for me it would be filter media and if not i just change do multiple large water changes for the first couple weeks.
How do you guys initially cycle your monster tanks?
- Thread starter JFishNerd
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I agree, a lot of the bio in a bottle products are indeed a joke, as are a LOT of other products sold in the aquarium industry. No big surprise there. But as clockwork just stated at least some of these products do in fact work, and work well.
IME Seachem Stability may require more product than stated by the company (although this could have been due to the bio load from the fish in my tank), but the stuff works, and works very well. No ammonia spike, and the bacteria in the bottle feeds off of the nutrients supplied by the fish. For those with chloramine treated tap water, the bacteria can also feed off of the ammonia portion of their tap water once the chlorine/ammonia bond is broken via a water conditioner. IME large daily water changes of 75% will produce enough ammonia using my chloramine treated tap water (@ 2mg/l chloramine) to not only feed the bio bacteria in a tank, but enough to allow that bacteria to grow in significant numbers.
In an emergency situation I found Stability to be an absolute life saver when the bio bacteria bed in my filters had been wiped out from medication. The bio bacteria levels were back to normal within 1 week, there were no ammonia spikes, my fish exhibited no signs of stress during that period, and all fish survived and went on to live a healthy life.
Seachem Stabilty is definitely one bio bacteria in a bottle product that I would recommend to others.
Didn't mean to imply anyone was "new to this".... but I've been doing this awhile as well. Part of my job is knowing the up to date methods for establishing biological filtration for exhibits/tanks/displays. Adding the bacteria only does just that... it ADDS BACTERIA. That is far different from having an established colony. Can you make it work? Sure thing. Doesn't mean it's actually doing what it says just because the fish live. Dumping in a bunch of not fully developed spores still needs time to culture, grow and reproduce.
For the aerobic bacteria colony to be 'established', it's not just being in the tank. It means that the colony is maintaining itself at a size that has the ability to metabolize the ammonia produced by your specific biological load (your fish load). There is no set 'ammount' you can add unless you know the level of ammonia being produced by the tanks livestock. That number depends on temp, pH (saliinity when applicable), amount of food being processed, the amount of waste your mechanical filtration is pulling out vs the ammount breaking down and entering the nitrogen cycle and of course the size/number of fish. That being said, NO bottle will ever be able to just say "Add ____ amount and you are set". That is why it's safer to slowly build the colony and make sure it's stable and holding it's own consuming an artifical source of ammonia daily.
The safest method in my experience is to over grow the colony, and then add less fish. Yes, you'll see a slight decrese in colony size, but they will be able to break down ammonia that the fish stock will be creating. Then as you add animals slowly, the colony will grow based on the slowly increasing amount of 'food' for them.
I don't understand your point? Yes, you add Stability every day until you get to the point where your ammonia and nitrite are being fully converted to nitrate as fast as its produced. It is not an instant cycle and never claims to be. This tread is discussing the process of cycling and getting to the point of having an established beneficial bacterial colony.
IME with the product (and you're not the only one around here who's paying job it is to know this stuff) is you will not see any noticeable spikes during the cycle, and if you do you can just do a water change with Prime. If you think you need more than the dose on the bottle then use more... You can't overdose it, you just might wind up with a bacterial bloom if you go crazy with it.
Even with your fishless cycle it's very common to have a mini-cycle when introducing fish. And mini cycles can pop up from time to time for a variety of reasons. Even public aquariums deal with them.
I suggest you buy a bottle and try it out and then report back with what you find.
IME with the product (and you're not the only one around here who's paying job it is to know this stuff) is you will not see any noticeable spikes during the cycle, and if you do you can just do a water change with Prime. If you think you need more than the dose on the bottle then use more... You can't overdose it, you just might wind up with a bacterial bloom if you go crazy with it.
Even with your fishless cycle it's very common to have a mini-cycle when introducing fish. And mini cycles can pop up from time to time for a variety of reasons. Even public aquariums deal with them.
I suggest you buy a bottle and try it out and then report back with what you find.
Personally, I am at peace with the way I fast track a tank.
Using established materials ( substrate/decor and filter media) for me is as good a way as can be done. Added to this the large volume of WC with the use as well of prime and stability give me nothing but peace of mind that I am not harming my fish.
Even when I do a filter clean, I am extra careful to up the WC and useage of prime and stability because I am sure that I have imbalanced the bacterial colony by squishing the daylights out of it in a bucket of tank water.
Using established materials ( substrate/decor and filter media) for me is as good a way as can be done. Added to this the large volume of WC with the use as well of prime and stability give me nothing but peace of mind that I am not harming my fish.
Even when I do a filter clean, I am extra careful to up the WC and useage of prime and stability because I am sure that I have imbalanced the bacterial colony by squishing the daylights out of it in a bucket of tank water.
I would never use stability for an already established tank. It says on the bottle that you can.. so I did on 2 of my tanks. I ended up with ammonia through the roof to the point that I had to drain both of the tanks because even with large water changes the ammonia kept getting so high it was off the ammonia chart.
I did use it to cycle a completely fishless tank, and it worked great for that though.
I did use it to cycle a completely fishless tank, and it worked great for that though.
Reminds me, IMO it's not necessary but you could always fishless cycle with Stability.
I have not had the ammonia experience with established tanks. I've dosed stability directly into a canister filter after cleaning the sponges in it with hot tap water (besides the bio media). No issues.
I have not had the ammonia experience with established tanks. I've dosed stability directly into a canister filter after cleaning the sponges in it with hot tap water (besides the bio media). No issues.
Could be the reason you didn't have the ammonia issue is because you killed off the bacteria in your canister filter sponges, and the stability simply replaced it.
You said that in 7 days you have a fully cycled tank. That's pretty instant (especially when you get into big multi thousand gallon systems). Feeding some specidal blend in a bottle is wasting money. If you want to feed a colony as it's establishing itself, just use ammonia chloride. Much cheaper, easier to figure out dosing and not paying for a name brand. None of the systems I've cycled lately would have any off the shelf products as a viable cost effective way to establish them.
Then again, that being said, I've never been a big fan of adding anything (chemical wise) to my displays. I go straight to the pure stuff if I have a need to vs buying stuff premixed in bottles.
