Mixing starter bacteria Dr. Tim's & Bio-Spira

[SaltTank]

I set up an Fluval EVO 13.5 with 15 lbs dry rock and 18 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Aragonite Reef Sand. I'm using Seachem Matrix for Bio Media. I added a full bottle of Dr. Tim's Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, dosed with Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride but the ammonia level is still +2ppm and nitrite and nitrate = 0 after 48hrs. I had also purchased a bottle of BIO-Spira Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I've read that BIO Spira was very good also.

Could I help the cycle by adding the BIO Spira to jumpstart the cycle and also provide some bacteria diversity?

Temp = 85
Salinity = 1.019

 

[Jubei2006]

Temp should be around 80F, salinity should be around 1.023 to 1.026. Will take more than 48 hours to cycle. Plan on a least 4 to 5 days for nitrate to start showing up.

 

[SaltTank]

Thanks @Jubei2006 I'm now 72hrs in and ammonia levels have not moved. I've made the temp adjustments.

Should I:
1- do a 100% water change and add biospira to the tank as a different nitrifying bacteria
2- just add biospira to the current water
3- do a 50% water change with no additional nitrifying bacteria
4- just continue to wait
5- other........

 

[Jubei2006]

Thanks @Jubei2006 I'm now 72hrs in and ammonia levels have not moved. I've made the temp adjustments.

Should I:
1- do a 100% water change and add biospira to the tank as a different nitrifying bacteria
2- just add biospira to the current water
3- do a 50% water change with no additional nitrifying bacteria
4- just continue to wait
5- other........

Make sure ammonia doesnt go much above 2ppm. Much higher and it actually starts to stall out the cycle. I wouldnt do a water change unless you're 2.5ppm or higher on ammonia. And even then I would change a huge amount, maybe 50% or less. You can redose any of the nitrifying group bacterias, Im fine with using a few different products. Once again Id get that salinity up. 1.022-23 for FOWLR, 1.025-26 for reef. And then wait. It took about 1.5 weeks for me to get appreciable nitrate on the big tank and then within a few days it skyrocketed to 30ppm nitrate. Then went in the copepods and phyto. Also started up the refugium. Let all that clean up my nitrates. Now its penned around 5-7ppm when I check. 8 minths in on the big tank.

 

[Azedenkae]

I set up an Fluval EVO 13.5 with 15 lbs dry rock and 18 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Aragonite Reef Sand. I'm using Seachem Matrix for Bio Media. I added a full bottle of Dr. Tim's Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, dosed with Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride but the ammonia level is still +2ppm and nitrite and nitrate = 0 after 48hrs. I had also purchased a bottle of BIO-Spira Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I've read that BIO Spira was very good also.

Could I help the cycle by adding the BIO Spira to jumpstart the cycle and also provide some bacteria diversity?

Temp = 85
Salinity = 1.019

Yes you can mix bottled bac. They will either co-exist or the better species will outcompete the others, either way is good.

Dr. Tim's does not seem to work very well for a year now, in fact come to think of it I have actually not heard of a cycle that worked with Dr. Tim's nitrifiers during this time. Odd since his is the original and kinda was in the past proven to work.

Bio-Spira is a great product. So is FritzZyme. You can try either.

 

[brandon429]

Here’s what to do

add two pinches of ground up fish food, any type


wait fifteen days, change all the water, you’re cycled, and it doesn’t matter what any tester says and it doesn’t matter if you add the extra bac or not

source for recommend: we have been doing this for 28 pages

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Updated Cycling Science in Action This is a testless reef tank cycling thread, the only one from any board. If you ever had trouble with reef tank cycling in the past, you won't any longer after working some jobs with us. chances are you are using/about to use a method of reef tank cycling...

www.reef2reef.com

your assigned start date in line with that thread is dec 30th


your current ammonia doesn’t matter


the current lack of movement doesn’t matter

whether you add the extra bac doesn’t matter


the recommend will work, your main concern is adding fish that we know it can carry end of month without prepping them for disease so spend all the next two weeks reading the disease forum and copying some or all aspects of it.


have you ever seen a cycle approach provide a specific start date vs an open ended wait? Nope. This is new cycling science

welcome to no test, timing- based cycles i.e the number one trick all bottle bac sellers detest lol

 

[aggrofish]

Doing bacteria and ammonia it usually takes around two weeks for a cycle. Adding fish with Dr. Tims or biospira seems to be the better route IMO. Maybe the bioload never gets ammonia up as high as adding ammonia? Im not sure. But, as of late I've done a quarantine tank 2x and a reefer 170 with adding biospira & Dr. Tims and adding fish the next day. on the 170 (35gallon) I never saw any measurable ammonia with a clown and kole tang added.

 

[SaltTank]

Doing bacteria and ammonia it usually takes around two weeks for a cycle. Adding fish with Dr. Tims or biospira seems to be the better route IMO. Maybe the bioload never gets ammonia up as high as adding ammonia? Im not sure. But, as of late I've done a quarantine tank 2x and a reefer 170 with adding biospira & Dr. Tims and adding fish the next day. on the 170 (35gallon) I never saw any measurable ammonia with a clown and kole tang added.

