Stability By Seachem Product Review

I am still highly dubious about any of these products and i still doubt that any of them actually work. Have read lab test reports from a professor of ichthyology who claims that they are all 'snake oils' and do not work. Anyhoo, have been digging a little deeper and this is one of the reports that i have found

Research conducted by Timothy A. Hovanec (formerly of Marineland Labs, now the founder of Dr. Tim’s Aquatics) has identified the correct combination of autotrophic bacteria performing the nitrogen cycle in our tanks are Nitrosomonas marina (converts ammonia to nitrite) and Nitrospira (converts nitrite to nitrate). Only two “bacterial additive” products contain these bacteria, Dr. Tim’s Aquatics “One and Only” and Tetra SafeStart. United Pet Group has purchased Marineland. In the process, Dr. Tim bought out Marineland Labs (the creator of BioSpira, which is no longer available), forming “Dr. Tim’s Aquatics”. United Pet Group also owns Tetra. Tetra has subsequently released Tetra Safe-Start, which appears to be BioSpira repackaged in a form that does not require constant refrigeration (just as One and Only does not require refrigeration). It may be that availability of actual functioning product, containing the correct combination of living bacteria, may remain limited to these two products due to patent restrictions. Dr. Tim and the former Marineland Labs (now Dr. Tim’s Aquatics) hold the patent and United Pet Group/Tetra received co-ownership via their purchase of Marineland.

I can only relate my experience with Stability. I was doing a fish in cycle and changing water a lot to keep the ammonia down. The cycle didn't have a chance to kick in. I'd been at it for about 4 months and and kept testing positive for small amounts of ammonia. When I used Stability all parameters were at 0 within a week and stayed that way until I added a new fish a couple of months later. I used Stability again and parameters were at 0 within a couple of days. I've also used it after cleaning my canister filter. I don't think it produces an instant cycle, but it certainly helped to stabilise my water. I now always have a bottle at hand!

I am still highly dubious about any of these products and i still doubt that any of them actually work. Have read lab test reports from a professor of ichthyology who claims that they are all 'snake oils' and do not work. Anyhoo, have been digging a little deeper and this is one of the reports that i have found

Research conducted by Timothy A. Hovanec (formerly of Marineland Labs, now the founder of Dr. Tim’s Aquatics) has identified the correct combination of autotrophic bacteria performing the nitrogen cycle in our tanks are Nitrosomonas marina (converts ammonia to nitrite) and Nitrospira (converts nitrite to nitrate). Only two “bacterial additive” products contain these bacteria, Dr. Tim’s Aquatics “One and Only” and Tetra SafeStart. United Pet Group has purchased Marineland. In the process, Dr. Tim bought out Marineland Labs (the creator of BioSpira, which is no longer available), forming “Dr. Tim’s Aquatics”. United Pet Group also owns Tetra. Tetra has subsequently released Tetra Safe-Start, which appears to be BioSpira repackaged in a form that does not require constant refrigeration (just as One and Only does not require refrigeration). It may be that availability of actual functioning product, containing the correct combination of living bacteria, may remain limited to these two products due to patent restrictions. Dr. Tim and the former Marineland Labs (now Dr. Tim’s Aquatics) hold the patent and United Pet Group/Tetra received co-ownership via their purchase of Marineland.

Agreed, I remain dubious too just like our past conversation about bogus flow rates on filters. However, I'll say this and use dog food as an example.

Most every major manufacturer employs Doctors, scientists, nutritionists and so on. I find them defending even the most atrocious foods with what boils down to slanted, self serving glowing reports, finding and conclusions.

With countless products you'll find that even the "independent" research from laboratories - are from labs these companies either own - or have a vested interest in.

Vitamins and supplements are notorious for this because they answer to no one - not even the FDA. Hence the on going debate in congress for tighter regulation.

A wonderful source of good information is consumerlabs.com - they recently discovered that Pet-Tabs an incredibly popular pet vitamin manufactured by Pfizer. Had after 30 years of US production sourced out manufacturing to India.

Levels of lead were found in Pet-tabs well into the toxic zone.

So from my perspective and I again share your raised eye brow at much of this research which I see as just so much marketing hype - to be highly suspect.

If I find more clout and integrity in findings I read when it comes from an independent source. A source with no product to sell - no financial gain to be directly or indirectly made as a result of the conclusions.

This is why the net is so great - and so bad.

It allows you research anything - but the time has to be invested to cross check, reference and dig as far under the surface as you can.

I do find positive information/research about products I intend to use - and more often than not I'm appalled at the findings.

Your Blue Oranda look so much like mine - did you steal my fish?

