StartSmart: Cycles Aquariums Instantly w/ PICS

[SriAngel]

I recently steralized my tank and its filters for a new shipment of fish, and needed to cycle it back up rapidly. I used to use BioSpira from my LFS, but since that product has been discontinued they suggested a new product. I have had hits and misses with biospira, and it took usually close to a week for it to show its results. I bought Startsmart, which was recommended by my rep, he said it would cycle the tank in 24hours. I gave him a look sideways and suggested if it didnt work i would come after him like the Federal Goverment came after Bernie Madoff. The product was cheaply packaged and did not need refrigeration like BioSpira. Each bottle cost 17.99 and was cheaper than biospira, i took two for my 125 gallon tank. I figured it was a safe gamble to take rather than expose valuable stock to the effects of ammonia and nitrite poisoning over the long term it takes to "naturally" cycle a tank.

I have 2 Eheim (2015, 2017 Classic Cannisters) Filters that i cleaned and setup in a 125 gallon tank. I loaded that tank with 40 fish and fed them heavily for 24 hours. At this point the Ammonia concentration was 1.0 ppm, at which point i pulled the fish out. That was 1am last night at which time i added the StartSmart, i squeezed each bottle into the intake prefilters in the tank. Out of boredom i did a water test this afternoon around 1pm. I was shocked to find nitrite present at .25 ppm and nitrate at 20ppm indicating that nitrification was taking place in 12 hours. I WAS BLOWN AWAY! I added some culls from that same shipment of fish into the tank to keep feeding the new biofilter. I will slowly add more fish as the water chemistry stabalizes. I DO NOT RECOMMEND keeping fish in Ammonia concentrations of 1 ppm, it's just that i am blessed with soft acidic water which lowers the effects of ammonia. I took pictures of the bottle, it has no manufacturer info, just the telephone number of my LFS imprinted on the back. Just goes to show you, you cant judge a book by its cover.

[Elite Aquaria]

Great news...Can't wait to see your new fish...;)

[SriAngel]

Thanks Dan,

New shipment meaning my Waynes' fish from last month. I am heading up to Canada again in 2 weeks. Literally counting the days on my calendar! This stuff is going to be great cause i can nuke another tank and cycle it in 24 hours!

[seanyuki]

Hi Angel,

You are now hooked to Wayne's fish....what are you getting this time?
Any update photos of your last shipment?...also very excited too:D


Cheers
Francis:)

[ashaysathe]

Nicely done.

[Eddie]

I recently steralized my tank and its filters for a new shipment of fish, and needed to cycle it back up rapidly. I used to use BioSpira from my LFS, but since that product has been discontinued they suggested a new product. I have had hits and misses with biospira, and it took usually close to a week for it to show its results. I bought Startsmart, which was recommended by my rep, he said it would cycle the tank in 24hours. I gave him a look sideways and suggested if it didnt work i would come after him like the Federal Goverment came after Bernie Madoff. The product was cheaply packaged and did not need refrigeration like BioSpira. Each bottle cost 17.99 and was cheaper than biospira, i took two for my 125 gallon tank. I figured it was a safe gamble to take rather than expose valuable stock to the effects of ammonia and nitrite poisoning over the long term it takes to "naturally" cycle a tank.

I have 2 Eheim (2015, 2017 Classic Cannisters) Filters that i cleaned and setup in a 125 gallon tank. I loaded that tank with 40 fish and fed them heavily for 24 hours. At this point the Ammonia concentration was 1.0 ppm, at which point i pulled the fish out. That was 1am last night at which time i added the StartSmart, i squeezed each bottle into the intake prefilters in the tank. Out of boredom i did a water test this afternoon around 1pm. I was shocked to find nitrite present at .25 ppm and nitrate at 20ppm indicating that nitrification was taking place in 12 hours. I WAS BLOWN AWAY! I added some culls from that same shipment of fish into the tank to keep feeding the new biofilter. I will slowly add more fish as the water chemistry stabalizes. I DO NOT RECOMMEND keeping fish in Ammonia concentrations of 1 ppm, it's just that i am blessed with soft acidic water which lowers the effects of ammonia. I took pictures of the bottle, it has no manufacturer info, just the telephone number of my LFS imprinted on the back. Just goes to show you, you cant judge a book by its cover.

Looks Promising Angel, what's the status today? No ammonia/nitrite? Did you put all the fish back in the tank?


Eddie

[poconogal]

This product was just highly recommended to me by a large Discus breeder and seller. He said it actually works but referred to it as TLC, which is on the label.

[ashaysathe]

This product is not availabe in any fish store near me. Does anybody have this product in their LFS?

[dpt8]

Biospira is available but it is now very similar to this product. Biospira for salt water is in a purple bottle and fresh water is another color. Same great product but now, not refrigerated.. I still would rather go with cycled sponges and media from another existing cycled tank though.. David

[Marywouters]

Hi

I just read this thread now and tought to myself I must tell everyone about the product I use here in Belgium. I had bought a new Eheim canister filter and could not get rid of the nitrite in my water even after I put in sponges of another filter that had been running for months. The problem was with the filter itself and I got a substitute from Eheim because something was missing in one of the trays inside the filter. Anyway after I got this new tray I poured in BIODIGEST produced by Prodibio and the day after all of the nitrite was gone. I don't know if you can get that product in America but it does wonders.

