How To Use Stability and Prime?

Sorry this probably a really dumb question. I’m about a month into cycling my tank, fishless. My nitrites are still extremely high, 5+, so I’ve been doing daily 25% water changes. I was recommended to get Searchem stability so I got that along with prime. How should I use it to help my cycle? Thanks

 

I only used Prime and it took my tank about a month and a half to finish. My nitrites also stayed high for some time. You can do larger water changes to help bring down the nitrites faster, but I honestly don’t know if that really helped me. If I remember correctly, my nitrite readings were like maxed out for what seems like weeks w constant wc, and then one day just poof, 0,0, 10 and off to the fish store I went. You’re on the home stretch.

 

I am at a compleat loss as to all the people that are posting that is taking them longer than 7-12 days to fishless cycle. There have been many, many threads on how to do this...

If you do water changes to bring the nitrites down, what does the the second bacteria have to feed on to convert it to nitrates?

 

I am at a compleat loss as to all the people that are posting that is taking them longer than 7-12 days to fishless cycle. There have been many, many threads on how to do this...

If you do water changes to bring the nitrites down, what does the the second bacteria have to feed on to convert it to nitrates?

I didn’t do water changes at all for about a week and nothing happened, nitrites stayed a 5, I asked for advice on here and I was told to do the water changes

 

I didn’t do water changes at all for about a week and nothing happened, nitrites stayed a 5, I asked for advice on here and I was told to do the water changes

Tell you what, I will try to post the method that I and many past members use sometime in the next day or two. There is a lot of wrong info on this that keeps getting repeted. We had one member that would cycle in 4 days. I have never had it take longer than 12 days. Usually right around seven days for the most part.

Jodi

To avoid the invariable challenges from people that have never done it this way, I am going to PM you with the method.

You will have it before the end of the day on Saturday.

 

Why not just post it for all to see? Fishlore says it takes from 2 weeks to 2 months.

You say it blows your mind that people can’t do it in 12 days. I’m sure there’s lots of new tank owners that would love to speed up their cycle and if you know something the rest of us don’t, please share.

Isn’t that one of the things this website is for?

 

As someone who is fairly new to the forum, I sure would like to hear about this. I’ve cycled four tanks and none of them were shorter than 4 weeks.

Don’t keep it a secret! Let that out....there’s always going to be the people who misinterpret or twist things around. We’re not all perfect.

 

Why not just post it for all to see? Fishlore says it takes from 2 weeks to 2 months.

You say it blows your mind that people can’t do it in 12 days. I’m sure there’s lots of new tank owners that would love to speed up their cycle and if you know something the rest of us don’t, please share.

Isn’t that one of the things this website is for?

Ok, it is just that I get frustrated with people that I know are just repeating what they have heard and never done it this way. I will say that all this information and the lab report was posted before the major change over (last year?) to Fishlore and seems to be gone along with the members that used and corroborate what I have been saying in the resent posts dealing with this.

1. The Ph must be above 7.0 as you get below 7.0 ammonia turns to ammonium and becomes harder and harder for the first stage bacteria to convert to nitrite.

2. The water temp needs to be high, in the range of 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Because the warmer the water is the less O2 it holds in suspension, it is necessary to have very vigorous aeration to facilitate the gas exchange. The warmer water speeds up the activity of the bacteria.

3. Add clear ammonia to the range of 12 PPM. It can be more or a bit less. Test the water at least once a day and keep the ammonia at this level.

4. After the clear ammonia has been added on the first day add this Seachem - Stability Add 2 to 3x what the bottle says to use. Check the expiration date to be sure it is fresh. You will add this every day. Get a large bottle. And be sure to shake it.

5. Be sure to have the full filtration that you will need for a fully stocked aquarium up and running from day one. I recommend 10x the water column or greater.

6. Do not do a water change yet, the secondary bacteria needs the nitrites to convert to nitrates.
Watch the readings. When you start to see nitrates stop adding ammonia. When the ammonia and nitrites hit 0.PPM do a large water change (50%-70%) and start from the beginning one more time. When the readings once again read 0-0- PPM with nitrates the aquarium is ready to fully stock. The bacteria will die back to match the needs of the stock. But you need to move fast. Bacteria expands and contracts rapidly in relation to the food (ammonia, nitrite) available. If you wait too long the bacteria will die back, and you will have an unicycle aquarium. So time this carefully.

I offer my sincere and best wishes to all of you. It is a lot of work and there is no room for skipping steps. But if done properly you should have a fully cycled aquarium in less than two weeks.

EDIT: Just to be on the safe side add stability per the directions on the bottle after the fish are added.

EDIT#2: Have the aquarium completely setup the way you want it to be before you start this. I have been told that you can do this with plants in but I have not done this so I can not say for sure that is the case.

 

Thank you!

Nothing there seems controversial except the ammonia ppm goal. I don’t have the background to argue for or against, but have only read what others have posted.

If you ever feel up to the task—and putting up with the challenges—consider posting this in a thread of its own. That way if one were to google/search “fast fishless cycle” and such, the post would get more attention and peer review. Sure some crazies may come out, but that’s life. Spreading this will either help others, or someone will come along and say “nope, here’s why...” and we all benefit.

 

Thank you!

Nothing there seems controversial except the ammonia ppm goal. I don’t have the background to argue for or against, but have only read what others have posted.

If you ever feel up to the task—and putting up with the challenges—consider posting this in a thread of its own. That way if one were to google/search “fast fishless cycle” and such, the post would get more attention and peer review. Sure some crazies may come out, but that’s life. Spreading this will either help others, or someone will come along and say “nope, here’s why...” and we all benefit.

That is a very good idea.

All ideas and methods should be open to critical review. If there are errors in this I would like to know about them.

 

Thank you!

 

Thank you!

You are welcome

 

You are welcome

Thank you for the tips! I took your advice and stopped doing water changes, along with adding extra doses of stability and prime and my nitrites went from 5 to .5!

 

Thank you for the tips! I took your advice and stopped doing water changes, along with adding extra doses of stability and prime and my nitrites went from 5 to .5!

You are welcome

I hope things continue to go well for you