I prefer using three Seachem products to start nitrogen cycles faster than waiting weeks or months for things to go well. These products are ideal for removing chlorine/chloramine, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. And AmGuard for fast blocking of ammonia to be less toxic. And finally stability for establishing and growing bacterial colonies. First, if possible, don't buy old or expired Stability bottles. Stability is only good if the contents of the bottle are fresh enough. As for the stability level, you need to dose it into the aquarium, preferably near the filter media that it will live on. There's nothing wrong with overdosing on Stability a bit if you want an initial big boost for resident bacteria. If you have more than one tank, you can remove the filter media from a properly installed tank and place it in a new tank to speed up the process even further. Stability only works well if you already have some ammonia and nitrite available for the bacteria to use up. A clean aquarium with no ammonia and nitrites will not feed your bacteria. Have something in that tank produce at least some ammonia or your cycle will never start and the stability bacteria will just starve and die too. Stability bacteria can also consume ammonia blocked by Prime or AmGuard. So you can safely use it with these products. Typically, you'll start with a high dose of stability first, adding to the tank daily for several days until the nitrogen cycle begins. Once you know your cycle is on hold, you can use a dose of this about once a week to ensure your bacterial colony stays intact. The output of stability bacteria will eventually be in the form of nitrates. Nitrates can be removed during regular water changes and most plants also use nitrates. Don't buy more than you think you will need. This stuff has a shorter useful life once you open the sealed lid. Therefore, an old open bottle of it can no longer have any effect. So buy what you will use for a month or so. I use this product both as a starter cycle and for general maintenance of biological filter media. Sometimes I add it right after I have to discard foam or filter material just to encourage new bacteria on new media. Don't replace all your media products at once. Move them in a checkerboard pattern when replacing them so you always have bacteria in some of your surroundings. The residents of the old media that you keep in the aquarium can hitchhike to the contents of the new media. But using "Stability" right after switching media can make it much faster. Even with stability, you need to be patient. Even stability cannot close the nitrogen cycle overnight. This takes days and multiple doses.
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