Use Seachem Stability Or Not?

Hello everyone,

I just started cycling my 10 gallon aquarium. I read on another post here that the bacteria in Stability is not the kind you want because it is not self sustaining. Is this true, and does that mean I should stop using Stability?

This is what I’ve done so far:

7/12/18 - Setup the new tank, added Prime, added 1 capful of Stability, and a few pellets of fish food.

7/13/18 - Added 1/2 cap of Stability, added a few more pellets, tested water 6 hours after
- Ammonia: between 0.5 ppm and 1 ppm
- Nitrite: between 0.25 ppm and 0.5 ppm
- Nitrate: 0 ppm

If I should not be using Stability should I just stop dosing it? Perhaps do a full water change to try and get rid of the bacteria to start the cycle over? Or should I just not worry and continue cycling with Stability?

 

I did some more reading and have found out that many people have differing views on using Stability or not.

If I keep using Stability, is it true that after the cycle finishes completely then I just need to add Stability perhaps every week when I do a water change? I believe that would keep the bacteria in the tank.

 

I hope you get answers on this soon!

 

If I keep using Stability, is it true that after the cycle finishes completely then I just need to add Stability perhaps every week when I do a water change? I believe that would keep the bacteria in the tank.

A lot has been written about why Stability doesn't work for some people, why it works for other people, how it works and whether witchcraft is involved.

I think Seachem's recommendation of post-water change use of Stability is a lot of marketing hype. The vast majority of your nitrifying bacteria exist as a biofilm on your filter media, only very little (if none at all) exists in the water column itself.

Are Stability's bacteria 'non-self sustaining"? I'm not sure what you mean by "self-sustaining" in this context. But apart from this, Seachem hasn't ever published detailed information on the composition of their bacteria species. Without that information, it's hard to make any definitive conclusions.

All they've indicated is that Stability contains "aerobic, anaerobic, facultative" bacteria which processes ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. It probably does work, since culturing bacteria and introducing it into closed ecosystems is not exactly new practice.

But I'd be suspicious about some of their claims. For example, they claim that their bacteria can colonise even acidic environments. As the scientific literature indicates this behaviour is isolated to only a few select species of nitrifying bacteria, I'd regard Seachem's claims as nonsense unless they ever decide to publish their "proprietary" bacteria blend.

In short: continue to add Stability while cycling. It'll probably help. It might not. There's a lot of factors at play involving nitrification (ammonia/nitrite inhibition, phosphate block, pH crash, etc.) and they're more likely to cause a stalled cycle. You don't need to add Stability after a water change. Don't believe all of Seachem's claims.

 

Thanks for the reply! It definitely helps me understand more about Stability. I ended up using it for the 7 days while adding fish food. Now I am adding pure ammonia and waiting for the cycle to finish.