Seachem Stability Fish Tank Stabilizer - For Freshwater and Marine Aquariums, 16.9 Fl Oz (Pack of 1)

So far so good

I keep my tank’s water pristine - the nitrate never gets past 20ppm. For the last couple years that <20ppm goal required the water changes happen every 6 days. Part of my routine is testing and recording the nitrate level (pH & temperature too) before and after doing the water. A couple months ago I started adding a couple capfuls Stability at water change time since I had an open bottle to finish up with no new tanks to cycle. The before nitrate test started showing reduced ppm, low enough to make a water change unnecessary. I didn’t believe it so I tested again. Got the same low nitrate reading. . Three more days of testing and finally on day 9 I did a water change. . I still wasn’t convinced but the same thing happened again. And again... No change in the fish, nothing different about the feeding. Nitrate staying low for more days. So odd! Then it dawned on me the only thing different is the Stability. It started to kick in after two water changes. It is why the changes are 9-10 days apart now, even for 6 large fancy goldfish in 75 gallons! Thank you SeaChem, the beneficial bacteria in Stability are doing the heavy lifting instead of me!

.Stability is a great kickstart for cycling a new tank , but that said, a tank still needs to be cycled. Newbies out there, you must cycle your tank for the it’s long term health. The secret to aquarium success - healthy fish- is water quality. If you cycle your tank properly and that takes time, your tank parameters ( ammonia nitrates nitrites Etc) will normalize/ stabilize. Fish will suffer if your tank has not cycled completely...due to ammonia spikes , high nitrites and nitrates amongst other possible complications for lack of proper cycling... Remember an aquarium is an animal eco system I recommend Aquariumadvisor.com ‘The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling‘

I’ve heard that BB starters are a waste of money, but here’s my experience. I started a new tank, fish in, and was pretty religious with the stability and the tank basically cycled in two weeks(I use api master kit to test and record my levels, I had nitrates and the ammonia and nitrites were stabilizing) . I made the mistake of removing the HOB filter and replacing with a sponge filter too soon, I thought the bb was built up enough. Completely crashed my cycle and had to start over. So I thought at this point it would build up on its own pretty fast, wasnt using stability during this time, wasnt even testing, just adding enough prime to make sure the fish were good, finally a week and a half later I test again, nitrites and nitrates are still at zero… Needless to say I’ll be adding stability everyday religiously till I see nitrites come online. Learn from my mistakes. Establishing a tank is such a pain, and in my experience this product does speed up that process.

As someone that is very serious about the fish keeping hobby, Seachem products are my go to. Seachem makes fantastic products that actually work, are consistent, and readily available in stores for the most part. Make no mistake, Seachem Stability is a 5 star product. Seachem Stability along with Prime really do make it possible to go from new aquarium setup to stocked with fish the same day. No more sitting around for weeks even months while a tank naturally goes through the nitrogen cycle. Ive used this method a few times when setting up new tanks and have not a lost a fish from adding them in a tank to soon yet. Seachem stability can also be used when adding new fish to established aquariums to give the beneficial bacteria in the tank a boost to help with the additional bio-load. I also use it whenever I do tank maintenance, because that is when you are most prone to killing the good bacteria in the tank and filters. The reason why I gave this 3 stars instead of 5 has nothing to do with the product itself. Like I said Seachem stability is a 5 star product. I usually by it in my local fish store but chose to order it from Amazon for the first time along with some other items I was ordering. I received a bottle of Stability that had expired about 3 years ago. I understand mistakes are made and things get overlooked, but how do you overlook something thats been expired for 3 years. To me that is no simple mistake, rather just pure negligence. I will never order anything that expires from amazon again.

To clarify this is what you use to start the bacterial cycle in a new fish tank and boost an already established tank. It is used to help break down solid waste in a tank and help prevent bad bacterias from developing. I just started a 55 gallon tank with 10 two year old goldfish and we all know how dirty those fish are... I started my tank with this bio bacteria and it works great. You shake the bottle and you hear some carbonated fizzing from the active bacteria and pour a few caps of this directly into your filters to start the process and it will keep your fish from dieing because of New tank syndrome IE all your fish die a horrible death because of chemical spikes. This stuff works miracles in helping to break down solids quickly and keeping fish healthy. It will make your water milky for a day or so because of a HEALTHY bacterial spike and then it levels out and the balance is found naturally. It is the best thing you can buy for a healthy tank and healthy fish. I can not sing the praises of this enough. Totally hooked on Seachem Stability for life. If you have a 55 gallon tank or bigger buy 2 of the 500ml bottles because I wish I did. I used 1/4 of a bottle in a week starting my tank and its a good idea to put a cap full in your filters after you wash them to get the bio filtration action going again. So over a year you will definitely use up a whole bottle maybe more depending on how much you feel you need it. And if you suffer a disaster and have to do a total water change you need this to keep your fish alive in a non established tank.

I always have my seachem products stocked at all times. Ive in an emergency had to cycle a 60g Adult African Cichlid tank and had no casualties, thank goodness. One thing I do want to make clear, this will not instantly lower Ammonia, Nitrites or Nitrates. Stability helps by shortening the time it takes for your tank to cycle. In order to keep your readings down and your fish alive, ANY Fish, you must also use Prime. Prime does not rid your tank of Ammonia Nitrites or Nitrates but binds them so they are not toxic, for roughly 48hrs. So please do not buy this product thinking it will keep your fish alive. It is one of a combination of products that will or do.

I use Stability after changing filter media in my aquarium filter.

Ive been using this product for a while, its pretty good stuff but you need to take into consideration that the instructions on the bottle are not going to have your tank cycled in 7 days. The way to use Stability is along with Seachem Prime water conditioner, and water changes. You want to dose both of these daily while you fish-in cycle your aquarium. The formula that I have been doing is as follows. If you have less than 1 ppm ammonia or nitrite - dose Stability and Prime, wait 24 hours and check again If you have more than 1 ppm ammonia or nitrite- do atleast 50% water change, sometimes 75% is best depending on how high your ammonia and nitrite is. Then dose Stability and Prime. The key to cycling your tank and keeping your fish healthy is to keep ammonia and nitrite below 1 ppm, by using Prime Water Conditioner because it will bind these into non toxic forms for 24 hours. This also allows your growing bed of bacteria to have something to eat on. I am currently cycling a 20 gallon long tank, with one Oranda Goldfish. They are large waste producers, so I normally double my prime dosage and quadruple my stability dosage just to be on the safe side. Amazon by far has the best price for the 500ml bottles!

Foolishly walking through a Walmart fish dept., I made the mistake of checking out their too large stock of forlorn Bettas. One “spoke” to me! I plopped down the $4.97 (or whatever!), for my new finny friend and then made my way to a big box pet store in search of his perfect home. Over $100 later, home we went! So started the saga of setting up an uncycled aquarium. Ammonia problems for weeks, bought the Prime initially, just to damper the ammonia. Then found the Seachem helpline, who held my hand-not REALLY, but almost!-through the next few weeks! They recommended that Stability would likely speed the process by adding the good bacteria. Between phone calls and multiple emails the water finally tested 0ppm for Ammonia yesterday. I can highly recommend the product and ESPECIALLY the members of the support team! Thank you!