Advice re Cycling Please

Hi, I've started cycling using Seachem Stability. It's a 7-day process and it claims that you can add fish after day 1 although I'm not planning on adding any fish until I'm 100% certain that all readings are OK.

After 4 days I'm getting Ammonia 0; Nitrite 5 and Nitrate 40. The tank is planted.

Do I aim for all zeros?

TIA

u need ammonia 0 and nitrites 0 nitrates are about fine i think

I am not familar with that product. in the US there is only one product that I know of that can ALMOST instant cycle a tank. thats biosphera and it must be kept cool, never too warm or cold. so sometimes the product works great, others times if its been overheated or frozen in the shipping process its worthless. the same would go for your product if its similar bacteria.

the best and quickest way I have found it to get a small chunk of mature media from a friends tank and either feed it ammonia, or if you already have fish do daily water changes till ammonia is 0 nitrites are 0 and the nitrate is steadly rising.

Thanks both. Stability is mentioned in the sticky on fishless cycling. I've found quite a few references to it online and am reasonably happy that it'll do the job - it's just I can't seem to get it clear about the nitrates; what level they should be and whether it's vital they stay at that level.

When I come to getting my fish - do the corys go in first or the betta?

I'd put the corys in first. Betta seem more willing to take tank mates if they are not already the boss of the tank.

As for the cycling, I'm not familiar with the product so I won't advise.

I tried Stability with no luck, it just seems to add ammonia which you can do yourself by doing a fishless cycle.

I tried tetra Safestart in my snail tank as it was struggling, I was getting 1.0 ammonia spikes and after adding it the next day it was at 0 amm and 0 nitrites and has stayed there. I was doing daily 70% waterchanges in their tank and now i only do one a week.....

It is supposed to be a UK version of Biospira, non-refrigerated though. Im a bit synical of any cycling product but after testing Stability and Safestart I will always have safestart in my cupboard now as an emergency measure lol if I get any odd spikes it seems to work well and did cycle my snail tank superfast

IMO/E-the OTC instant cycling products are nothing more than "snake oil" I have a problem believing that a live bacteria can be kept alive in a bottle any longer than a few hours at most...with that said....If you are wanting to do a fishless cycle getting some filter media or gravel from a healthy cycled tank is the best way to go.
The cycled tank water prams readings should be: Ammonia 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 5-20ppm.
You have to have an ammonia source first to get the cycle process stared and it has to be fed so the good bacteria needed will not starve and die. ammonia break down to nitrite and then nitrite break down to the least harmful nitrate; however too high of a nitrate can also be bad for fish in the way of break down of their immune system, thus opening them up to illness, so best kept under 30ppm, 20ppm ideal, weekly water changes/vacuum gravel will take care of high nitrate or keep them in check.

If I carry on with the Stability until I get the correct levels, 0, 0, 20 for 3 or 4 days running, then add a couple of corys to start with, hopefully that won't put too much of a load on the filter and I can gradually add a few more over time?

That would work, add new fish slow giving the NB time to catch up so to avoid ammonia/nitrite spikes. Be sure and check your water prams every day and do 50% water changes the first sign of a spike, sometimes your fish will tell you this with their actions, so if they start to act odd...water change ASAP.
You will still need to do weekly 50% water changes to keep the tank/fish healthy, remember the NB are found in the filter, in the gravel, on the walls, on the decorations, on plants real and fake very little NB is found in the water column itself so water changes will not effect the cycling process.
What size is your tank? and what are your stocking plans?

Thanks so much Brenda for your help - I do appreciate it that people take time to help out us newbies, and I'll bear in mind advice re water changes etc.

I have a small tank - AquaStart 320 (28L) and planning on 1 Betta and as many little corys as I'm 'allowed' in this size tank (5 or 6 perhaps?). I'd like c.hastatus or pygmaeus as I believe they are the smallest.

Hi

I have used seachem stability on a 40g marine tank and 4 or 5 fresh water tanks with great success.

Just a couple of quick points. It does not add Ammonia, and the nitrAtes are more than likely from the tap water. The results i got, showed no ammonia or nitrIte at all. I took readings every day and on the last go with it, stocked 3 bettas after 2 days. My marine tank has been running without problem for 3 months now.

Quick question - do you have any carbon in your filter?

Just a quick point, if you have a nitrIte reading, which is odd as i didn't with this stuff, then the filter must be doing something to convert the ammonia into nitrIte:)

have you tried testing Stability, it has high ammonia readings....at least my one did. it just kept raising ammonia to high levels which stopped after I did a wc and not adding it back. I have not tried it the same way you did though Van, for a few days before adding fish. I used it to boost a lagging cycle and it didn't help much.

So good to hear from somebody who's used this with good results!

Well, I don't know where those pesky nitrates are coming from - I've just tested the tap water and it's showing zero! I know that tap water varies from time to time so perhaps that's it. I'll do a big water change tomorrow and see how I get on.

Yes, I do have carbon in the filter - should I remove it?

Never had a single ammonia reading in any of the tests i did. I actually had a thread/test results thread on a certain other forum where i posted results each day. Never had ammonia or nitrIte readings, nitrAtes showed after 4 days.
As for boosting, i haven't had any success with it, but cycling from scratch was a different matter.

Just seen you have carbon, yeh take it out. It will strip out the stuff thats trying to cycle the filter:)

OK - I've taken the carbon out, done a v. large water change (about 75% I reckon) and my readings are now: 0 Ammonia, 1 Nitrite, 20 Nitrate and reduced the Stability (as per product instructions). I'm getting there!

I don't know if one of the plants had anything to do with the wonky readings but it was just disintegrating so I've now removed that and ordering some silk plants.

LizzieDee wrote:Thanks so much Brenda for your help - I do appreciate it that people take time to help out us newbies, and I'll bear in mind advice re water changes etc.

I have a small tank - AquaStart 320 (28L) and planning on 1 Betta and as many little corys as I'm 'allowed' in this size tank (5 or 6 perhaps?). I'd like c.hastatus or pygmaeus as I believe they are the smallest.

Corys can get to near 3 inches long, depending on the type. They do need a good amount of space, especially as they like to be in groups. I'm going to move my four from my 60 litre to my 110 litre soon.

A great alternative are dwarf or pygmy corys. All the cuteness and fun without the size.

Yes, the corys I'm looking at are the dwarf ones which grow to just over an inch - . I'm thinking five should be OK? Cochui is my first choice as they are the smallest (I think) but if I can't find those then habrosus, pygmaeus or hastatus.

That's awesome then =) I should think 5 would be OK.

I'd like c.hastatus or pygmaeus as I believe they are the smallest.

I managed to miss this when I first read your post :lol!:

habrosus are also pygmy corys