Experience with "Quick Cycle" products

[chefjamesscott]

ummm cough cough STABILITY SEACHEM cough cough

but now that my throat is cleared

m
My preferred method is to clean my filters in the new tank I have just set up, giving the sponges a good thorough squeezing in the tank, throwing the old chemi pure bags in as I switch to new media in my existing tanks. Then crack on the filters and let them clear the tank, do a 50% wc the next day making sure to suck out all the gunk left on the bare bottom, add the new water using prime at a x3 ratio to the suggested 1 cap/50g.

I make sure to do an extra acute w/c regime for the fist 2 weeks of the new tanks existence and I have never had issues. I usually add fish the very next day after I have finished the 50% wc and removal of left over gunk. Though not a massive amount of fish.

Ong thing I forgot, the water I put in for the first fill is actually dirty water from the wc I just did on my other tanks.

 

[brianp]

Tetra Safe Start is the only product that contains aquatic bacteria and not terrestrial and thus is the only one that doesn't have to be added for the life of the tank. I've used TSS to cycle all three of my tanks in a week with fish. When used correctly (it's meant to be used with fish) it cycles your tank in 7 to 10 days without endangering any fish.

Every other product, on the other hand, is crap in my opinion because they contain terrestrial bacteria that will die off eventually, thus, they need to be dosed weekly for the life of the tank...

Huh?

Just so this discussion doesn't spin off on some unintended trajectory, I have to report that Stability has performed FLAWLESSLY in my hands (complete cycling in about eight days). My biofiltration has never crashed and I have never had to resupplement. Like most, I am accustomed to being disappointed by various products, but was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Stability.

 

[IrnGynt]

My understanding is that the BB (heterotrophic) found in Stability and others like it are not the same BB (autotrophic) that would naturally inhabit your aquarium. They do a similar job but are not nearly as efficient.

SOURCE

 

[sericinda]

Another vote here for Seachem. I recently seeded my 29 Biocube on setup and used the Seachem products. It's been set up for about 2 months now and the levels are perfect. I was impressed.

Have never used it WITHOUT seeding as well though.

 

[JakeH]

ummm cough cough STABILITY SEACHEM cough cough

but now that my throat is cleared

m
My preferred method is to clean my filters in the new tank I have just set up, giving the sponges a good thorough squeezing in the tank, throwing the old chemi pure bags in as I switch to new media in my existing tanks. Then crack on the filters and let them clear the tank, do a 50% wc the next day making sure to suck out all the gunk left on the bare bottom, add the new water using prime at a x3 ratio to the suggested 1 cap/50g.

I make sure to do an extra acute w/c regime for the fist 2 weeks of the new tanks existence and I have never had issues. I usually add fish the very next day after I have finished the 50% wc and removal of left over gunk. Though not a massive amount of fish.

Ong thing I forgot, the water I put in for the first fill is actually dirty water from the wc I just did on my other tanks.

Amen! Stability & a good W/C regimen will do the job almost as quickly as using old media. Sorry to the naysayers...I've successfully cycled waaaay too many tanks using these products to believe that they dont work. They do.

 

[JakeH]

Huh?

Just so this discussion doesn't spin off on some unintended trajectory, I have to report that Stability has performed FLAWLESSLY in my hands (complete cycling in about eight days). My biofiltration has never crashed and I have never had to resupplement. Like most, I am accustomed to being disappointed by various products, but was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Stability.

I fully agree. I've had nothing but good results from Stability. As I said before, I've had success with several other products as well. One note: I do like to stagger them to populate the media with as many different BB species as possible. Ex: Bio-Zyme on day 1, then Stability on days 2-5, then Cycle for a day or 2, then back to the Bio-Zyme, etc. That seems to keep the cycling process moving forward & minimize the spikes a bit for me. Just my 2 cents...

 

[fishbum]

How long has Stability been on the market? Setting up some new tanks soon and might give it a try.

 

[JakeH]

At least a few years I guess.... Great product.

 

[tcarswell]

Huh?

Just so this discussion doesn't spin off on some unintended trajectory, I have to report that Stability has performed FLAWLESSLY in my hands (complete cycling in about eight days). My biofiltration has never crashed and I have never had to resupplement. Like most, I am accustomed to being disappointed by various products, but was pleasantly surprised by the performance of Stability.

Same here. In fact Brian recommended it for me and it is without fail so far.

 

[brianp]

My understanding is that the BB (heterotrophic) found in Stability and others like it are not the same BB (autotrophic) that would naturally inhabit your aquarium. They do a similar job but are not nearly as efficient.

SOURCE

If the claim is that autotrophs are not present in Stability, then I doubt that this is the case. However, I have to admit that I don't really know for sure, since the formulation is proprietary (and I asked them). The good news is that over the long-run, it really doesn't matter. I say this because eventually, the bacterial demographics of the mature biofilter will reflect the composition of the aquarium water being processed. I'm sure that the bacterial populations change over time in response to ammonia levels, feeding regimen, number of fish, etc. For example, the presence of ammonia will provide a selective growth advantage for that bacterial species which is most efficient at oxidizing it. Same with nitrite. As long as products like Stability assimilate the ammonia and nitrite initially and allow a stable biosystem to become established (pending possible substitution by other types of bacteria), they are an asset in my opinion.