Mary

[poconogal]

This product is not availabe in any fish store near me. Does anybody have this product in their LFS?
I called the company that makes it. Got their number by googling TLC aquarium or TLC fish (otherwise lots of TLCs come up, nothing to do with fish products though) and they were very nice and extremely helpful. They took my number and then had a seller in PA call me. He sent me samples of several products and I just paid the shipping. Now I know where to buy it - he has a website: www.poppopsfish.com

[poconogal]

This company say what kind of shelf life this product has....sounds interesting
I'm going to email the guy who sent me the sample bottles and ask. There is no exp date on the sample. What impressed me was that Tony from Sunrise Tropicals recommended it and uses it!

The guy who phoned me also sent me some "optimizer" stuff to use when adding new fish and after WCs. When I added my two new large Discus to my tank I used it and had no ammonia spike, not even a tiny bit. I also noticed that the fish poo was disappearing from the tank bottom very quickly with only a tiny amount being visible. I have a nearly BB tank, so it seems the poo was being broken down/processed quickly.

[DLock3d]

That's freaking awesome. If only our hobby could evolve as fast as technology.

[shawnhu]

I called the company that makes it. Got their number by googling TLC aquarium or TLC fish (otherwise lots of TLCs come up, nothing to do with fish products though) and they were very nice and extremely helpful. They took my number and then had a seller in PA call me. He sent me samples of several products and I just paid the shipping. Now I know where to buy it - he has a website: www.poppopsfish.com

I believe Pops is part of the Aquaria Central forums, great guy and has nice stock. He also on occassion sell breeding products, such as Indian almond leaves. I've also been to Northern where Angel found this product, they were promoting it to most of the customers there that didn't understand what cycling means.

[poconogal]

This company say what kind of shelf life this product has....sounds interesting
I just spoke with the seller here in PA and he said it has a shelf life of a year, provided its not exposed to extremes in temps.

[Islesfan]

Thanks Angel for bringing this product to everyone's attention. I am currently have a bio filter issue in my tank and 16 hours after adding this product I am getting some very favorable results. I will post my experience with this product fully after 24 hours.....so far very promising!

[poconogal]

I called the company that makes it. Got their number by googling TLC aquarium or TLC fish (otherwise lots of TLCs come up, nothing to do with fish products though) and they were very nice and extremely helpful. They took my number and then had a seller in PA call me. He sent me samples of several products and I just paid the shipping. Now I know where to buy it - he has a website: www.poppopsfish.com
While the products from TLC are excellent, I now WOULD NOT recommend dealing with www.poppopsfish.com for anything at all, as he just ripped me off.

I paid him $24 on July 4 for a gallon of an aquarium optimizer which I had sampled in my tank. It is a wonderful product, reduced poo almost like magic instead of seeing it on the tank floor before WCs. It was never received, then I was told it would ship on July 15 via UPS. It did not ship, I never received the product, and John (poppop) has not had the courtesy to respond to my inquiries when I asked for a tracking number, or asked what's happened to my product, or even when I filed a case with PayPal. www.poppopsfish.com has even REMOVED their contact phone number from their website, which indicates to me that he's done this to a number of people. Of course, he has NOT returned my $24 either. He seemed very nice, but I guess it was a false face he put on.

[Islesfan]

Sorry to hear of your experience Connie; the TLC products are starting to show up in the aquarium shops in NJ, so hopefully soon they will be widely distributed.

An update on my progress with Startsmart:

I started with a bio filter issue Amm-.5 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-trace
After 16 hours with Startsmart Amm-.25 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-5
After 30 hours with Startsmart Amm-0 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-10

I will start another thread with all the info from start to finish with pics as soon as I have the time to write it all out. I'm usually skeptical of "Bacteria in a Bottle" products, but Startsmart does work.

[Harriett]

I called the company that makes it. Got their number by googling TLC aquarium or TLC fish (otherwise lots of TLCs come up, nothing to do with fish products though) and they were very nice and extremely helpful. They took my number and then had a seller in PA call me. He sent me samples of several products and I just paid the shipping. Now I know where to buy it - he has a website: www.poppopsfish.com

Hey Connie, how are you!? Thanks for doing the leg work on this one, it looks like it's worth the try--plz let us know how it works for you when you try it.
Best regards,
Harriett

[yim11]

Thanks for the heads up Connie, I was about to send ole 'Pops' an email asking if he had any in stock since it wasn't listed on his website, then I saw your heads up and found another online distributor - Blue Zoo -
www.bluezooaquatics.com. I ordered a couple of bottles from them and will report back on the service I receive.

Thanks for the update and info Islesfan, what size tank are you cycling?

