Help please

[NanCrab]

I bought BIO-Spira from Amazon. The directions are not clear to me so I wanted to ask first. Is it safe to add this to the water with the fish already in there or do I need to remove them into another container with some of the tank water and then add it and return the fish.
As always, thank.you for your help!

 

[bhodges82]

Says you can add to established aquarium, I think it's safe for fish.

 

[Shawn]

You can pour that in. But. It won’t have anything to bind to unless you’ve got rock or a sponge filter in your QT tank. If you’re using it for your QT tank, i would buy a container of Matrix and put that in a mesh bag then use the bacteria.

 

[Shawn]

You can pour that in. But. It won’t have anything to bind to unless you’ve got rock or a sponge filter in your QT tank. If you’re using it for your QT tank, i would buy a container of Matrix and put that in a mesh bag then use the bacteria.

For example. I have two bags of Matrix and a sponge filter in my ten gallon QT tank that I seeded from my main tank. That’s most likely overboard. Honestly one bag of matrix should be enough. Just follow the directions on the back. It will tell you to use xx amount per yy gallons of water.

 

[NanCrab]

You can pour that in. But. It won’t have anything to bind to unless you’ve got rock or a sponge filter in your QT tank. If you’re using it for your QT tank, i would buy a container of Matrix and put that in a mesh bag then use the bacteria.

Can I get matrix locally? Thanks! I think there is a little sponge in the HOB I can post a pic.

 

[bhodges82]

I think petsmart has matrix, or petco. Most lfs carry it.

 

[Shawn]

Can I get matrix locally? Thanks! I think there is a little sponge in the HOB I can post a pic.

Yeah. Seachem Matrix. LFSs should have it. It’s just a super pourous small rock. That filter in the back of your filter most likely isn’t enough. It could be. Just monitor your ammonia several times a day. Do water changes or use prime if it starts going up.

 

[NanCrab]

Says you can add to established aquarium, I think it's safe for fish.

I saw that but then I read a sentence that said "aquarium is then ready for fish" which made me question.

 

[Shawn]

You won’t be using that entire bottle. So long as the fish are healthy then it should be fine.

 

[bhodges82]

I saw that but then I read a sentence that said "aquarium is then ready for fish" which made me question.

But they are already in water and not dead, technically the aquarium was ready for fish without the product. The product just helps condition the environment to KEEP the fish.

 

[NanCrab]

But they are already in water and not dead, technically the aquarium was ready for fish without the product. The product just helps condition the environment to KEEP the fish.

It is a newly set up QT tank and the fish have only been in it 24 hours so maybe we should say they aren't dead yet....and I'm trying to keep them that way

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I add bio spira to my tank randomly. If I add new rock I usually soak it for a few hrs in the bio spira , the other day I had a third of a bottle left and just dumped it in the fuge. Not going to hurt anything. It's just bacteria that converts ammonia . If you add too much it will just get filtered out really.

 

[NanCrab]

I add bio spira to my tank randomly. If I add new rock I usually soak it for a few hrs in the bio spira , the other day I had a third of a bottle left and just dumped it in the fuge. Not going to hurt anything. It's just bacteria that converts ammonia . If you add too much it will just get filtered out really.

Thanks Eric! I poured about half the bottle into the HOB of the 13 gallon tank

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

No worries

 

[jcook54]

I love Matrix but I also keep all of the little bits of live rock that come off and use it the same way. As long as there is some porous material for the bacteria to cling to and colonize. Back in the day "surface area" was king and is still kind of is. Imagine the surface area of a smooth golf ball and how much that surface area increases with all of the little dimples. No imagine all the dimples are 3mm deep; lot's of surface. Back in the day we used to use these golf ball sized pieces of plastic that had a bunch of ridges to create tons of surface area. They worked great because they did have a lot of surface area but science and experience has shown us that it's not all about surface area any more. There are 2 kinds of bacteria: 1) Aerobic and 2) anaerobic. The surface area on something like Matrix is huge because it's very, very porous but that porosity also allows for a lot of the anaerobic bacteria to grow. Those old school plastic golf ball lookin' things grew a lot of bacteria but it was all aerobic bacteria. The aerobic bacteria break down waste very well BUT don't do much to break down nitrates. In fact, those old wet/dry systems are lovingly referred to as nitrate factories. It's the deeply porous material that allows the anaerobic bacteria to flourish and they help break down nitrates.*


*I know I'm writing a lot but when else am I going to get to explain this? I love my Wife but she just glazes over when I talk about different types of bacteria in the reef system.

 

[NanCrab]

I love it! I’m a retired nurse so I understand all about the bacteria and nitrate cycles and acidosis and alkalosis. I even spent some time as the Clinical Manager of a renal dialysis facility. Anyone who knows anything about renal dialysis know the importance of absolutely perfect water. We had huge RODI systems and UV sterilizer. My techs had to test the water multiple times a day to ensure it’s purity. That’s why I spent the money on the UV, because I feel it does have its place in a life sustaining water system.

Thank you for your thoughtful response!

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

Why not a little of both ?

 

[Eric_n_Ga]

I love it! I’m a retired nurse so I understand all about the bacteria and nitrate cycles and acidosis and alkalosis. I even spent some time as the Clinical Manager of a renal dialysis facility. Anyone who knows anything about renal dialysis know the importance of absolutely perfect water. We had huge RODI systems and UV sterilizer. My techs had to test the water multiple times a day to ensure it’s purity. That’s why I spent the money on the UV, because I feel it does have its place in a life sustaining water system.

Thank you for your thoughtful response!

There's a sticky article on here about UV that has so much info you could write a book about it. I highly recommend reading it. I thought I knew a little about it till I started doing the math that's explained. Pretty good stuff.

 

[Sporkwonder]

If you medicate the fish with copper you will need to toss the matrix/bio filtration after your QT. Do not cycle it back into QT and wjatever you do don't cycle it into your DT.

 

[Steve Burton]

If you medicate the fish with copper you will need to toss the matrix/bio filtration after your QT. Do not cycle it back into QT and wjatever you do don't cycle it into your DT.

Why toss? I've kept the same matrix in my qt since the beginning. Let it go dry once or twice but usually just keep it running even without fish and ghost feed occasionally. After the dry periods I would set up and re-seed with a tiny bit from another tank well in advance of adding fish.