Thanks ... that may be the option .... my (2) fish arrive this week so i may have to dump the bac and ammonia approach. to do that I guess i need to do a 100% water change to get all the ammonia out of the tank, fill back up fresh and add fish with a bottle of bacteria. Once i do that should i check for ammonia levels each day and do partial water changes if it goes over 2pppm or some other number?

 

[aggrofish]

Thanks ... that may be the option .... my (2) fish arrive this week so i may have to dump the bac and ammonia approach. to do that I guess i need to do a 100% water change to get all the ammonia out of the tank, fill back up fresh and add fish with a bottle of bacteria. Once i do that should i check for ammonia levels each day and do partial water changes if it goes over 2pppm or some other number?

Yeah I'd start over with fresh saltwater. Pour the bacteria in 24 hours or so before you put the fish in. It's a small tank so just have 5 gallons ready to go. I'd get one of those little ammonia badges to give you an early alert. With the bottled bacteria and aragalive sand I doubt you will have any issues.

ETA: If you don't already have an extra heater you may pick up an inexpensive preset to 78 degrees one, that way you dont have to wait long to get new water up to temp. I keep a 200 watt in the bottom of a 32 gallon brute so water is always ready to go. You will have to add RO water before doing a water change due to evaporation and increasing salinity.

 

[SaltTank]

Thanks,

If I added some Seachem Prime to the tank would that hurt the cycle process? I added a Seachem Ammonia Alert to the tank and the readings show that everything is safe. But my API ammonia test say 1ppm.

 

[Azedenkae]

Thanks,

If I added some Seachem Prime to the tank would that hurt the cycle process? I added a Seachem Ammonia Alert to the tank and the readings show that everything is safe. But my API ammonia test say 1ppm.

No, it does not hurt the process.

 

[damsels are not mean]

I set up an Fluval EVO 13.5 with 15 lbs dry rock and 18 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Aragonite Reef Sand. I'm using Seachem Matrix for Bio Media. I added a full bottle of Dr. Tim's Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, dosed with Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride but the ammonia level is still +2ppm and nitrite and nitrate = 0 after 48hrs. I had also purchased a bottle of BIO-Spira Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I've read that BIO Spira was very good also.

Could I help the cycle by adding the BIO Spira to jumpstart the cycle and also provide some bacteria diversity?

Temp = 85
Salinity = 1.019

You are doing too much already. The cycle will happen in time. You probably shouldn't have even dosed to get ammonia up.

 

[Dan_P]

I set up an Fluval EVO 13.5 with 15 lbs dry rock and 18 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Aragonite Reef Sand. I'm using Seachem Matrix for Bio Media. I added a full bottle of Dr. Tim's Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, dosed with Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride but the ammonia level is still +2ppm and nitrite and nitrate = 0 after 48hrs. I had also purchased a bottle of BIO-Spira Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I've read that BIO Spira was very good also.

Could I help the cycle by adding the BIO Spira to jumpstart the cycle and also provide some bacteria diversity?

Temp = 85
Salinity = 1.019

If nothing happens in 48 h, it might be a dud bottle. This is not the first time I have read about slow starts with Dr. Tim’s. Give it another day, then use the BioSpira.

Temperature does not have to be above 80F. Salinity is fine for helping nitrifying bacteria to grow.

 

[DedElvis]

I set up an Fluval EVO 13.5 with 15 lbs dry rock and 18 lbs CaribSea Arag-Alive Live Aragonite Reef Sand. I'm using Seachem Matrix for Bio Media. I added a full bottle of Dr. Tim's Aquatics One & Only Live Nitrifying Bacteria, dosed with Dr. Tim's Aquatics Ammonium Chloride but the ammonia level is still +2ppm and nitrite and nitrate = 0 after 48hrs. I had also purchased a bottle of BIO-Spira Live Nitrifying Bacteria. I've read that BIO Spira was very good also.

Could I help the cycle by adding the BIO Spira to jumpstart the cycle and also provide some bacteria diversity?

Temp = 85
Salinity = 1.019

Can I be the one who suggests you are overthinking this? Your temp is high - (my opinion) - the rest should take care of itself if you add healthy livestock / CUC?

 

[brandon429]

This cycle is passed already
he used bottle bac that skip cyclers use, three weeks ago is why he was done by the assigned completion date



check post history for op, tank has a clownfish with disease, theyre managing it now in the disease forum and Jay comments how constantly unreliable api test kits are. One thing good about Jays troubleshoots: does not conflate cycle issues with known disease expression in today’s fish sourcing. There are other animals in the tank, coral frag too, not dead, only the fish is stressed as we see all day long in the disease forum


a broken cycle is wrecked tank, cloudy, nothing lives because free ammonia uncontrolled burns it all. It’s hard to mess up cycles. It’s easy to mix wet items from varying sources while skipping quarantine and kill the fish with disease, per the fish disease forum