Seachem Stability: PUT TO THE TEST/blank slate (daily perams/pics)

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Thanks for the welcome AK, I'm no expert but I use Excel for just about anything where I need to remember stuff (like bills).

I atually have it plotting the test results on a line chart, doesn't add any more info but does show the relationship between the levels of Amm, Ni and Nitrates (at least I'm hoping it will by the time the tank has cycled)!
 
OK, things looking better tonight :

PH Amm NI Nitrate
7 1.0 .15 2.5

and a possible (probable) reason for the slower start - used the last capfull of Stability (no time to get more at lunchtome) and it was way more milky than the previous doses.............so, shake that bottle like it's a wet salt cellar between every capfull!
Will get some more Stability tomorrow and maybe some bloodworms to reward those fishes for being patient poopers.

side note : my Angel is convinced Stability is some secret food, every time I add a dose he hovers underneath my hand 'sucking in' every milky morsel!
 
PH 7.2
Amm 2.0
Nitrite .5
Nitrate 4

Had to up the temp in the tank last night due to some signs there may be ich - Rainbow Shark had been flashing for a couple of days, tonight he's still flashing but not as often and seemed to eat a lot more readily.
 
PH 7.3
Amm 2.0
Nitrite 3.0
Nitrate 4.0

Getting concerned about the Nitrites now, I know lots of places talk about a Nitrite Spike during the process but seems like Nitrates should be a lot higher by now, double dosing the Stability tonight and will be cutting back on feeding to every other day.
 
I'm hoping to get a 40b (or 55...still can't decide:irked:) with an ac70 in the next week or so. Its going to house my Jack Dempsey (it will be "her" tank) and I might figure out another thing or two that I can put in there....just can't be anything that needs it own territory:grinno:

I'm planning on going the stability route so I'll track my progress and post results. I think I'm gonna take the pictures and record the progress and then put it all in one reply though. This thread is great and the collaboration here is awesome, but I think it'll be a lot easier for the new reader scrolling through to see one post with all the info & results of that particular tank, rather than reading through 10 pages, getting mixed up on different tanks doing different things and eventually losing interest. (speaking from recent experience :ROFL:)
 
SCGeordie;4604113; said:
PH 7.3
Amm 2.0
Nitrite 3.0
Nitrate 4.0

Getting concerned about the Nitrites now, I know lots of places talk about a Nitrite Spike during the process but seems like Nitrates should be a lot higher by now, double dosing the Stability tonight and will be cutting back on feeding to every other day.
Click to expand...

OK, since the last time I posted things haven't really improved other than Amm has come down, now at .25ppm, however Nitrites have continued to climb reaching ~6ppm then dropping back to 5ppm, Nitrates increased to 20ppm and then dropped to 15ppm. Fish are getting stressed and lost 2 Serpae's so tonight I did a WC (about 30%) and a triple dose of Prime. Nitrites are reading exactly the same 1 hour after the Prime as before so I'm hoping that "detoxifying" the Nitrites as Prime is supposed to do doesn't actually stop them from registering with the API test.

So now it's daily 25-30% WC's, Prime and Stability and hopefully no more lost fish (would do another WC now or in the morning but it's after 3.00am and I doubt I'll be functioning in time to do one before I go to work!
 
Thought i would post my cycle with stability.
the tank is 300 gallons water volume and 30 gallons or so in the filter. i added all new sand, mostly new rocks, 4 liters of seachem matrix and new sponges. i cheated a bit not making it a complete test for stability by adding all 3 layers of biomax from my fluval 404 after adding all the stock form the 55 gallon.
tank stock in the 300g 1 red devil, 1 green terror, 2 jack dempseys, 3 convicts, 1 texas, 3 salvini .
added dose as directed ended up using 3 bottles think 250ml
oct 27 2010 just set up for 24 hours
ph 7.6-7.8, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, ammonia 0
oct 31 2010
ph 7.7-7.8, nitrite 0-0.1mg/l, nitrate 5mg/l, ammonia 0.1?
nov 4 2010
ph 7.8, nitrite 0.1-0.3mg/l, nitrate 10mg/l, ammonia 0.1-0.2mg/l
nov 6 2010
ph 7.8, nitrite 0.3mg/l, nitrate 20mg/l, ammonia 0.1mg/l

i ran out of stability a few days before and did a large water change at this point. i also added 1 liter of purigen

next test nov 14 2010
ph 7.7, nitrite 0.1mg/l, nitrate 10mg/l, ammonia 0-0.1mg/l
 
I've been TERRIBLE about mine...got my 55 set up late last week & started using stability with 2 sen's & 2 pictus cats. All I have in the tank is a decent sized piece of manzanita wood, a crystal skull vodka bottle & two small fake decorations (temporary until I get the substrate & everything else set up so the fish have some cover).

I didn't test levels until the night after I set it up and I haven't tested again since. Not to mention the heater I was planning on using ended up being busted, so now the tank is stuck around 72-73*. I'm getting a used xp3 soon, once I know it works I'm going to overnight another smartheater, I'm loving the one on my 65.

I'm going to check the levels again this afternoon and try to stay a little more on top of it from there:\

Really pushing it on the stability. The fish all seem ok though. A little sluggish from the cold water, but they're still eating and swimming fine, look healthy.
 
Well, at last I got the magic numbers - Amm 0, N03- 0. 27 days with fish using Seachem Stability. Maybe if I wasn't so impatient it would have been sooner (shake the bottle!). Lost 2 Serpae Tetra's to a Nitrite spike, only other losses were 3 Neon Tetra's but they were due to a fin nipping Zebra Danio who slowed em down and a hungry Angel who finished them off!

Anyway here are the test results for the full cycle (shows 31 readings cos I did two readings every time I did a water change - before and after), think this shows the relationship between Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate and how each affect the other (combined with bacteris).

picture.php
 
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