at a loss

Kelly,
first..you haven't done anything wrong..I've used stability in the past and there were no weird reading.

typically when you add bio spira you should see small spikes in ammonia and nitrite.if you got a good batch and the water chemistry is right..these mini cycles only last a few days generally the tank would cycle in about a week.

I had a tank that had issues cycling. I had addl ive bacteria fand it went reduced the ammonia fine but for whatever reason there was the nitrites never seemed to get consumed for a couple weeks. it was suggested that I add stability since I was stuck, like you, at the nitrite phase. I added stability but also monitored the water and did changes when the nitrite reading looked off. I'm not sure if it was the water changes or the stability but the tank pushed out of the nitrite phase shortly after (within a day or two.
in reality it is possible the tank would have pushed thru the nitrite phase on it's own..but keeping the nitrites low is good for the fish..

changing water is sound advice. stability is not 'suppose' to cause weird things to happen..but you never know.
 
are ammonia and nitrates both at 0, or are you showing nitrates?

if you have nitrates, then some of the bacteria are there. . . maybe turn the heat up a bit to 80? that will increase the metabolism and reproduction of the bacteria.
 
I was not trying to be rude or place blame, but Seachem Stability does not contain any bacteria that are naturally found in an aquarium and therefore I see no reason to add it. It seems reasonable to believe that bacteria in Stability will most likely not live for very long in an aquarium and therefore will do relatively little to help with the cycling process. It also seems reasonable to believe that these bacteria will be competing for the same food source as the bacteria you are trying to establish.
 
Does anybody know whether Nitrobacter is more fragile than Nitrosomonas? This would explain why the nitrite production works nicely, but the conversion to nitrates doesn't work (except via Stability).

Edit: In the worst case, all conversions are done by the bacteria in Stability, and the bacteria from the Bio-Spira starve to death.
 
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H3D said:
Seachem Stability does not contain nitrobacter. They do not say what is in it, only what is not. I can tell you the bacteria in Stability is in a spore state if that helps.
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I'm afraid that my microbiology was already too long ago ;). I didn't want to imply that Stability contains Nitrobacter, but Bio-Spira does. At least it should contain both, Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas. If both bacteria have a different susceptibility to temperature or other influences, one might be dead whereas the other might be still doing its work.
 
Ulan said:
I'm afraid that my microbiology was already too long ago ;). I didn't want to imply that Stability contains Nitrobacter, but Bio-Spira does. At least it should contain both, Nitrobacter and Nitrosomonas. If both bacteria have a different susceptibility to temperature or other influences, one might be dead whereas the other might be still doing its work.
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Nope.

PRINCIPLE INGREDIENTS:

Purified water, patented and patent pending pure strains of Nitrosomonas, Nitrosospira and Nitrospira.

Borrowed from:

http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/ML_biospira.asp
 
Okay, different bacteria then. But the principle is the same: Perhaps one or two of the strains died and one is alive?
 
According to Seachem:

Stability is a blend of aerobic, anaerobic and facilitative bacteria. This means that Stability not only consume ammonia and nitrite, but also nitrate and organic sludge. Stability can also be used in Fresh and Saltwater aquariums.

Borrowed from:

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?p=617

This is why I said it might be messing up the water parameters.
 
Omega said:
There could also be something wrong with your test kit.
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i don't have my own test kit. i take it to the lfs near me. on tuesday i got fed up with the high readings and swore to myself that it was the lfs' test kit that was out of whack, so i took it to another lfs. they got the same readings. i guess i was just looking for someone else to blame. :rolleyes:

wataugachicken said:
are ammonia and nitrates both at 0, or are you showing nitrates? if you have nitrates, then some of the bacteria are there. . . maybe turn the heat up a bit to 80? that will increase the metabolism and reproduction of the bacteria.
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my amonia is at 0 and my nitrates are holding steady around 10. i will try to turn up the temp and see how that works. i think i'm hovering around 78.

star_rider said:
Kelly,
first..you haven't done anything wrong..I've used stability in the past and there were no weird reading... changing water is sound advice. stability is not 'suppose' to cause weird things to happen..but you never know.
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thank you for the reassurance, i was beginning to think this was my fault! i will stop using the stability. i did about a 4gl water change last night (about 20%) when i cleaned the gravel. when would you recommend doing another change and how much? and when should i get the water tested again? should i wait a few days for the new water to adjust?
 
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