Impressed and a little surprised by Bio-spira

Impatient reefers?!  I'm sure they are few and far between /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wink.gif
They're going to make a fortune on this stuff!  Does it need refrigeration?  I wonder what exactly is in it?

 

best part is you don't have to buy a fish and hope it makes it through the cycle (or in the case of a damsel you don't have to worry about getting it out later)

 

this stuff has been out for a long time, I used to use it in freshwater setups but yeah you still needed to have a fish in there otherwise it wouldnt work.

 

Yeah actually you really have to give it to Marineland for developing this produce, we used it at petland on a number of occasions and it totally works. When it first came out it was a refrigerated pouch, then just a couple of years ago they came out with a bottled shelf product, I was really surprised that this off the shelf product worked as well as a chilled pouch. I didn't think they could suspend the life of bacteria at 70 degrees. But they did it!

 

I think that's the whole point of the product, no fish needed /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif  Sounds like people use it without adding fish and it works fine......

 

Yeah I think the ammonia component that feeds the bacteria is whatever dead bacteria are inside the bottle of biospira. Then when they suddenly have oxygen to work with they can facilitate the oxidation of those dead portions and establish a sizable colony. Remember though, any multi-fold increase in ammonia production (say if you do bio spira and then add 10 fish!) will have an associated lag time until bacterial populations can catch up with added food, then subsequently they overshoot their sustainable capacity and you have a whole new cycle (waxing and waning). This can happen to established tanks too.

 

FWIW you don't need to use fish with or without this product. I don't doubt this works, but you never HAD to drop a fish in and hope it makes it...

 

Posted By tibbs2 on 11/16/2010 02:58 PM
I had no fish. You just need a source of ammonia, of course. The leftover lawn clippings stuck inside the cracks were enough ammonia to get the cycle rolling.
Just last night threw in two small clarkii clownfish for my first two fish of the tank.  Will be putting in a male/female Melanurus Wrasse pair next week. The theme of this tank is:
 "Date Night". /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/smile.gif
Where the hell did you find a melenurus pair?!?!?