Seachem Stability Cycle

[eddie0808]

Hey guys!

I have a 10 Gallon tank with a sponge filter.

Lightly planted around 7 stocks with 3 pads of moss.

Play sand for substrate

I've dosed it with seachem stability for 7 days and prime every other day while introducing 4 pygmy corys into the tank.

Its been a week since I've finished dosing with seachem stability.

I did a master test kit reading, and it showed

0.25ppm ammonia

0.1ppm nitrite

10ppm nitrate

1. How long does it take until it hits 0 ammonia and 0 nitrite?

2. Is there anything I could do to speed up that process?

[ckmullin]

IMO don't waste your money with seachems stability or even prime. on a 10 gal planted tank let the water sit a day and then use that for water changes. Unless you have specific intentions of breeding certain 'tricky things' save your $. I have not used 'water treatments' for years and very happy with my tanks.

cycle is 30 days...grab seeding filter material from someone to cut down that time if you like

don't rush what doesn't need to be rushed...it is what it is.

I deal with a lot of people who shopped around at local pet stores and they say the employee is 100% adamant for them to buy this stuff. 95% of the people I see I tell them water treatments such as that is nothing but a money grab from the store into their wallet. This advice is for a standard tank most people have...if breeding of specific things is wanted...then sure go ahead and use that stuff if wanted.

Edited October 14, 2013 by ckmullin

[Jayba]

I see you are from Waterloo.So simply letting your water stand will not work. Your Your water has been treated with chloromine, a combination of both ammonia and chlorine. it is far more stable than just chlorine and will not evaporated out.

For those of us that have chloromine dosed water swear by Seachem Prime or Seachem Safe to break this chemical bond.

I have heard different things about Stability . You have ammonia, nitrite and nitrite. You're getting close to being done. Keep up the water changes daily and keep feeding very light.

Cories have very little tolerance for ammonia and nitrite. Keep using the stability if you wwant

Good luck

[Canadaquaria]

Cycling usually takes 3 to 6 weeks to complete. It really varies. The best thing you can do is lots of water changes to keep ammonia and nitrite down during the process, and keep dosing with prime when you do water changes. No need for the stability. I also agree about aging the water, it will gas off the chlorine, but chloramine would take at least a month, maybe longer. So definitely use prime or another good dechlorinator that removes it.

[Rainbowric]

Hi eddie ... to me it looks like you are doing just fine in setting up your first new 10 gallon! Just need a little more patience .... like AA member geleen will say ....patience grasshopper!

You question is ... is how long and is there anything I can do to speed up the process?

Other then seeding .... no not really, but how you are going will get you there the fastest!

Good catch on the location Jay! However being able to go anywhere in Alberta and get good water to use off the tap, any time of the year, that you could trust, would be a dream come true. Eddie or anyone starting up your first tank .... if you really wants to be sure about the water you are using I would let it age (min a day, 2 better) and in addition treat it with Prime or another reputable declorinator. How much Prime? Be careful as 5 ml of prime will treat 50 gallons of water or 1 ml to 10 gallons of water. That is not much more then a few drops even if you are double doseing. My tap water has been good and bad all spring and summer long this year... I fill up my 100 gallon reservoir and the fumes coming off it is unbelieveable at times. I would never trust it with just a few days of ageing!

Yep water changes are good, especially when a few don't do them or do very little to begin with. How much water changing should I do? To much and you can wash out the new bacteria that is forming, thus take longer to cycle. You have not got a lot of bioload... 4 pgmy cories in a 10 gallon with plants! Also a pat on the back for learning to test your water.... keep testing and you will learn about water, declorinators, and accelerators. I might start by doing a 10 to 15% change every other day for the next week and see what your reading look like. Get yourself a 5 gallon water bottle, put in 3 gallons of water and leave a good air space in the bottle, use it for water changes. 3 gallons will do 2 water changes. The water in the bottle will sit and get a number of days to age in the bottle. Are you treating the water in your tank or the water you are adding to your tank? Maybe give your tank a small dose if your test numbers are getting higher but if not, no need to treat your tank with Prime.

Seachem did not make there money by selling products that don't work! How many members of AA use declorinator? Well Jay can tell you how many lbs. he brought in of Seachem's Safe when he managed a group order. Stability .... well I do find it hard to believe that it contains good bacteria, however I think that with the enzymes in it, it will help in speeding up the process of cycle...... but not to the degree they suggest on the bottle. In the last couple of years I have started up hundreds of tanks, and most of them in 24 hours, and I felt they were safe to put fish in. Great to have bacteria to seed with and also biofiltered water from other tanks, however I have used and still do use Stability on start ups and find, that with seeding, in 24 hours the tank is in better shape for adding fish then without. I believe that the organic waste from the seeding feeds better with the enzymes found in Stability or another cycle excellerator, but more expensive, Cycle. Unfortunately in a new tank you will not find much organic waste so the excellerators will have little to no effect. But it will not hurt using them and as waste builds, the more it should help.

All in all ..... doing everything right you are still looking at close to at least 4 weeks on a new tank. If up and cycled in 1 month ....congradulations! as I have seen many that have been up for months and are not cycling.

Cheers

Ric

Edited October 16, 2013 by Rainbowric