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

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It takes 4 to 8 weeks to cycle a fish tank without any bacteria additives added or anything else to jump start a tank.

Personally, I had cycled a tank in about 4 weeks without any help.
 
First let me say I have Purchased the Seachem Stability for my 180 Start up which I hope to start next weekend. I also appreciate all the test models which have been done on here it only reaffirmed my purchase. One of the things that I did not see was any testing done on large saltwater setups and If i should start with any fish during the seachem cycle?
 
Hey guys do you have to do WC during the use of seachem stability?
 
Setting up a 40g breeder, weekend before Christmas I added substrate, filled and dropped in a capfull of Ace Ammonia and added Stability which put the amonia at ~5ppm, didn't check again untill Dec 26th when ammonia was down to ~0.1ppm, Nitrites were ~5ppm and Nitrates ~80ppm. Had some plants delivered Christmas Eve so I put them in the tank and added some T5 lighting and CO2 generators (2 of the Hagen kits), also topped up the amm with about 3/4 capfull.
Checked again on Dec 28th and Amm was down to 0.5ppm, Nitrites 1.0ppm. Checked last night (29th) and got Amm 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm (not checking Nitrates cos no fish in there).

A 'bang on target' 8 day fishless cycle........don't understand why there are still people who don't trust Stability!

ps, yes I added a 1/4 capfull of Amm to keep the tank ticking over untill I'm ready to add fish this weekend (and will check params daily to keep it going).
 
Just to throw in my experience so far as well:

I've got a 125g with a Wet/Dry underneath. New tank and sump. I had 4 African Cichlids that needed to be moved quickly so I went with the suggestions of the Seachem Stability. I started the tank 12/17 and started adding the daily ammonia to start the cycling process. After realizing I needed to move my Cichlids out of their 29g asap, I found the threads here about the Stability and started doing a lot more research on the whole 'Cycle' process. On 12/23 I did a 50% WC, (since my ammonia was up so high), and added the first dose of stability. On 12/24 I moved my Cichlids over into the 125g. I've been adding doses of the Stability and Prime daily. And after advice that my drops test kit really didn't have the ability to do an acurate test, I stopped doing my daily testing and decided to wait until after the 7th day to start testing again.
On a side note, the fish have never seemed happier! But then again, they ARE only four total at about 2-3in each in a 125g!
I feed them lightly every 2-3 days so far.
After finding and reading this thread all the way through I realized I skipped an important part about the Stability instructions. I wasn't shaking the bottle!!:wall: So, after repeatedly calling myself a DUMB @@@, I went home and checked my levels. 0 Nitrite, 0 Nitrate, and about 2 ammonia. I reshook the hell out of the bottle, (this time milky white when it came out), and redosed. Glad I got a BIG bottle of it as it looks like I'll be going for another week possibly.
Thinking that my current four are doing well, (despite the levels shown on the test kit last night for the bright green ammonia showing), I can say the Stability has definitely kept my fish alive and happy so far! I'm thinking that since the tank is so big, and I'm dosing for 140g, that maybe only having 4 tiny fish in it isn't helping the process and am considering adding another 4 to help the process. Any suggestions?
 
I would hold of on adding any untill you see the Ammonia drop and/or the Nitrites start to rise, then you know the bacteia are active, then it's a bit of a balancing act if you do add fish - don't want to kill off your bacteria with a huge ammonia spike. You can use Seachem Prime to safeguard your fish against an ammonia or Nitrite spike without affecting the cycle.
 
I've been adding Prime with each dosing. But now realizing I needed to shake the bottle first, hopefully I should see better levels tonight or tomorrow. Until the levels get better, I guess holding off wouldn't be such a bad idea.
 
good job...it is as easy as following the directions on the bottle and some good old fashion common sense
SCGeordie;4748031; said:
Setting up a 40g breeder, weekend before Christmas I added substrate, filled and dropped in a capfull of Ace Ammonia and added Stability which put the amonia at ~5ppm, didn't check again untill Dec 26th when ammonia was down to ~0.1ppm, Nitrites were ~5ppm and Nitrates ~80ppm. Had some plants delivered Christmas Eve so I put them in the tank and added some T5 lighting and CO2 generators (2 of the Hagen kits), also topped up the amm with about 3/4 capfull.
Checked again on Dec 28th and Amm was down to 0.5ppm, Nitrites 1.0ppm. Checked last night (29th) and got Amm 0ppm Nitrite 0ppm (not checking Nitrates cos no fish in there).

A 'bang on target' 8 day fishless cycle........don't understand why there are still people who don't trust Stability!

ps, yes I added a 1/4 capfull of Amm to keep the tank ticking over untill I'm ready to add fish this weekend (and will check params daily to keep it going).
Click to expand...
 
Okay, so I hot home tonight and checked my levels. I'm a bit confused.

Please read this post for what it is. A newbee trying to understand. I still feel as though the Seachem Stability is a great product, and that it DOES work. I'm convinced that what I'm going through is user error in this. (Considering I've only been shaking the Stability bottle before adding for the past 3 days.)

When I started this, I had some ammonia, but not much. Maybe .25ppm. Now, after one week, I've got zero NitrItes, 2.0 Ammonia, and 5.0 NitrAtes? Is it possible that I missed the Nitrite spike and now I need to do a WC to get the ammonia out, and since I only have 4 tiny 2.5in cichlids in a huge 125g tank, that my bio load is so low that my NitrAtes aren't going up any higher? Granted, remember that for the past week of dosing with the Stability and Prime I haven't been checking levels.
:feedback:
 
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