The Puffer Forum

Ok, so there's Tetra Safe Start for freshwater, Instant Ocean Biospira for saltwater... what about brackish? Could you use a combination of the two? I'm not sure of the logistics of brackish bacteria. If they're different then SW or FW bacteria then it wouldn't work, but if it's a combination of SW and FW bacteria then it would work...
So, can you use these products for BW aquariums?

I don't think that would work. The fw bacteria would die in sw and the sw bacteria would die in fw. Basically if you mix the two and add it to brackish I would think they would both die. Although I never tried it.

So I suppose there's no helping a slow-cycling BW aquarium. *sigh*

SafeStart is available for SW too I think. But anyway, have you read the package for any of them? It might say what salinities they go to. I can't remember but I'm sure I have read of people using these things to cycle BW aquariums, although I could have just been imagining it

Well, they don't sell it at the stores near me, so I'd have to order it.
My tank is cycling at 1.014SG. So it's pretty much in the middle.

I *think* the cut off for freshwater is 1.008 and anything over that you are supposed to use saltwater. Though adding both could actually be a good idea, cover all your bases LOL.

I just found the instructions online and bio-spira goes from 0.020 - 0.024.

I also found out that tetra and instant ocean are both owned by the same company, but over there tetra don't do sw stuff cause you have instant ocean for that? Just a little nugget of information there.

I always hear never move the SG more than .002 in a week so the bacteria can "catch up", so it suggests that the bacteria for 1.010SG are different than the bacteria at 1.012 in some way.
I guess I'm just a bit confused, lol

I know, it doesn't make sense to me either, but everyone says the freshwater works upto I *think* 1.008 and over that you use saltwater versions.

Hm... maybe it'd be worth it to get just a small one for SW aquariums... it'd at least speed up the cycle quite a bit *hopefully*, but paying for enough for an 80g is not really in my budget...
I'll have to look into it. Of course, with 2 tiny fish, the 80g will be quite a bit understocked for now.

A fishless cycle with ammonia is pretty quick if done properly...

I put in around 4ppm two weeks ago, as well as added a tiny piece of mussel meat to add a bit of extra other stuff for the bacteria, and it hasn't budged. It's at the right salinity, right temp, I dechlorinated... it's just not going anywhere.

You need to add it everyday to feed the bacteria
Have you read the article in the library?

Yep, I have. I don't see why you'd need to feed it every day though, since there's plenty of ammonia. If I keep adding it then there'll be like 100ppm ammonia pretty soon.
From my research, there's two methods. The add and wait method, where you add, wait til you see it drop, then start adding, or the add daily method, where you add it every day, which is better if you're going to have a fullystocked tank. Mine will be very understocked since my puffies are babies, so I don't need that much.

As of this morning we have nitrites!