I did have 2 clowns, but after weeks of cycling and nitrites being at 0 (they never went above zero), I had a spike and they both died overnight. Per my LFS they were safe to add 2 days after using Bio-Spira, so they were in there for at least a month before they died. I think that the the cycle was just delayed or didn't happen, and the Bio-Spira I had didn't work. I didn't know to look for expiration dates when I started, so it could have been bad. At first I thought it worked great, and that I had just missed the cycle (ignorance on my part), even though I was testing every other day.
It could have also been none of that, and rinsing my sponge (not bio-media) with tap water killed my bacteria. Now that I type it out, I think it was probably that, and not bad Bio-Spira. (more ignorance, I know better now)
I switched over to Dr. Tim's version, and I saw an almost immediate drop in my nitrites, and they are now at zero. I've also updated my pump and filtration, switched over to RODI (even more ignorance, should have done that to begin with) and added a fuge in the second chamber of my Fluval 13.5. Things have been stable now for a week or so, and I'm going to wait a few more weeks (at least) to add any fish, and then only one to begin with.
Sorry, just had to get that off my chest. It was a great learning experience, though, and I'm glad this all happened in the very beginning instead of later on.
