Bottled bacteria

[Mitrillion]

Where's the best place to buy it and how much?

[Higher Thinking]

Find a local reefer and get some live rock. Or just buy a couple pounds from one of our sponsors. Best bacteria to jump start your tank.

[Peng]

BioSpira is a very good one.

[Trigger334]

We've had great success with SeaChem Stability.

 

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/seachem.html#stability

 

We are currently running control tests between some cycling bacterias to see which one is better. It's going to be interesting. Stability is what we've had the best sucess with so far.

[Lexinverts]

I've had good success with Dr. Tim's "One and Only."

 

http://www.drtimsaquatics.com/

 

I use live rock too, when I start up a tank.

[Pontus]

What is "good success"??

[Lexinverts]

What is "good success"??

No ammonia spikes, and stable tanks.

[Pontus]

How do you know it was due to purchased bacteria?

[pledosophy]

I have used BioSpira as a bottled bacteria to instantly cycle a tank. I know Stu uses a bottled bacteria to cycle the cold water stuff as well, not sure on the one he uses. I have also used Prime and Amquel as an ammonia stabalizer. I hadn't used either in almost 9 years until a couple months ago when I moved across town and proactively dosed prime in to the system before adding the fish. 

 

IME Amquel is great at neutralizing ammonia. I used it as part of my breeding regiment for awhile. I was doing 4 10% water changes and 2 50% water changes a day and was still having ammonia issues so I would supplement Amquel to make the ammonia no longer toxic. The Amquel is what finally did the trick for me. 

 

I think most would use a product like Amquel in an emergency situation, not as an everyday thing. But when you have 5 10g's that are being fed 6x a day with no filtration on them at all, you learn to love Amquel. It is great in hospital tanks, or emergency QT tanks as well, especially ones where the medication would kill the bio filter. So if one needed to treat for something like vibriosis, or even ICH really and had to set up a Hospital tank it'd be good to have on hand. Or if your prone to not keeping your QT tank running and buying fish spur of the moment. 

 

JME

[Trigger334]

I have used BioSpira as a bottled bacteria to instantly cycle a tank. I know Stu uses a bottled bacteria to cycle the cold water stuff as well, not sure on the one he uses. I have also used Prime and Amquel as an ammonia stabalizer. I hadn't used either in almost 9 years until a couple months ago when I moved across town and proactively dosed prime in to the system before adding the fish. 

 

IME Amquel is great at neutralizing ammonia. I used it as part of my breeding regiment for awhile. I was doing 4 10% water changes and 2 50% water changes a day and was still having ammonia issues so I would supplement Amquel to make the ammonia no longer toxic. The Amquel is what finally did the trick for me. 

 

I think most would use a product like Amquel in an emergency situation, not as an everyday thing. But when you have 5 10g's that are being fed 6x a day with no filtration on them at all, you learn to love Amquel. It is great in hospital tanks, or emergency QT tanks as well, especially ones where the medication would kill the bio filter. So if one needed to treat for something like vibriosis, or even ICH really and had to set up a Hospital tank it'd be good to have on hand. Or if your prone to not keeping your QT tank running and buying fish spur of the moment. 

 

JME

I use Prime each water change. Many conditioners are proven to be a Redox reducers, which help Redox Balance (long-term Immunity). This includes SeaChem Prime, Tetra/Jungle Start Right, Kordon Novaqua, and many more.

 

I also cycled a new aquarium pretty quickly using Stability and a seeded sponge.

[Lexinverts]

How do you know it was due to purchased bacteria?

Because when I set up a tank with just live rock I get some ammonia and nitrite spikes during the first few weeks. The bottled bacteria speeds up the cycling process.

[Mandinga]

I've never used bottles bacteria, always just grow my own.

 

I figure if I can't be patient enough to let a cycle happen in a monthish, how can I ever be patient enough to endure the slow growth of sps...

[LC Scott]

I've never used bottles bacteria, always just grow my own.

 

I figure if I can't be patient enough to let a cycle happen in a monthish, how can I ever be patient enough to endure the slow growth of sps...

[emoji120]

[Trigger334]

We're running an interesting test right now with a couple cycle aids. It's interesting to watch the ammonia and nitrites  cycle through. What's we are trying to figure out is, which one makes the cycle, but also what well they maintain a cycle when a load occur during the cycle. This is only really important for new tank cycles.