cycling suppliments do they work

[happyface888]

EG Stress zyme, or cycle, stability do these actually help with bacterial cycle? biological filtration?

[Potsy]

No they do not. There is one brand by Marineland that actually does work. It contains a culture of several bacteria that needs to be refrigerated. I've used the freshwater version and it worked as advertised. I would not use the saltwater version on a reef aquarium. There is a very short term spike of nitrite involved that's harmless to fish but to sensitive invertebraes... Cured liverock will speed up the cycling process, if there even is one at all.

[happyface888]

bio-spira? So the Cycle which says highly concentrated bacteria is a fake product, that doesnt work? hmm that sucks guess I'll let it go on its on normal cycle than

[Potsy]

Yes, that's it. Any cycling aid that isn't refrigerated is worthless. The products aren't lying - they do contain bacteria - but all the useless strains and in low concentrations.

[happyface888]

few thanks for the save I was going to get a bottle at Drfs. Guess going with the flow then. Thanks

[happyface888]

was wondering if I could get more feed back on bacterial additives. thanks

[CeeGee]

Bio-Spira does indeed work.


Just make sure it is within the usable date. I setup a 10 gallon threw in 10 g's of saltwater (pre-mixed of course) threw in the Bio-Spira and threw in my fairy wrasse. Never saw a cycle.

[happyface888]

wooh pricey stuff XD, I guess the others arent as good since not much feed back on them. Thanks that saved me some cash was going to get some for another tank.

[sac-bobme]

Bio-spira does work, but live work would work better in a reef.
even more done use it to cure the live rock if thats your idea, the live rock will cure its self

[xtrstangx]

It works, but probably not worth it.

I'd just stick with live rock and go through the tried-and-true cycling process.

Just my $.02

[Im14abeer]

I'd say a cycle is one of the few things you get for free in this hobby. Bacteria multiply so fast anyway, their reproduction is only limited by the "food" supply. The lenght of your cycle won't be determined by how much bacteria you have, it will be determined by how much decaying matter there is to be cycled. If you want a shorter cycle, clean the rock well.