Instant Ocean BIO-Spira Water Treatment for Aquariums, 8.45-Ounce (46798779643)

This product is no snake oil. I have tried other products, including Nicrobacter II, Nite-out, Seachem Stability, Api Enzyme & Stress coat. This product is way out of league of the other competitors on the market. The aquarium is cycled (with fish) in just one day, provided that I had an overkill of ceramic media and live rocks. I can say that this product works is because I tested with two control tanks, all tanks had similar ratio of media in the tank with similar rated protein skimmers etc.Control tank A is fishless, using the good-ol trick of a piece of raw shrimp is still in the middle of nitrite cycling at the moment (4 weeks in). Control tank B used a combination of the products beside Bio-spira in it, is leaning towards the end of nitrite cycling, possibly indicating that one of the product worked. What I can be sure is that Stability does NOT work in that tank as it was the first product I tried and saw no change in any parameters (ammonia level stayed at 8 for more than a week, no nitrite observed).I used bio-spira as a rescue method for my display tank, which had a huge nitrite and nitrate spike caused by a large dead fish stuck in the overflow. I did a 20% water change prior to the addition and still observed ammonia @ 0.5, nitrite @ 1.0 and nitrate @ 40 ppm. The fish were so stressed and three tangs and an angel died at the initial stage of the spike. I used this product as a last hope and saw all parameters went to much safer zone 24 hrs after the addition, ammonia @ 0, nitrite @ 0 and amazing nitrate @ <5, I do not know why nitrate went down with the other parameters but I have to attribute the ammonia and nitrite to the works of the bacteria in this product.The fish that survived the spike seemed to be fine now. I highly recommend this product for a rescue measure and possibly for starting up your new tank. The product indicated no protein skimmer or UV or activated carbon in the aquarium, I turned off the UV and carbon reactor but left the protein skimmer running with continued food addition. Very little skimmate was produced in that 24 hr period.

This has worked great for me for three saltwater tanks. Fish-in cycling has become unpopular because it's viewed as inhumane. This is based on cycling processes that lead to a large ammonia and nitrite spike during cycling. If you use live rock, live sand, and BIO-Spira, you can cycle with a low bio-load (I used 2 clownfish and some cleanup crew) and never have any measurable ammonia or nitrite. This allows you to start your tank in a more natural way and save about 2 months vs fishless cycling. Strongly recommend this stuff, in conjunction with live rock and live sand.

This live bacteria works really well to quickly establish a colony that can handle ammonia right away. I use it in my saltwater quarantine/hospital tanks which don't have the luxury of waiting weeks to cycle. I still monitor ammonia with an alert badge and dose Seachem Prime as appropriate, but I've found Bio-Spira reliably functions immediately as an effective biological filter. It does take a while to develop the bacteria that convert nitrite into nitrate, but that doesn't really matter in saltwater, especially for a fish-only situation.

All new aquariums will have to go through a nitrogen cycle when starting them up. Some aquariums may also go through a cycle again if something unforeseen happens later. Such as, if they have a large amount of die off, are overfed too much in one sitting, or too many fish are added too quickly.There are many articles online that can explain the process in great detail, but, without getting too scientific, here is what happens in a nutshell: Any organic waste (fish waste, uneaten food, decaying plant matter, etc..), will chemically breakdown into ammonia. Beneficial bacteria will develop in a tank that then "feeds" off this ammonia and will break it down into Nitrites, then a separate bacteria will break it down into Nitrates.Nitrates are most easily removed (diluted) by doing partial water changes on the aquarium. Technically they can be broken down as well, but that usually involves other things that are usually beyond your basic saltwater aquarium setup.This will happen naturally when you start your tank, but the process can take anywhere from 4-8 weeks. During this time, your fish can be subject to high levels of ammonia and nitrites which are harmful to the fish and can cause stress which will lead to disease/loss. If a fish dies in the tank it decaying body can add more organic waste and things can spiral out of control pretty quickly. This is especially true if you overstock the tank to begin with.Any time I setup a new fish tank for a client I will inoculate the tank with beneficial bacteria to fully cycle or speed up the cycling of the tank. Instant Ocean BioSpira is the product I use for Saltwater setups (I use Instant Tetra SafeStart Plus for Freshwater). This product contains the bacteria that will cycle your tank instantly or very quickly.I also use this product if I have to do a larger than normal water change, as the large water change would remove a lot of bacteria. Or if I'm adding fish to the tank as this will help keep boost the bacteria levels needed to process the increase in waste from the new fish.This product is not a substitute for water changes. Even though people might say it is or it advertises doing them less. While some people think water changes are an inconvenience, when preformed regularly on a schedule and in small amounts (I usually do 15-25% every two weeks for clients) it will keep your aquarium chemistry very stable (not just involving the chemicals of the nitrogen cycle), and consistency in the aquarium provides the best environment for your fish to thrive.Its worth noting that dechlorinators that detoxify ammonia (such as seachem prime) can reduce the effectiveness of a product like this as they use ammonia in this product for the bacteria to feed off and stay alive while its in the bottle. If you are using a product that does detoxify ammonia, you might consider spacing out the dosing of that product with this one, using a different dechlorinator, or dosing a bit more to offset it.

I would give them 5 stars except for the misleading claim that your aquarium is instantly ready for fish. Everyone who knows anything about reefs and fish-keeping knows that a tank cycling requires more than just pouring in some bacteria. This is really a crazy statement. Other than that, it's a fine product.