# Cycle/bio boost products



## GypsyV

My family was curious about the live bacteria/cycling products at the lfs. Do they work, how can the bacteria be alive if it kept at room temperature?


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## NeonShark666

I don't use any additives for tank cycling and I can't remember losing fish because of it. You can't speed up the cycling and do it right. I always recommend using plants, both floating and rooted. Water plants always have some good bacteria and protozoa attached to them that your new tank needs. Adding a snail or two would also help. Mystery Snails are the best, easy to control.


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## jrman83

I don't use them either.


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## rtbob

You either love them or hate them. 

On another forum I participate in a lot of the members use them with success. On this forum most think they don't work.

Now for my experience with the Tetra Brand Safe Start.

When I decided to get back into the hobby in July 2010 my first purchase was a 40 gallon hex tank. It had been empty for around a week and the substrate/filter were filthy. 

I rinsed the substrate in hot as it would get tap water, scrubbed the filter housing/intake tube as well as the inside and outside of the tank with a vinegar solution. I put in new filter media, kept the bio-wheel.

Essentially I killed off the beneficial bacteria, if their were any left.

I set the tank up and let it run for around 24 hours while the water cleared and the temp stabilized.

I added the whole bottle of the Tetra product, waited two hours, added fifteen fish.

The ammonia level hit 0.25 the next day, day two ammonia level was at zero and nitrites began to rise.

After a week of testing the ammonia level was a constant zero with increasing nitrites.

I did three 25% water changes during this week to try and hold the nitrite in check but they had little to no effect. I also treated the tank with Seachem Prime once and the added water was also treated with prime for the water changes. Prime detoxifies nitrite.

The nitrite levels remained high on testing for six to seven days before crashing to zero.
My tank water became cloudy before the nitrite went down for two days (bacteria bloom). 

About mid way through this two week period nitrates began to show on the tests.

Out of the initial 15 fish only two young Angel fish (nickel sized) died. As of today ten of the original fifteen are still alive including one of my Ballon Ram's, Dwarf Gourami and Red Tail Shark.

So does the stuff work? Heck if I know. It held the ammonia in check but took a week to bring the nitrites under control. Fifteen fish were to many to start with I bet.

If you use something like this I would use Dr. Tim's One and Only as I have read good reviews of his product. The Tetra Safe Start is close to the same as the Doctors brand, both are based on a product called Bio Spira invented and patented by the good Doctor.


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## jrman83

I used Dr Tim's nitrifying bacteria stuff a couple of tanks ago and not sure if it helped or not. My tank finished cycling 3 days after I put it in, but I was already nearly a month into a fishless cycle.


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## igot2gats

I'm using raw shrimp. I'm also not a fan of the bio boost additives.


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## beaslbob

+25 (or so)

Cycle products are at best unnecessary and at worse can crash the tank.

All you need to do is start the tank (freshwater or salt) with plant life AND ADD FISH SLOWLY and you will get no ammonia or nitrIte spikes.


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## Scuff

The problem with nitrification bacteria enhancing products is they're usually treated just like hard goods, instead of like livestock. By this I mean they're left in the delivery trucks overnight or in warehouses, and get very cold/hot. This kills off 99% of the bacteria in the bottle, making it useless at best and dangerous at worst. I've yet to find an additive that actually works.


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## verdifer

Yeah for all you know they could have been getting kicked about for ages, I used them on a Freshwater tank I had a long time ago and I dunno if they helped, In my opinion your best just doing a normal cycle whatever way you do it and let nature take its course.


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## AliceInDallas

For what it's worth - especially for those of us who know better but feed a bit too much and add a few too many fish to a large tank very soon after startup: I did go overboard and had the need to find a good bio boost product - immediately. My ammonia had jumped up to 4-5 reading a couple of weeks after setup. I also discovered that the blue lobster had become a bit aggressive with a very slow young pleco whose carcass was decomposing in the lobster's den, which didn't help matters. All other readings were normal, but obviously something had to be done to jump-start the nitrifying cycle. The usual ammonia neutralizers did very little to help the situation. 

One of my two LFS's (who does both fresh and salt commercially - very successfully) uses only StartSmart by TLC. This product requires no refrigeration, which eliminated one of the variables that can make such products ineffective if they are "off the ice" for any period of time. The reviews on the web are excellent and rather persuasive. So I bought two bottles for my 90 gallon tank. The initial results are very positive. 

Within 24 hours of adding StartSmart directly into the Rena XP3 canister intake tube, my ammonia has dropped to 0.5, and nitrites are there but very low, and there is clearly good early nitrate activity. Nothing else has changed in the tank - everything else is normal as it has been. My young Black Ghost Knife Fish is so excited with the improved water quality that he has come out of his den to look for food. I will keep you posted as to whether or not the one addition of this product will maintain these gains.


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## AliceInDallas

Update: At 48 Hours post-addition of StartSmart bio boost product, progress is remaining fairly stable .... my ammonia reading is at 0.75 - a tad more than yesterday's 24 hour reading of 0.50, but a far cry from the 4.0-5.0 reading before the addition of the product. Could be that the small increase over the past 24 hours is the result of the fact that I was so ecstatic at the big drop in ammonia that I broke out some frozen blood worms to celebrate with my Wet Pets. My bad. Nitrites are virtually nil, and nitrates are getting up some speed but well in the OK zone. Will keep you posted on continued progress using this relatively unknown (at least to me) product - StartSmart by TLC.


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## danilykins

when I set up my 30 gallon, I used ActivFlora. Its a gravel/sand/substrate that is suppose to help plants thrive and claims "instant cycle" Its been 3 or 4 days now and the water is reading nice. PH 7.4 AM 0 NI 0 NA between 0 and 5

I had a 10 gallon previously I transfered: filter, ornaments and some water. My tank does have live plants in it also. A couple amazon swords and some sort of fern. 

I think adding my filter and other stuff in there has helped it a lot.


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## jrman83

danilykins said:


> when I set up my 30 gallon, I used ActivFlora. Its a gravel/sand/substrate that is suppose to help plants thrive and claims "instant cycle" Its been 3 or 4 days now and the water is reading nice. PH 7.4 AM 0 NI 0 NA between 0 and 5
> 
> I had a 10 gallon previously I transfered: filter, ornaments and some water. My tank does have live plants in it also. A couple amazon swords and some sort of fern.
> 
> I think adding my filter and other stuff in there has helped it a lot.


Don't know if you have fish in there or not, but your beneficial bacteria will start to die without an ammonia source (what the fish provide).


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## cat_dude

I moved my fish, water, plants, etc lock stock and barrel from a 10 gallon to a 20 in Jan 2012. I then re-started the 10 gallon for fry. Used Dr Tim's nitrifying bacteria. Worked wonders. In 6 days it was cycled, fish less. Also used Dr Tim's ammonia (calibrated ammonia in drops) to control the cycle. Would recommend to anyone.


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