Seachem Stability for New Tank Syndrome?

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Jean1984

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Good day,

I bought an aquarium 20 gallons a month ago and still using Seachem Stability for New Tank Syndrome.

I am wondering if I should stop using it now and only use the Seachem prime to detoxify my water?

Is it possible to have any of the experts fishkeeper on this?

I have a 20 gallons with 3 sunburst wag platy in it. I do 75% water changes weekly and fill out the tank with tap water then I proceed and add Seachem Prime and Stability in my filter.
 
Are your ammonia and nitrite at zero, and staying there between water changes?

If they are zero, you can stop using Stability. But if they are not zero, you can carry on using it and doing water changes to get them down to zero until they stay at zero by themselves, then stop using it.
 
Are your ammonia and nitrite at zero, and staying there between water changes?

If they are zero, you can stop using Stability. But if they are not zero, you can carry on using it and doing water changes to get them down to zero until they stay at zero by themselves, then stop using it.
Well two weeks ago my Ammonia level was at 8.0ppm.

Now as of today my ammonia level is at 0.5ppm, ph level at 7.0. My nitrite and nitrate have always been at 0.ppm

I am assuming it is a good time to stop using stability?
 
If your ammonia is at 0.5 ppm, that's still too high. It should be zero. I would continue using the stability until ammonia is zero. Anything that could help is worth doing. Once ammonia stays at zero, then stop.
 
If your ammonia is at 0.5 ppm, that's still too high. It should be zero. I would continue using the stability until ammonia is zero. Anything that could help is worth doing. Once ammonia stays at zero, then stop.
Thanks much. But it is way better than 8.0ppm.

With the pandemic it is quite hard and challenging to find live plants as our petsmart providers are running low on everything. Amazon shipping fees are quite expensive....

Water changes are my only options really with the zeolite crystals I bought..
 
Be careful using zeolite. It's OK temporarily for emergencies but not full time.

Zeolite adsorbs ammonia and leaves none for the bacteria. So the colonies you have grown so far won't have enough to 'eat' so they'll start to go dormant - that includes the nitrite eaters because there's no ammonia to turn into nitrite. After a few months the bacteria will start to die off. Zeolite gets full and stops working so it needs to be replaced before it gets full.
Zeolite also adsorbs medication so if the fish ever get sick you need to remove it. But after a few months of using zeolite, there aren't enough bacteria so when you take it out to add the medication both ammonia and nitrite will rise.
 
Be careful using zeolite. It's OK temporarily for emergencies but not full time.

Zeolite adsorbs ammonia and leaves none for the bacteria. So the colonies you have grown so far won't have enough to 'eat' so they'll start to go dormant - that includes the nitrite eaters because there's no ammonia to turn into nitrite. After a few months the bacteria will start to die off. Zeolite gets full and stops working so it needs to be replaced before it gets full.
Zeolite also adsorbs medication so if the fish ever get sick you need to remove it. But after a few months of using zeolite, there aren't enough bacteria so when you take it out to add the medication both ammonia and nitrite will rise.
Glad to hear. I only used zeolite on emergency high levels. I did used it 3 times for no more then 48hrs each within a 2 weeks time frame. Glad I did stop.

Instead of using zeolite I do bigger water changes which helps better I find...
 
I was cleaning my tank 50 percent every week for a long time and also way overfeeding the fish, wondering why they were dying. There's such a steep learning curve with keeping fish, at least for me. I used plastic plants rather than real thinking they were "cleaner". Then someone on this site suggested getting lots of real plants and cleaning the tank every two weeks 30 percent, and that I was overcleaning the tank. I got rid of all the plastic plants, put in lots of real ones, and cut back on the fish food. I started adding Stability to every water change and for a while was adding it weekly. Now things are much more stable and the fish are doing much better. I don't think there's any harm in continuing to add Stability indefinitely although I suppose measuring the water parameters are the most important thing. I find checking the water parameters to be a real chore. It's hard for me to match the ammonia-tested solution to the API chart - is it yellow? Bluish yellow? Greenish yellow? It's really frustrating to match the stupid colors. So I try to rely on the fish behavior and keep very consitent with the water changes unless there's a change or a problem I don't check it consistently. It's working so far.
 
I was cleaning my tank 50 percent every week for a long time and also way overfeeding the fish, wondering why they were dying. There's such a steep learning curve with keeping fish, at least for me. I used plastic plants rather than real thinking they were "cleaner". Then someone on this site suggested getting lots of real plants and cleaning the tank every two weeks 30 percent, and that I was overcleaning the tank. I got rid of all the plastic plants, put in lots of real ones, and cut back on the fish food. I started adding Stability to every water change and for a while was adding it weekly. Now things are much more stable and the fish are doing much better. I don't think there's any harm in continuing to add Stability indefinitely although I suppose measuring the water parameters are the most important thing. I find checking the water parameters to be a real chore. It's hard for me to match the ammonia-tested solution to the API chart - is it yellow? Bluish yellow? Greenish yellow? It's really frustrating to match the stupid colors. So I try to rely on the fish behavior and keep very consitent with the water changes unless there's a change or a problem I don't check it consistently. It's working so far.
Thanks I will add more live plants to it thats for sure. Makes a lots of sense what you just said. Thank you.
 

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