Bacteria in a bottle, Myth or Fact

[Dr. Reef]

OK guys an update

I did a reset and use the following bacteria.

1. Turbostart 900 cold
2. Bio Spira
3. Dr Tim
4 ATM Colony
5 Microbelift
6 Fluval Cycle

I setup each tank with new dry sand and ring and dosed ammonium chloride to 0.5ppm then added 15 pallets of fish food in each tank and then dosed bacteria as per instruction on bottles.
After 24 hrs all tanks showed 0.5-1ppm
Day 2 fritz turbo start was down to 0-0.25ppm while others all showed about 0.5ppm
Day 3 Fritz was absolutely 0 while othere were near o-0.25ppm
Day 4 All tanks were 0.

Control is still at 1ppm.

 

[Dr. Reef]

resetting and going to perform the following:

1. Turbostart 900 vs Fritz Zyme 9 (shelf stable product)
2. Microbacterya Sent from Honk Kong vs MB7
3. Pouring bacteria in water vs pouring on media directly

@brandon429
I took a sample of water from control with 1ppm ammonia and filled the dark vial and going to lock it up for months and then test for bacteria. (no bacteria was added)

 

[MnFish1]

@Dr. Reef Have you started the Seneye test yet? Thanks Good work

 

[Dr. Reef]

@Dr. Reef Have you started the Seneye test yet? Thanks Good work

No @MnFish1 not yet. this upcoming reset is last study on this thread.
I need to get the results for Turbostart vs Zyme 9
and bacteria sent from Hong Kong vs brighwell mb7
and pouring bacteria in water vs pouring on media.
After this study is over then i will move on to Seneye monitoring. I am guessing about 2 weeks time,

 

[Venzzla]

OK guys an update

I did a reset and use the following bacteria.

1. Turbostart 900 cold
2. Bio Spira
3. Dr Tim
4 ATM Colony
5 Microbelift
6 Fluval Cycle

I setup each tank with new dry sand and ring and dosed ammonium chloride to 0.5ppm then added 15 pallets of fish food in each tank and then dosed bacteria as per instruction on bottles.
After 24 hrs all tanks showed 0.5-1ppm
Day 2 fritz turbo start was down to 0-0.25ppm while others all showed about 0.5ppm
Day 3 Fritz was absolutely 0 while othere were near o-0.25ppm
Day 4 All tanks were 0.

Control is still at 1ppm.

Great work Reef, I used turbostart 900 in my aquarium and it took me a week to cycle. My downfall was that I only raised the ammonium chloride level to 2ppm.

 

[Dr. Reef]

So guys these results bring me to the last of this series of testing. Will be resetting and moving on to the next set of studies using Seneye monitors. That is a totally different thread, please visit there and follow the progress.

On this last study i did the following testing

1. Turbostart 900 vs Fritz Zyme 9 (shelf stable product)
2. Microbacterya Sent from Hong Kong vs MB7
3. Pouring bacteria in water vs pouring on media directly

I dosed each tank with 1 ppm ammonium chloride and added bacteria next day.

In first 2 tanks TurboStart 900 vs Zyme 9

Tank 1 with TurboStart 900 ammonia dropped from 1 ppm to 0.25ppm in 2 days (almost 0)
Tank 2 with Fritz Zyme 9 ammonia dropped from 1 ppm to 0 in 4 days.
Tank 3 MB7 stalled in sterile tank for 4 days. with 1ppm. Day 5 i added fish food and 2 days later ammonia was down to 0
Tank 4 Microbacterya from Hong Kong provided by @cbleehk
stalled in sterile tank for 4 days. with 1ppm. Day 5 i added fish food and 2 days later ammonia was down to 0.
Tank 5 &6 Pouring bacteria in water vs soaking media with same amount of bacteria did not show any difference in cycling time frame and both tanks cycled at same time few days later.(using TurboStart 900 and Bio Spira)

Note: all tests were repeated 3 times.

