API Quick Start. I do not trust this product. Their evidence that it works is not acceptable to me.
1. They used liver fish. They fed them. The fish do not produce the exact same amount of ammonia in any given time period.
2. They have how much ammonia was being created in any tank.
3. They only tested twice a week. If they always tested at the same time of day, that would mean 3.5 days between tests. That can miss a lot of readings which may have been higher than what they reported as the highs
4. They do no say anything about the condition of the fish at any point in the test. Did any died? Were any injured?
5. This was not an independent study nor even true research, not published in scientific journal.
6. The highest level of ammonia in the control tanks was a peak of 1.6 ppm. Using pH 7.65 and a temp of 77F (I used the average of the range they list). I ran those numbers through the ammonia calculator and the actual toxic ammonia works out to 0.0404. If it were my tank, I would not change water for that level especially since it was the peak and that means lower before and after.
7. The highest level of nitrite in the control tanks was 6. The chart shows it was 2 pm and higher for 12-13 days. It was between 4 and 6 ppm for 10 consecutive days. And, because the day or two at either end of that, there was nitrite. It certainly harmed the control fish to some degree. Once nitrite gets into a fishes system, it takes a day or two to work its way out. However, as long as there is still nitrite in the water, it is not leaving the fish.*
There are several bacteria that will oxidize ammonia in our tanks, but the one that does both nitrite on its own or it can process ammonia strait to nitrate can only be bottled in Dr. Tim's One and Only and Tetra's Safe Start and Safe Start Plus.
Here is what I can say for sure. I can cycle a tank and then fully stock in under two weeks using Dr. Tim's. I have done it a number of times. I also use it to jump start my bio-farms for filters along with filter squeezings. But I do the cycling w/o fish and then I add them all when it is done. Like they say in the Movies: No fish were harmed during the cycling of this tank.
As for will it inhibit, yes to some degree. But it will do this if the bacteria in Quick Start consume any of the ammonia or nitrite, the bacteria that will be there for the extended future will take longer to colonize because they will be sharing the ammonia with other bacteria. My guess is this product is able to protect the fish some during a fish in cycle done with a very very light fish load. But I would never suggest to anyone that they do a fish in cycle since no fish have ever been harmed in a fishless cycle.
They put 3 guppies 1 in. (2.5 cm) in size into a 20 gal tank. When I cycle as I described above, I would add 8-10 plecos about 2-2.25 inches into a 20L. Mine eat more meat than veggie matter and all of them would go in at the same time. I think that would be equal to about 40-50 1 inch guppies in terms of bio-load. I would be dosing ammonia to cycle, and it would be a whole lot more than 3 1 inch guppies can produce in a day.
*Ammonia. when in water turns mostly into NH4, ammonium. But it is the part that is ammonia, NH3,that is highly toxic. How much is in each form depends upon the pH and temperature of the water. Higher means more NH3. Nitrite in water is in only one form.
edited to fix a bunch of typos
