I am just about to start cycling a tank with BioSpira and no fish.

I was reading the Fishless Cycle instructions on this website. It says to heat the water to 80 degrees. On the BioSpira website it says it is effective from 60-87 degrees. My unheated tanks usually run around 70 degrees (without a light on also).

Should I heat it to 80? Will it speed up the process even more at a warmer temp or will 70ish be OK?

Fantail, I haven't ever done a fishless cycle. But I can say that the article that is on this site was well done and Koko is very proud of it. Toothy, I belive as well as Daryl were both major factors in it.
I would follow it before anything else.

I do remember reading something about higher temps encouraged bactierial to grow...........don't know where though.

Good luck, I assume this is for the new babies???

Oh good--another thing to buy.

Yes it is for the babies. When I do water changes Koko wants me to use clean (non-parasitic) water and since I don't have any other tanks I need to get one up and running so I can use the water for water changes in the fry tank. I have about 2 weeks til a water change so we'll see what happens.

I'm also going to be cycling my new 90 gallon once I get underway with treating mommy and daddy fish. Then once they are parasite free (or at least at parasite free as we can get them) they can return to a big new home.

Here's another question:

In the fishless cycling instructions it also says to add enough ammonia to get to 4.0 ppm. Does that also apply when using BioSpira? Or would I need more/less ammonia?

All it says on teh instructions is to pour it in. They assume you have fish in the tank. I wonder why they don't include instructions on using Bio Spira with a fishless cycle?

you will need to add 1.5ml of 10% ammonia per 10 gallons to get to 4ppm you are probably better off adding the ammonia running the tank for a day and then adding the bio-spira....expect the cycle to be very fast, something like 4 or 5 days

Kevin

you will need to add 1.5ml of 10% ammonia per 10 gallons to get to 4ppm you are probably better off adding the ammonia running the tank for a day and then adding the bio-spira....expect the cycle to be very fast, something like 4 or 5 days

Kevin

That is very good! Actually, the ammonia that is purchased in the local supermarket varies so greatly in the actual concentration that it is sometimes difficult to know how much to add. It is best not to get the ammonia in concentrations much over 4-5 ppm, though for that can slow the bacteria a bit. Under that is still fine. You just want to "feed" as large a party of beneficial bacteria as you can to encourage them to multiply. If there is sufficient "food" they will multiply.

You do not have to raise the temp of the tank, but 78-80 degrees is the optimum temp for the beneficial bacteria to reproduce. They will still be fine, if slightly slower to respond at lower temps - until you reach a low enough temp that they virtually go into hybernation. You are no where near that low.

Doing a fishless cycle using BioSpira is an easy and quick thing to do. Start the tank running, filters and heater and all. Add the ammonia and the BioSpira and away you go. Remember that the BioSpira will not attach and take up residence in your biomedia for at least a few weeks, so if you change any water out, you will be pouring BioSpira down the drain. Since you do not have any fish in the tank, you do not need to change any water. Just make sure you "feed" a small amount of ammonia to the tank every day - for that BioSpira will start processing the ammonia you have started the tank and need more soon. A good way to determine how much is to start with the 4ppm and see how many days it takes for the bacteria to make it go to zero ammonia. I would guess that it would take about 2 -3 days. Then you add about 1/4 that amount of ammonia each day to the tank. I "feed" my sterile tank every day when I feed my fish. It works well.

When you are finally ready to populate the tank with fish, you will need to do a MAJOR water change - at least 75% - perhaps several 50-75% water changes to bring the nitrates to within reasonable parameters. Try to leave the biomedia as untouched as possible.

BioSpira says it will cycle a tank instantly, and, with certain reservations, it will. But the bacteria does not colonate the media instantly. It stays in the water for many days. This type of cycling would work well, if you did not change the water at all, but with fish in the tank, you would have to. Doing a fishless cycle with BioSpira is really the best of both worlds. You can cycle quickly, parasite free, but still do it well. Just remember to give the bacteria time to attach to your biomedia really well before you change your water. And realize that after your cycle is complete, the tank will have extraordinary amounts of nitrate in it just as it would had you done the cycle in the "old fashioned" fishless cycle way.

I'm on day 11 of cycling with BioSpira. My nitrites have been at 2 (or maybe a little above) for about 8 days. Just want to make sure this is normal . . . .

I test the water daily and "feed" it some ammonia. That's all I need to do for now, right?