# Second Cycle and Bio Spira?



## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

My tank seems to be cycling again. I ran a full cycle with about 25 tuffies before adding my P's but I recently noticed signs of a second cycle. Ammonia is up but Nitrite is still 0. Nitrate is still at about 20ppm right now. I'm guessing it's all the mess my little guys make when eating. I started vacuuming the sand every other day effecting a 10-20% water change each time. Ammonia is acceptable and fish are happy but I'm still concerned.

I'm going to grab some Bio Spira right now. Should I do a big water change first or leave all that ammonia in there for the Bio? Comments or suggestions?


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

I wouldnt get any bio-spira. It sounds like you just overloaded your bio filtration capacity. I would do your water changes, dont vacume the gravel unless there is some food you need to get up, and just feed a less until the bacteria has time to build up. You should be fine.

Moved to water chem.


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## Bcollins111900 (Feb 3, 2003)

Yeah bio spira depending on your tank size, will run ya soem cash for osmething you are not sure and really dob't need. Do a 50% water change and it should be cool. What size tank is it and what filtration do you have on it?


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## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

Yah, I'm pretty sure with the messy eating and all the bio load just got too high. I grabbed the Bio Spira while I was out. $10 bucks as my tank is only a 20. That's the other problem. With a tank this small the bio filter is so much more sensitive. Can't wait to get a new tank!

I'm gonna ad the Bio Spira without doing the water change. That is what they recommend as long as you don't have medication in the water. I'm also going to remove the carbon I put in the filter. Filter BTW is a 1976 Model Eheim from Germany! Runs like a top! I think it's equivalent to the 2211 canister.


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## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

Bio Spira in at 4:15PM EST. Will probably test quite a few times over the next few days. I'll post the test results for kicks.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Yeah, you will need a larger tank pretty soon, if you have reds they grow pretty fast. Once the filter is fully cycled you can just add it to the larger tank and you should be fine. Good luck with the bio spira, never tried it but have heard good things.


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## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

Ok, time for an update!

First, here's the list of test results I bothered to keep:
Time......................Ammonia........Nitrite
12/12/03 16:15........4.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/12/03 17:15........4.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/12/03 19:15........4.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/13/03 0:15..........4.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/13/03 10:15........4.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/13/03 16:15........5.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/13/03 18:15........3.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l
12/14/03 0:45..........3.0 mg/l........0.3 mg/l

Nitrate was ever so slightly detectable.

As you can see, the Bio Spira was NOT WORKING!!!! Dagnabit!!!

Since then, 50% water changes daily have kept my P's alive and healthy but man what a pain in the a$$!

I also tried another course of Bio Spira 48 hours after the first and got the same results. It's like I never added it! :sad: Before the second batch I added a Penguin 330 to the tank as I really wanted some wet/dry capacity. The filter works great but even with both running and all that Bio Spira, it's like the tank was setup yesterday. I gave it 48 hours from the second BS addition and then started the water changes. I'm not adding anything else now except water (w/ salt). And lots of it! I'm running a basket of carbon in the 330 as well. Anyone know if I should keep that in there or ditch it?

Arrrrrgghhh!


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## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

Woohooo!! Yeehaaww!!!
















Ammonia reading today is zero!! Going to test nitrite as well but couldn't wait to post!









The only new thing I did was add the carbon to one media basket in the 330 as mentioned before. That was almost exactly 24 hours ago.


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## Black-Phoenix (Oct 21, 2003)

Bio-Spira isn't an immediet cycle, but it is pretty damn fast. Congrats on solveing your problem.







with a tank that small definetly keep up on water changes.


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## thorsky (Dec 4, 2003)

Many many water changes! Argh! Ammonia still zero and last night was the first time I fed them till they were full. I've been giving them just enough to keep them from eating each other so far so last night was like a feast for them. 90gal tank will be setup as soon as I get the stand and hood done!







That'll hold 'em for now!


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