So I've been cycling my tank for about two weeks (WITH fish). I've been adding Seachem Stability to the tank daily for seven days now. Seachem's instructions only mention seven days of treatment. Can I add it for more than seven days?
Bacteria Additive
- Thread starter jinkel
- Start date
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Marconis
Aquarium Advice Addict
Why do you want to add it for more than 7 days? What are your parameters?
For the last week or so, they've been a steady:
ph: 7.8
ammo: 1.0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 5
It's a 20 gallon tank. I'm doing two 50% back to back pwc's daily. My water conditioner is Prime.
I understand it takes a while to cycle a tank, but it doesn't seem that the additive has assisted at all. Or is it just that it takes more than a week to see any change?
ph: 7.8
ammo: 1.0
nitrites: 0
nitrates: 5
It's a 20 gallon tank. I'm doing two 50% back to back pwc's daily. My water conditioner is Prime.
I understand it takes a while to cycle a tank, but it doesn't seem that the additive has assisted at all. Or is it just that it takes more than a week to see any change?
I would read this article:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ady-have-fish-what-now-116287.html#post983258
Your tank is not cycled yet and you will need a good liquid test kit (like API's Master freshwater test kit) and you will need to do water changes to keep your ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm. Cycling your tank can take over a month to complete. When you have fish (and have to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down) the cycle takes longer. That is why so many people recommend fishless cycling.
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ady-have-fish-what-now-116287.html#post983258
Your tank is not cycled yet and you will need a good liquid test kit (like API's Master freshwater test kit) and you will need to do water changes to keep your ammonia and nitrite below 0.25ppm. Cycling your tank can take over a month to complete. When you have fish (and have to keep ammonia and nitrite levels down) the cycle takes longer. That is why so many people recommend fishless cycling.
Thanks! I'll check it out!
I'm using API Freshwater Master Test Kit.
The thing is, no matter how many pwc's I do, I can't get the ammo to read less than 1.0ppm due to the fact that my water tests at 1.0ppm ammo straight outta the tap. Which is why, as I understand it, the Prime is extremely essential while my tank is cycling as it will lock up the ammonia into a form that is not harmful to fish, but is still bio-available to the bacteria (as per Floyd R Turbo, in this thread: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f15/so-my-tapwater-has-ammonia-140793.html )
But I was just curious if adding the bacteria additive for more than seven days would be harmful? I would imagine not, but I made quite a few hasty uneducated decisions when I first got the tank (hence, my cycling WITH fish. *slaps forehead*) - - so I figured I’d run it by all of you, first.
While I don't think it will hurt any, I don't think it will do anything to benefit your cycle. Typically those products do not work as advertised. There was one product a while ago that did seem to work when it was kept refrigerated at all times throughout transportation/store shelves/etc. It was called BioSpara. I think it is no longer sold or has been renamed.
I typically don't add anything to my tanks other than Prime. The less chemicals added the better.
I typically don't add anything to my tanks other than Prime. The less chemicals added the better.
It won't hurt to keep adding it.
It might not help much either. There are a lot of folks who have mentioned experience with stability... the experiences range from "my tank cycled in a week" to "It didn't seem to do anything at all". I have never heard anyone mention any problems caused by using it.
That's a bummer, your 1ppm ammonia in the tap water. Have you tried filling a bucket of what up and letting it sit 24 hours before testing it? It could be chloramines causing a false positive in your ammonia reading. Chloramines are very volatile and will not stay in the water more than 24 hours or so once the water is exposed to a good amount of air. If it does happen to be chloramines, and the ammonia tests 0 after 24 hours, then treating with prime and adding right to the tank out of the tap should be fine... prime is an effective treatment for chloramines.
It might not help much either. There are a lot of folks who have mentioned experience with stability... the experiences range from "my tank cycled in a week" to "It didn't seem to do anything at all". I have never heard anyone mention any problems caused by using it.
That's a bummer, your 1ppm ammonia in the tap water. Have you tried filling a bucket of what up and letting it sit 24 hours before testing it? It could be chloramines causing a false positive in your ammonia reading. Chloramines are very volatile and will not stay in the water more than 24 hours or so once the water is exposed to a good amount of air. If it does happen to be chloramines, and the ammonia tests 0 after 24 hours, then treating with prime and adding right to the tank out of the tap should be fine... prime is an effective treatment for chloramines.
Agree with this statement 100%... I don't really recommend a chemical solution to anything... nothing good happens quickly in an aquarium.
Marconis
Aquarium Advice Addict
^^^^^
TraceyB4602
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Is there anyway you could get media from an established tank? That would speed up your cycle especially with an additive.
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Oh, my. I did assume it was chloramines (and felt safe, since I use Prime). Is it actually possible that tap water can contain 1.0ppm straight ammonia? Yikes. I didn’t even consider that possibility. I’ll run the 24 hour test you suggested. Thanks for the help!
I actually have a five gallon tank with three glofish that is cycled. After someone mentioned doing this in one of my other threads, I did take some of the media from it, and put it in the 20 gallon filter "box" (er, whatever you call the housing area for the filter "pads"). That was about a week ago. Maybe I didn't take enough?
TraceyB4602
Aquarium Advice FINatic
jinkel said:
With my 45 gallon tank while I was cycling I used a bacteria additive and I used media from my 10g tank and never saw any nitrites. The same thing with another member on here. So maybe your not going to see any either.
I also have to add that a 5g tank is way to small for 1 goldfish never mind three. With a goldfish you should really have a 30g tank and then 10g per extra goldfish.
And I also have to add I love your signature haha
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Good to know!
The five gallon holds three glofish and two ghost shrimp. The goldies are in the 20 gallon (I'm saving for a larger tank for the three goldies, though).
TraceyB4602
Aquarium Advice FINatic
meegosh said:Glo fish - not goldfish
Ha my bad
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