is the real deal if you want to instantly add nitrifying bacteria. I used the FW Bio Spira to cycle a number of tanks and did not see ANY ammonia or nitrite spikes. I used the SW Bio Spira to cycle all of my SW QT tanks. The tanks had been running for 3 or 4 days then I added around $1500 worth of fish and the SW Bio Spira and did not see ANY ammonia or Nitrite spikes.

This is the only product in our hobby that I know of that has had several peer reviewed scientific articles written on it. Many stores may not carry it yet as Marineland is having a tough time producing enough of it. It is being used by public aquariums and in waste water treatment I believe. There is plenty of info at http://www.marineland.com/science/nspira.asp

I think marineland deserves some credit for doing some real scientific research on a product. That doesn't happen much in this industry.

With all that said...you can just cycle your tank with liverock. There's more to a fully cycled reef tank than just nitrifying bacteria.

[Dyncaus]

will the bio-spira work if the tank is being treated with copper?

[miken]

Dyncaus, it depends on what level of copper you have in your tank. I know that my comany's nitrifying bacteria product "Turbo Start" starts slowing down at 0.25 mg/L. Fritz worked on strains that were tolerat to copper, but no nitrifying bacteria is immune. We have not tested BioSpira.

Check out "Preferences of Nitrifying Bacteria"at http://www.fritzpet.com/article_preferencesofnit.html