Disaster has struck my aquarium, anyone here knowledgeable with fishless cycles using Seachem Prime and stability?

[Axel_Justice]

As per the title, disaster struck. I'll give the short version as I don't want to ramble. Went to a reptile shop, wanted an Axolotl, they sold me a whole tank set up, I asked "how do I cycle this?" They sold me the above seachem products and said all you need to do is use this for 2 weeks and that's it

Did the "cycle" put him in, day 3 he's sick. I do some googling, ask around on forums and everyone asked me the same question, "what ammonia did you use" and the answer to that was "none I guess"

So I've taken the Axolotl out, he's currently living in a tub of water I treat and change twice a day. But I need my tank cycled ASAP and I'm a bit confused

After causing quite the stir at the reptile shop they provided me with some of the filter media from their axolotl tank. I've also ordered some Dr timms ammonia as I've heard you need to feed the bacteria in the media or it'll die.

From what I know a cycle goes like this.

- add ammonia until you get to 2ppm reading

- check every few days until you get nitrites

- Once you've got nitrites, check your levels daily, if your ammonia dips below 2ppm, add a bit more. Do this everyday until your tank can cycle the full 2ppm and all the nitrite in a 24 hour period. Nitrates should be around 5ppm


Heres where I'm confused and i'll try and stay concise, Prime and Stability are supposed to help rapidly cycle a tank but;

- Prime detoxifies ammonia, it doesn't get rid of it, it just makes it non-harmful, issue with this is how do I know when I've hit 2ppm of ammonia? From what I understand it's important I use Prime as it'll dechlorinate the water

- from watching videos a lot of people say Stability is great but they don't go into exactly how it interacts with ammonia, they just say "add some ammonia and then Stability" do I still need to hit and maintain the 2ppm level? I believe what this does is it adds nitrite bacteria to feed on the ammonia so I don't have to wait for this occur naturally

- how do I know when my cycle is done, what should be checking and how often, what are the signs it's working,


I really appreciate any information or help you can provide, the world of aquariums is pretty broad and I've been thrown in the deep end by that reptile shop

 

[wolfen]

right first of you need.. a big enough tank 10 gallon minimum when small 20 gallon when adult (better just to start with a 20 gallon), a lid/mesh etc..(they have been known to jump out), a tank filter with a minimum of 20 gallon (you do need to restrict or buffer the water flow as axies don't like alot of water movement), a large bucket for water changes (always dechlorinate before adding to tank), a syphon to remove water, a air pump and air stone (wood air stones are better for fine bubbles, do need weighing down though as wood air stones float), somewhere for the axie to hide (blacked out jars, slate caves etc), any ornaments you want in there (nothing smaller than the axies head), please read up on the in's and out of using substrate before adding any, no need for heater (although during cycling warm water helps the bacteria to colonise, just make sure it is cold before adding axie).
put whatever needs to go in the tank into the tank, if it is the first time on a clean/sterile tank you can add water straight from the tap (just leave the tank running over night to vent of the chlorine), If it is topping up/water changes/using established media dechlorinate before adding to tank.
the chemicals required are.. dechlorinater (anything that contains sodium thiosulfate, no other added bells and whistles required, it needs to declorinate the water only), a source of ammonia (dr tims, fish, fish food, frozen prawns etc..). to speed up a cycle you can use established media, nitrifying bacteria (pond filter start uses bacteria that is better suited to cold water). you will require a fresh water test kit (better to use liquid test kit as it is more accurate then strip tests which are better for using just to monitor the water).
add ammonia to the water till it is 4ppm, leave it a week and retest for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, top up to 4ppm (if it read 2ppm top up till it gets to 4ppm), once you start getting nitrates then all the nitrifying bacteria are working, check and top up every 24hrs, once the ammonia is 0 and the nitrites are 0 then repeat for a couple more days and if the ammonia and nitrites are 0 after topping up then the cycle is complete, whilst the tank is cycling the nitrates will go high don't do a water change until they are at 110ppm or higher (the % of water you change is the % of nitrates you remove).
look into using modified holtfreters solution for all the dissolved salts and minerals a axie requires (they are moderate to hard water animals and salts also help prevent cases of fungus). always use modified holtfreters solution if using ro or distilled water.
NEVER add tap water to a cycling or cycled tank unless it is dechlorinated first as it will damage and kill the bacteria causing it to crash.

 

[wolfen]

when a product says it detoxifies ammonia it means it converts it to ammonium which is non-toxic but reverts back within 24hrs, the problem is that the bacteria find it hard eating ammonium and they also have to contend with the chemical as well, and yes a test will still register the same as it measures TAN (total ammonia nitrogen) which is NH3 +NH4 (free ammonia NH3 and ammonium NH4). ammonia converters should only be used if there is a problem.
seachem stability is just nitrifying bacteria (the nitrifying/aerobic bacteria are ones that use the oxygen in the water to convert and eat chemicals such as ammonia and nitrite) this is also why it is important to have a air stone (it provides dissolved oxygen to the animal and bacteria, also it prevents oxygen depletion in the event of a bacteria bloom)