Bio Spira cycled my tank in 30 minutes?

[Asian_Redtail_Catfish]

WTFE A_R_C... you cant answer a simple question, no, you dont want to answer a simple question.
Never had a UGF go bad nor have I heard someone say their UGF went bad unless the were crazy enought o use sand. But you've been doing this for oh so long and your correct. The aquarium genius.

How about very thin gravel where the gravel can go through the slots of the UGF..Anyway, I bought an UGF with thinner openings..Dam my tank is not cycling at all anymore even with the bio spira..In short my readings are now:

ammonia 1-2
nitrite 0
nitrate 0

That can reflect first week of cycling and I had my tank for a month..

So, I am walking away from this topic...I think my gravel is too thin..It is like sand, but it does have pebbles..It suprises me that I have 0 nitrite 0 nitrate even after a month..

 

[MilitantPotato]

Buy another filter, UGF's are my least favorite, unless you reverse the flow, then they arn't to bad, but I prefer other means.

I think you need atleast 3" of pea sized gravel for an effective UGF. Smaller just traps crud between the rocks and clogs up, larger and you lose surface area (or so I was told.)

 

[hillbilly]

 

[timbo08]

I thought you were suppose to add the Bio-spira right before adding fish????

 

[importracer]

I thought you were suppose to add the Bio-spira right before adding fish????

Correct me if I'm wrong here....Bio-Spira(benficial bacteria) feeds on fish waste....Knowing this, adding the "cycling fish" FIRST would be more wise because of all the waste they would be producing...Then, you add the Bio-Spira, probably a day or so after....