 

[MnFish1]

Nice job - interesting to see that the non-refrigerated version also worked.

 

[joec]

Ok, without reading through all 85 pages here, what is considered "proper storage" of Biospira?

Also, how careful should I be when buying looking at the expiration dates on the bottles? What is the real world shelf life?

 

[Dr. Reef]

@joec
I tested Turbostart 900 which is refrigerated product and need to be kept in cold temperatures, I put one bottle out in room temperature conditions for 3 months and it kept on working. Of course I could see delays in cycling a tank as it got older and older but it worked till 3 months out in room temperature.
Rest of the products including Bio Spria are shelf stable and can stay at room temps as far as 6 months to 1 year depending on manufacturers recommendations.
I would strongly suggest to buy the freshest bottle on shelf and keep it in cooler temperatures till use.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Real world shelf life just judging if cold product like Turbostart can work 3 months out of temp then a shelf stable product can definitely pass 6 months.
6 to 8 months would be my guess.

 

[joec]

@joec
I tested Turbostart 900 which is refrigerated product and need to be kept in cold temperatures, I put one bottle out in room temperature conditions for 3 months and it kept on working. Of course I could see delays in cycling a tank as it got older and older but it worked till 3 months out in room temperature.
Rest of the products including Bio Spria are shelf stable and can stay at room temps as far as 6 months to 1 year depending on manufacturers recommendations.
I would strongly suggest to buy the freshest bottle on shelf and keep it in cooler temperatures till use.

Store Biospira in refrigerator or not?

 

[jeffchapok]

then added 15 pallets of fish food in each tank

15 pallets? [emoji50]

That bacteria is in for a feast! [emoji16]

 

[Dr. Reef]

There is no harm in storing Bio Spria in fridge.

 

[Devaji]

thanks for all the work and $$ you put in to these test.
I cycled my QT tank with turbostart 9000 and it worked like a charm.

so if I am understanding your tests right. turbo state 9000 is the fastest but other like bio spria etc. do work just not as fast. that is good news as the 9000 is pretty spendy if one has a few extra days to cycle a qt tank or DT tank that might be the way to go. but if one needs to QT a sick fish fast then it's 9000 all the way. I am correct in my understanding?

 

[Dr. Reef]

Yes @Devaji
That is correct. If one needs to cycle a tank really fast Fritz Turbostart 900 is the way to go.
Bio spira and Dr Tim and other also work but a few days behind and some will require organic carbon sources to actually work.
Turbostart 900 will work in sterile or non sterile tank.

 

[Venzzla]

Yes @Devaji
That is correct. If one needs to cycle a tank really fast Fritz Turbostart 900 is the way to go.
Bio spira and Dr Tim and other also work but a few days behind and some will require organic carbon sources to actually work.
Turbostart 900 will work in sterile or non sterile tank.

Great work and thanks!

 

[jasonrusso]

Thanks to this thread, I knew exactly which bacteria to buy. It costs a lot more, but I don't care as long as it works!

 

[MnFish1]

Thanks to this thread, I knew exactly which bacteria to buy. It costs a lot more, but I don't care as long as it works!

My takeaway from this thread - if you add any of the products - and fish - and follow the instructions you will be successful. @Dr. Reef Correct me if im wrong. My other takeaway - there is no reason to use ammonia to cycle a tank for weeks.

 

[jasonrusso]

My takeaway from this thread - if you add any of the products - and fish - and follow the instructions you will be successful. @Dr. Reef Correct me if im wrong. My other takeaway - there is no reason to use ammonia to cycle a tank for weeks.

Yes, but this works the fastest and seems more forgiving.

 

[MnFish1]

Yes, but this works the fastest and seems more forgiving.

Maybe - im not sure it's true - but - frankly if I had a choice - I would use it lol - Just not sure its better than the others - if a carbon source is used. I'm not saying this to discount the study - only to support the vendors who suggest a different method than Dr. Tim, and the ammonia cyclers.