Okay, I will try to make a long story short:

55 gallon tank with Emperor 280, Aqueon 325, and Hydro Sponge III filters. 3 smallish goldfish (less than 2 inches). Lots of aeration. Feeding lightly (ProGold AM, peas PM). Water is warm (about 78) due to high ambient temperature and warm tap water.

I am day 30 of my cycle. There have been multiple bumps along the way -- removing all my gravel, accidentally putting chlorinated water in my filter box during a water change, inadvertantly salting to nearly 0.3% for four days instead of 0.1% (by using fine salt instead of coarse), etc. But early last week my cycle was looking really good. Two days I tested with no ammonia, low nitrites (0.25), and a few nitrates (5.0). I got my hopes up. Since that time things have gotten weird. I have pretty much been doing 25% water changes every day, sometimes 50%. I changed 25% yesterday, and this afternoon I had 1.0 ammonia and 1.0 nitrite , and still only 5.0 nitrate. I don't know where these terrible parameters came from -- I haven't fed any more than usual, and surely 55 gallons is enough volume to dilute the waste generated in less than 24 hours by my three little fish, isn't it?! So I did a 75% water change today and added AmQuel+. I also thoroughly swished all my filter media in tank water. (It was pretty grungey.)

At this point I am wondering if I should break down and spend the $50 on BioSpira. I was really hoping to be done with daily large water changes by next week -- we are having house guests the 14th through the 19th, and having my Python draped all over the house is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts?

I know its several days later so you've probably already made your choice - but a lot of people don't have great results with those cycling-helpers. Sometimes it does nothing, a few people it has even caused problems. If I were you I wouldn't give up yet on the natural way. Most guests would probably be quite understanding of taking care of pets, although you know them better than I :

Tincture of time has helped some -- yesterday I had zero ammonia, 0.5 nitrite, and 10+ nitrate (yay!) before my water change.



My mom is coming to visit tomorrow and she tends to get aggravated with me when she sees me wearing myself out taking care of my kids and my patients while my own health is not so good (I have fibromyalgia). She lives in Colorado so I don't see her but every few months. When she found out about my new aquarium, I told her a teeny-tiny white lie and said that my new fishie pets are very low-maintenance. She will be miffed if she comes and sees me doing daily water changes.

I wonder if some of your problems may have been from the grungy stuff in your media? Were things a little back to normal after rinsing it?
I have heard of instances where you can go the the expense of the BioSpira, and it doesn't work - but I think that is more the exception than the rule. If you don't mind putting out the extra money, it could not only keep your Mom from worrying about your caring for the fish, but also give you more visiting time with them.
It's really a personal choice. I hope you have a lovely visit!!

Debbie