Seachem Stability

[Fishfaced]

Just wondering..
I'm 3 weeks into a fishless cycle. My ammonia is currently at 2.0ppm using flakes. I've just bought some stability and wondering should I have used this from the start or is now better than not at all?
More info about the products benefits the better, thanks.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

If you want to speed along the cycle a product like this will help. You just have to continue to feed the bacteria an ammonia source or it will die off after being introduced to the tank. Once you are reducing ammonia (maybe 2 ppm) down to 0 within 24 hours you are ready to add fish (after a large water change).

I used Tetra Safe Start Plus and it worked great. Finished the cycle in a few days - maybe 2 or 3 days later I was able to water change and add fish. The cycle had been meandering along for about 5-6 weeks prior to that. I did not have the patience for it.

If you do have access to established media from a cycled tank you can add that to speed up the cycle. The great thing is once you have an established tank it's quicker and easier to set up a new tank because you have a good supply of filter media and other things from the tank that are already loaded with beneficial bacteria. And hence the start of Multiple Tank Syndrome sets in....

 

[Fishfaced]

If you want to speed along the cycle a product like this will help. You just have to continue to feed the bacteria an ammonia source or it will die off after being introduced to the tank. Once you are reducing ammonia (maybe 2 ppm) down to 0 within 24 hours you are ready to add fish (after a large water change).

I used Tetra Safe Start Plus and it worked great. Finished the cycle in a few days - maybe 2 or 3 days later I was able to water change and add fish. The cycle had been meandering along for about 5-6 weeks prior to that. I did not have the patience for it.

If you do have access to established media from a cycled tank you can add that to speed up the cycle. The great thing is once you have an established tank it's quicker and easier to set up a new tank because you have a good supply of filter media and other things from the tank that are already loaded with beneficial bacteria. And hence the start of Multiple Tank Syndrome sets in....

Haha I'll be good with just one tank, took enough persuasion for that one lol.
Don't have access to an established tank so I'll just have to be patient.
My nitrite is currently 0.25ppm, ammonia 2.0. What will stability do to the nitrite as it's not established yet?

 

[mrsjoannh13]

Haha I'll be good with just one tank, took enough persuasion for that one lol.
Don't have access to an established tank so I'll just have to be patient.
My nitrite is currently 0.25ppm, ammonia 2.0. What will stability do to the nitrite as it's not established yet?

I believe it will reduce the nitrite and ammonia. Then you'll start to see nitrates in the tank. When I was fishless ammonia cycling, I never saw any nitrites. I started using fish food to decay and produce ammonia then starting dosing ammonia. All I ever saw was ammonia - no nitrites. Then I added the Tetra Safe Start and nitrates started showing up as the ammonia levels went down.

 

[Essjay]

Stability contains bacteria which 'eat' ammonia and nitrite. The first bacteria 'eat' ammonia and turn it into nitrite; the second bacteria 'eat' nitrite and turn it into nitrite.
The fact that you have nitrite means that you do have some ammonia eaters, you just need more of them. And you may also have some nitrite eaters. Adding bacteria from a bottle helps them to grow more faster.

In mrsjoannh13's case, the nitrite eaters from the bottle kept up with the ammonia eaters - they ate the nitrite as fast as the ammonia eaters made it, which is why she never had a reading for nitrite.

 

[Fishfaced]

Stability contains bacteria which 'eat' ammonia and nitrite. The first bacteria 'eat' ammonia and turn it into nitrite; the second bacteria 'eat' nitrite and turn it into nitrite.
The fact that you have nitrite means that you do have some ammonia eaters, you just need more of them. And you may also have some nitrite eaters. Adding bacteria from a bottle helps them to grow more faster.

In mrsjoannh13's case, the nitrite eaters from the bottle kept up with the ammonia eaters - they ate the nitrite as fast as the ammonia eaters made it, which is why she never had a reading for nitrite.

Cool, so it will speed things up. That's what I'm after. Thanks a lot