Dr.Tim's One And Only - Product Trial....

[Boonjob]

OK, so I am gonna do a trial by fire on Dr.Tim's One and Only Live nitrifying bacteria. I have my 38 Gal Fowlr up and running. It has dry rock and dead sand from Marco's Rocks. The tank ran bare for 3 days with fresh water(to check for leaks). I have added 44# of dry rock in the sump and DT, 30ish # of sand, and 38gal water in the tank and 20gal in the sump for a total of 58ish gallons. I am going to use a 4oz bottle of Dr.Tims which is rated for 60 gals and I will use the whole bottle(was just delivered from amazon on Friday, been sitting in my basement beside the tank since then).

The water is RO/DI out of my Buckeye field supply unit, that tested at 0 TDS w/ Hanna meter. I used Seachem Reef Salt(as always ;P) Mixed to 1.025 SG measured with a refractometer.

I ran the tank for a few hours with only a filter sock on the over flow just to clean up any debris or pvc trimmings that may have been circulating around the tank since adding the rock and sand. I have however removed the filter sock as suggested in the instructions prior to adding Dr.Tim's. I also will not be running a skimmer or any other filtration during this period... He has advertised a 3-6 day cycle on average. The bottle suggests adding a fish immediately, I will forego this process, and follow the fish less cycle, where Tim advises that we can either use ammonia, or Feed the tank.. I will be feeding the tank for my source of ammonia. I will feed twice a day as I would normally for the inhabitants. The lights will remain off during this period, and the tank is set at 78Deg.

I will be listing the tank perimeters as I go every day.

The tank has been running for 6 hours.

0 - Ammonia detected
0 - Nitrites
0 - Nitrates
Temp: 78.1
SG - 1.025

[Boonjob]

So I added the Mix Tuesday, Fed Immediately a hefty feeding... Did nothing Wednesday(per instructions)... Fed Thursday morning... Tested Ammonia/nitrite on Thursday evening(test came back at .50ppm Ammonia, .25ppm Nitrite). Fed again Friday Morning, Tested in the evening Ammonia showed .25ppm and Nitrites .25ppm. Dosed 38 droplets of ammonia hydroxide, re-tested ammonia 30 minutes later and it came back at 2.0ppm... Did not feed this morning, Ran a test 10 minutes ago ammonia came back at 0ppm(undetectable).

Pretty impressive... I will try a few more ammonia doses to see if the tank clears within 24 hours.

I had readded the Filter sock, and kicked on the skimmer on on Friday, well after the 48 hour mark suggested.

[lazylivin]

This product gets A+ in my book as well. Used it twice and solid results both times.

[Boonjob]

tested again today after dosing 1ppm ammonia.. Results were .5ppm ammonia, .5ppm nitrite, and tested nitrate for the first time came back @20ppm... With a total dose of 5ppm ammonia in the last two days I guess that is good...

May do a water change tomorrow to drop nitrates and gear for the first fish coming next week.

[Mussin]

I used it to cycle my 90G, went by the directions and it cycled in 10 days.  Love it, no stinky shrimp in the tank rotting away..



Jeremy