Kitsune

I have had my tank going for a few weeks now (day or two short of three weeks). I saw the ammonia spike to 0.25 and now it is down to zero. However I have absolutely no reading on nitrites or nitrates. Nothing.

I do have live aquatic plants in the tank. Could this be part of the cause? I also kept the tank going with stability (yet another replacement for bio-spira). I have no clue if this is at all normal. It has shown these readings for the last week or so.

Tony G.

Hello Kitsune Welcome to Fishlore
I believe it is normal to have missing nitrates if you have live plants in the tank. Did you ever see any nitrites?

jwokmuba2

what kind of tests do you use, strips or liquid, the strips can be inaccurate. please fill out your tank info so other members can help u better.

Lucy

Personally, I would stop using stability. As far as I've read, it contains the wrong kind of bacteria. It dies off quickly and doesn't allow the beneficial bacteria to grow.
Don't the directions say you have to add it with every water change?
Bio-Spira (Now Tetra Safe Start) only needed to be added once.

Unless your tank is heavily planted, you'd still have some nitrates if your tank was cycled.
I think what's happening is the stability is getting rid of the ammonia but your tank isn't cycling because of it.

I could be wrong, but that's my opinion.
Let's see what other members have to say.

Kitsune

Saw absolutely no sign of nitrites whatsoever and I tested the water every two days.

And I use the liquid. Even doing chemistry in university I found test strips inaccurate so I figured why would it be any different for a fish tank.

Kitsune

Hmmm... I'll keep that in mind. I stopped adding the stability about 4-5 days ago. I'll keep testing the water checking for another ammonia spike and look into adding Tetra Safe-Start if I see ammonia going back up.

peacemaker92

Hi Kitsune

I'd agree with the other members too. You can easily just feed your tank with ammonia to get new beneficial bacteria or even use Tetra Safe Start. It should complete your cycle in 2 weeks or so. Good luck!

Kitsune

I already have 3 whitecloud minnows in there adding tons of ammonia (darn the can poop). Should I just change 50% of the water and add the tetra safe start or is there a better way?

peacemaker92

Hmm... I'm not really sure. You could still do your daily water change. What does your test readings say with the minnows in it? If your readings has ammonia 0, I guess you could use the TSS now. Because TSS has the beneficial bacteria that your tank needs. But I've never heard of any members using TSS with fish in the tank. So wait for the more experienced members than me to help you with that.

Chozon1

According to Seachem, Stability has the necessary bacteria for cycling a tank. Nitro what ever. I can grab the E-mail they sent me. I can't actually prove it works, as I botched up my testing. But I think it sped the cycle up.

Lucy

There have been members who used TSS with fish already in the tank. With an ammonia reading of 0, it would be a goodtime to use it IMO since the directions on TSS says you add it and the fish at the same time.

From the Seachem website:
IMO if this product contained the correct bacteria, there'd be no need to add it once a month or with every water change.
If a tank is cycled without the use of these bacterial additives the bacteria will grow and multiply naturally and maintain it's self.
Of course regular water changes are necessary to replenish oxygen and healthy minerals and decrease nitrates.
I'd rather spend my money elsewhere.

I fear this is off topic. The OP didn't asked about their water readings, not about a product.

Kitsune

Not off topic at all since I was the one who wanted to know when I needed to add it. Changed from water readings to what to do to fix. Thank you for the great info, going to change things over today.

Kitsune

Okay so I checked every single pet store in the area and even went to Big Al's and no one had the Tetra Safestart. And I couldn't get any of them off of the idea of Stability lol Does anyone know where I can find this product where they ship to Canada? Checked a couple of places and they want something like $40-50 to ship one bottle

Kitsune

UPDATE: Tested water parameters again. I am still showing ammonia 0 and nitrites 0 but it seems I have a small amount of nitrates. > or around 5ppm. Gonna stop adding stability and see how the tank stabilizes. Still gonna use tetra safestart for future tanks (if I can ever get my hands on some) but it looks like this tank is finally heading in the right direction.

Thank you for all the help on this

Lucy

A guy at one of the fish stores I go to swears by stability also.
There was no way to convince him that if he just cycled his tank without it, he wouldn't need that extra expense of adding it with every water change.
Oh well, he was happy, so to each their own.

Glad your parameters look good, keep an eye on things.
Good luck.

Kitsune

Definitely will. Have no intention on keeping adding the stability. I am gonna let the tank cycle itself. I just wish I could find the tetra safestart. I really can't justify $50 for shipping alone for one bottle

Lucy

Yeah, I understand that. Shipping costs are crazy.
I had to drive over an hour to get mine.