The Prof of ichthyology is/was a Moderator on badmans tropical fish. She didn't believe that a product can take the normal fishless cycle of a tank from 8-12 weeks down to a number of days so she tested a few. She found that that bio spira reduced cycling time by 3 weeks and that the old nutrafin cycle actually increased the time to 15 weeks. I know that research has changed alot since the original findings but there are still companies that use the term 'instant' in their headlines to sell these products.

It was thought the species associated with the conversion of ammonia into nitrite was Nitrosomonas europaea and that the species associated with the conversion of nitrite into nitrate were Nitrobacter, Nitrospina, and/or Nitrococcus. This belief was based upon the correct fact that these are the bacteria primarily responsible for maintaining the nitrogen cycle in soil. To this day, most bacterial additives (quick cycle products) available to aquarium hobbyist contain these bacteria. Unfortunately, it has been discovered that this is not the correct combination of bacteria that exists in our tanks. It’s no wonder that aquarist worldwide have come to the combined conclusion that these “quick cycle” products do not work. They (as in, the industry) are packaging bacteria that function in soil and selling it to us as something that works in water. It doesn’t.

Nitrifying bacteria only divide once every 12-20 hours, it can take a significant period of time for the bacteria population to catch up to the amount of ammonia being produced. From scratch, it can take up to 8 weeks for these bacteria to fully colonize a tank in sufficient quantity to eliminate ammonia and nitrite. Another issue is that nitrospira (the bacteria that converts nitrite into nitrate) cannot multiply in water that contains significant concentrations of ammonia. There is even evidence suggesting that existing populations of nitrospira become dormant when ammonia is present in high concentrations. So if you are cycling a tank, the nitrospira bacteria will not even begin to colonize until the Nitrosomonas marina bacteria population is sufficient in size to bring ammonia concentrations under control. If you experience an ammonia spike in an established tank, you can expect a subsequent nitrite spike, with the nitrite spike being a “double-whammy” as the nitrite oxidizing bacteria may have to wake up from dormancy, then increase in population to account for the abnormally high nitrite levels.

Alistair, I agree with you in principle, and I have been skeptical of a lot of these products. BUT, at least with Nutrafin Cycle, the product speaks for itself. Recently, a friend of a friend asked me to help them while their cycle had crashed and had just entered the skyrocketing nitrite phase. After using Cycle for 4 days, the Cycle is now rock stable and has been so for over a week. We are still monitoring this.

I've also had personal experience with helping people on this forum with uncycled tanks or tanks where the cycle is damaged. At least with Nutrafin Cycle, this product works well enough in that almost all cases, things are fixed within a week. This time frame is reasonable to me, given the division rate of 18-20 hours.

Do you know when that mod/prof tested out these products? I think things really have changed in the last couple of years, as far as these products are concerned.

Peter, thanks for the review. I love Seachem's products, and the next time I need to test out one of these products, I will try stability.

This is the kind of stuff your friend should be writing down We need data and we need it now ! The tests were 2007/8 and that was back in the day when bio spira was around $40 and had to be kept in the fridge at all times. Personally i have used stability in 2 different tanks and on both occassions had no noticeable results.

I wished when I lost my cycle twice last year, I would have logged the progress when I used this stuff. GRR

It did help my cycle bump alot

The nitrifying bacteria that we associate cycling aquaria with are aerobic, meaning they need oxygen to survive. So that being said a bottle of anysuch products would have to have a limited shelf life. After all the oxygen was consumed by the bacteria in the bottle it would perish and therefore be useless. Or am i missing something?

Even if the bacteria is dead it will help as the water has nothing in it to begin with

Sometimes this stuff works wonders, other times it just doesnt work at all

The nitrifying bacteria that we associate cycling aquaria with are aerobic, meaning they need oxygen to survive. So that being said a bottle of anysuch products would have to have a limited shelf life. After all the oxygen was consumed by the bacteria in the bottle it would perish and therefore be useless. Or am i missing something?

Many gram-negative bacteria, can sporulate, or form endospores, which allow them survive in harsh or unfavorable conditions for years. If the company is doing it right, this is the form that you will find the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the bottle. They should last for a couple of years.

Just wanted to add that I had a horrible time cycling my first tank, tried using Stress Zyme, it took 3 weeks for the first nitrites to appear and ammonia to be at safe levels! So for my 2nd tank, my 60g, I decided to give Stability a try- within a week ammonia was at 0! Nitrites are a bit of a pain still at 18 days but it certainly has sped up what seemed like an eternal process on my 20g tank!

I now always keep a bottle on hand and add 5ml per 20g after each big w/c. I can't guarantee it was Stability that made things easier on my other tank, but I definitely think it helped. So from me to SeaChem.