-jim

[Islesfan]

Thanks for the update and info Islesfan, what size tank are you cycling?
-jim


Its a 55

[poconogal]

Sorry to hear of your experience Connie; the TLC products are starting to show up in the aquarium shops in NJ, so hopefully soon they will be widely distributed.

An update on my progress with Startsmart:

I started with a bio filter issue Amm-.5 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-trace
After 16 hours with Startsmart Amm-.25 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-5
After 30 hours with Startsmart Amm-0 Nitrites-0 Nitrates-10

I will start another thread with all the info from start to finish with pics as soon as I have the time to write it all out. I'm usually skeptical of "Bacteria in a Bottle" products, but Startsmart does work.

That StartSmart really does work well, doesn't it? Tony from Sunrise Tropicals recommended it to me saying that its a bio starter that actually works.

I hope it finally shows up here in the Poconos.

[poconogal]

Thanks for the heads up Connie, I was about to send ole 'Pops' an email asking if he had any in stock since it wasn't listed on his website, then I saw your heads up and found another online distributor - Blue Zoo -
www.bluezooaquatics.com. I ordered a couple of bottles from them and will report back on the service I receive.

Thanks for the update and info Islesfan, what size tank are you cycling?

-jim
Thanks for the link, Jim, I appreciate it. At least now I have another source.

Edit: Jim, I just went to the site thru your link and I saw the picture of the StartSmart bottle. It says SALTWATER on it. There are 2 types, for FW use and for SW use. I don't see FW StartSmart on that site.

[yim11]

Thanks for the link, Jim, I appreciate it. At least now I have another source.

Edit: Jim, I just went to the site thru your link and I saw the picture of the StartSmart bottle. It says SALTWATER on it. There are 2 types, for FW use and for SW use. I don't see FW StartSmart on that site.

You are correct - I just got off the phone with them and all they have is the saltwater Smartsmart and I wasn't given the impression they were getting any freshwater Smartstart in soon. I guess the hunt continues...

Thanks,
-jim

[Islesfan]

You are correct - I just got off the phone with them and all they have is the saltwater Smartsmart and I wasn't given the impression they were getting any freshwater Smartstart in soon. I guess the hunt continues..

Thanks,
-jim

If you can't find it online, the store where I got it had quite a few bottles at $11.99 each which treats 50 gallons. I could pick it up for you and send it out. LMK

[Islesfan]

Update this am.....

Amm-0
Nitrites-0.25
Nitrates-5

It is two days after Startsmart was added and this is the first time Nitrite has shown up in the water. Did 50% WC and added some kosher salt. Will test again this evening to see if its just a quick spike and gone in a few hours.

[poconogal]

Hey Connie, how are you!? Thanks for doing the leg work on this one, it looks like it's worth the try--plz let us know how it works for you when you try it.
Best regards,
Harriett
Hey Harriett, I'm fine! This stuff seems to work very well, much better than Stability has been. Stability used to work well, but in the last year, yuck, useless.

[Tony13]

Okay so let me get this straight, I buy a bottle of this stuff and I can put in fish immediately on brand new tank and filter? I am very new so I don't want to kill fish. I just bought my tank i haven't even put water in it yet waiting for filter system

[Second Hand Pat]

Okay so let me get this straight, I buy a bottle of this stuff and I can put in fish immediately on brand new tank and filter? I am very new so I don't want to kill fish. I just bought my tank i haven't even put water in it yet waiting for filter system

Hard to say. This thread is seven years old.
Pat

[Tony13]

Well I guess it must be not have worked as good as people thought because I didn't find anything

[Second Hand Pat]

Well I guess it must be nonsense because I didn't find anything new on it.

If you read back thru the thread it was hard to find in 2009.

[Tony13]

I got a bottle from a local fish store not sure if i should use it.

[Second Hand Pat]

I got a bottle from a local fish store not sure if i should use it.

Is there an expiration date on the bottle?

[Tony13]

I just looked no expiration date on it and the bottle looks new, and if i recall correctly people in this string said there was no expiration date on it

[jmf3460]

Tony all of those bottled cycle starts are crap. Think about it, biological media needs water current, ammonia and temperatures to live, there is no way in heck you gould think any type of biological bacteria would live inside these bottles without food for more than a couple hours or so. There are some that will argue that it works, but the reality is that they do not. This is an opinionated statement though so if it does work for you and you can prove a cycle then it will prove me wrong.

[Tony13]

Like my old pappy said if it sounds to good to be true....... well just out of curiosity how would you prove that your tank has cycled? Put in ammonia and see if it goes down?

[jmf3460]

by seeing the presence of nitrates you could prove that it was cycled.

[Tony13]

Ok well maybe i will give it a try. I still have to find ammonia, so far i have been to a couple of stores and nothing.

[rickztahone]

Ok well maybe i will give it a try. I still have to find ammonia, so far i have been to a couple of stores and nothing.

try your local Ace Hardware if you have one in VA

[Tony13]

Yeap that's where i finally found some thanks