Cycling with Seachem Stability

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I've tested stability on a few occasions, most recently on 2 40g tanks. The first 2 tanks I tried it with, one cycled and was processing ammonia and nitrite by the end of the 7 day dosing period, the other didn't change at all.

On this most recent effort (about 2 weeks ago), both of the 40g tanks acted as if nothing had been added to them at all, still consistent ammonia readings and 0 nitrite/nitrate.

So all in all, stability has been hit and miss for me. I have however had more consistent results with tetra safestart. Currently i'm testing a product called SmartStart, and it doesn't really look too promising either.

I'm planning to test dr. tims one and only and fritz-zyme in the near future, both of which I believe will possibly turn out better. One thing I've noticed in the products that actually have scientific backing is that they admit that they contain nitrospira, nitrosomonas, nitrosospira, etc.

I did a short Q&A with the seachem team about stability if anyone wants me to paste it here.

And lastly, this is a product site but it has some good information on nitrifying bacteria.
https://www.fritzzyme.com/resources/
Take care!
 
davezxtc;4263864; said:
I've tested stability on a few occasions, most recently on 2 40g tanks. The first 2 tanks I tried it with, one cycled and was processing ammonia and nitrite by the end of the 7 day dosing period, the other didn't change at all.

On this most recent effort (about 2 weeks ago), both of the 40g tanks acted as if nothing had been added to them at all, still consistent ammonia readings and 0 nitrite/nitrate.

So all in all, stability has been hit and miss for me. I have however had more consistent results with tetra safestart. Currently i'm testing a product called SmartStart, and it doesn't really look too promising either.

I'm planning to test dr. tims one and only and fritz-zyme in the near future, both of which I believe will possibly turn out better. One thing I've noticed in the products that actually have scientific backing is that they admit that they contain nitrospira, nitrosomonas, nitrosospira, etc.

I did a short Q&A with the seachem team about stability if anyone wants me to paste it here.

And lastly, this is a product site but it has some good information on nitrifying bacteria.
https://www.fritzzyme.com/resources/
Take care!
Click to expand...

I would be interested in the Q&A.
 
bjbass;4263047; said:
Well, I had an ammonia spike today to .50. I added a bit of Prime to detoxify this. I am still dosing with Stability daily.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure how Stability actually works, but I have used it before. But detoxifying ammonia sounds bad. Unless the Stability works in other ways wouldn't you still need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Anyone?
 
packer43064;4264681; said:
I'm not sure how Stability actually works, but I have used it before. But detoxifying ammonia sounds bad. Unless the Stability works in other ways wouldn't you still need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Anyone?
Click to expand...

Prime binds the ammonia and converts it to ammonium. Ammonium will still be processed by your BB or the stability bacterial spores. ;)
 
I got this from Seachem Tech Support.

"It is certainly possible for you to come home tonight and see nitrates. You may see nitrites or you may not. By adding the Prime, you are not removing the ammonia to the point it is not available to the bacteria. Prime is simply detoxifying the ammonia and nitrites, binding them and making them inert, where they can not harm your inhabitants, but are still available for your bacteria to consume. Since you are dosing the Prime directly to the tank, you will want to dose it for the entire volume, including the sump. To be honest, you want to have an ammonia level of 0, as ammonia is very toxic to tank inhabitants and will certainly cause death if left unattended."
 
Just my observation and experience, on 5/28/10, I used Stablity because I switched my gravel out to another kind. I use an undergravel filter. It took until 7/4/10 for my tank to fully cycle. In my opinion, the stuff did not work. What helped to speed up the cycling was that I used seeded bio media from other sources. This is just my opinion. I know a lot of people praise the stuff but this is my independent thinking.
 
I got another response from Seachem.

"The API ammonia test kit cannot discern free (toxic) ammonia from bound (non-toxic) ammonia so you will get a false positive when using an ammonia detoxifier.

It sounds to me as though your bio-load was very minimal for such a large tank. This is likely why you have had a delayed result in cycling. Honestly, you may have even missed the cycle altogether because it was so small. It will take a little while for 12 minnows and 4 crayfish to build up detectable ammonia in a 260 gallon aquarium.

It seems as though you are now on your way to a detectable cycle. However, keep in mind that the full cycle does not typically complete itself one day after the ammonia presents. Unfortunately, because of the lack of food source (ammonia) for the first few days that you were adding Stability, you probably lost a lot of the bacteria which was added.

One other thing:
I am not sure how heavily stocked you plan on having this aquarium, but you may even consider adding some additional ammonia to the aquarium in order to establish a larger biological filter. If you plan on increasing the bio-load significantly (which I assume you plan on keeping more than 12 minnows in a 260), you are going to likely see another cycle occur once the other inhabitants are added."

This makes sense to me.
 
I am still continuing to dose with stability daily. I went from .50 ammonia to .25 or less with a 50% water change. Still 0 nitrite and 0 nitrate.
 
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