Koi Fish Information Centre

The original Bio-Spira actually had three nitrifying bacteria strains… nitrosomonas, nitrospira and nitrosospira. You need more than one strain to fully cycle a tank. You definitely need two strains.. one to eat the ammonia and one to eat the nitrite so I’m not sure where the third strain comes in but I know that the original Bio-Spira DID WORK and I do know that a couple of the other bacteria-in-a-bottle products DID NOT WORK.
I’m sure his new product, “One & Only”, has the same bacteria as Bio-Spira, although it does seem that they’ve developed a way for it to last a few months at room temp now. See the FAQ’s on http://www.DrTimsAquatics.com for more info.
U.S. Patents, generally are public record so if you really wanted to see what was in there, you could probably find the patent application information somewhere online. Unless it’s something new and proprietary like the process that allows the nitrifying bacteria to stay alive at room temp without ammonia and oxygen…. I’ll still have to see it to believe it though. Here is one of Dr. Tim’s recent Patents issued 9/11/2007 but applied for in 2003 if you want to do some detailed reading and or search this site for more of his inventions. http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/7267816-description.html
Here’s my Google search which found 3,500 hits about “One & Only”. http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&q=The+One+and+Only+Dr.+Ho vanec including a PodCast that came up at the top so you might want to listen to it. Once again, I’d tend to believe in Dr. Hovenac over the Tetra folks any day!!!!
Dr. Hovenac probably limits communications about how the new product is made due to legal issues involving his split from Marineland and their decision to get in bed with Tetra. Without seeing any of the issues going on between them, I’d be more likely to believe that Dr. Hovenac’s product works where I wouldn’t have that same trust with Tetra products.
Although many of Tetra’s products are probably fine, they also push that stuff, Easy Balance, that tells people they don’t have to do water changes but once every six months and the research I did on Easy Balance showed it to be a mix of chemicals, acids and bases and formaldehyde. I think I once jokingly summarized it as being something that kills all your fish but at least the formaldehyde keeps them preserved so they appear to be alive as the filter moves the water around. Another article I read about Easy Balance had a guppy tank where they guppy didn’t breed… and anything that can stop guppy from breeding can’t be good for our fish.
Dr. Tim is definitely WAY AHEAD of Marineland and Tetra. His products are available from http://www.DrsFosterSmith.com which is one of the very well respected web sites out there.
As far as Dr. Tim being a whack job??? Well, most very intelligent people are whack jobs. I know I am and most of my friends and family will verify it. The cause is that we can’t have “normal” conversations with the rest of the world so it drives us crazy. People are still amazed at how fast I can type with my nose… over 60wpm… since they won’t let me out of this darn straight jacket! Not to mention holding down the shift key when needed but I won’t explain how I do that. LOL
Lenny Vasbinder Fish Blog - http://GoldLenny.blogspot.com

Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society