# Seachem Stability



## pjb9166 (Apr 2, 2012)

Hello APC fellow members.
I know what I'm about to ask is way off topic but I'm setting up a seahorse tank. It's a 29gal hex. Substrate is CaribSea Ocean direct live sand and some live rock. I'm running a emperor filter with bio wheel and some fake coral for scaping. I have used Seachem products for my NPT system so i decided to use their Stability. If i understand it correctly it can stabilize a closed system in seven days.
I also have some hermit crabs I feed flake to inhabiting the tank. Now I known it's only been four days that the tank has been setup but should have i seen any fluctuation in water chemistry?
What does Seachem's Stability do exactly and does caribsea's live sands realy work?
I'm about to make a $300.00 investment in two mated pairs of starburst seahorses. I don't want to mess this up. If anyone can help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Thamks
Paul B.

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## alexopolus (Jan 18, 2010)

I had saltwater tanks for a while. Sea horses are very delicate creatures that need very stable and clean water. If you are going to invest money in this guys, you need at least a proteinskimer (the best would be a sump). A friend that left the hobby gave me his live stock years ago, and Seahorse was part of it. 
This little guy was my water quality indicator, every time that He was laying sideways on the sand it was because something was wrong with the water. I was doing weekly water changes them I got a skimmer, and it made things better at least I didn't have to do water change every week (be carefull with salinity doing your water change, they don't like water parameters swing).


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## Diana K (Dec 20, 2007)

I would fully cycle this tank, not trust to bottled products. 

Marine tanks also need a supply of the bacteria that remove ammonia and nitrite. The original way this was done was to add live rock to the tank. As some of these organisms died off they supplied ammonia to get the nitrifying bacteria going. The live rock has all sorts of micro and some macro organisms growing on it. 
The only product I know that has the right species of these nitrifying bacteria for a marine tank is Bio Spira. 
Using this will give you a jump start on preparing the tank for the sea horses, but I would make sure to run the tank until other microorganisms have also grown and reached some sort of balance. 
When people are talking about fish (any species, fresh or salt water) needing a mature tank, it is the overall balance of microorganisms growing in the tank that they are talking about. 

I would be very cautious, perhaps cycle the tank, then get some more durable fish for a few months before getting the seahorses.


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## rostick555 (Jun 14, 2012)

+2


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## pjb9166 (Apr 2, 2012)

Thanks for your replies. I have Caribsea live sand live rock and a seeded bii wheel going in the tank.
I've also been housing a handful of blue footed hermits.
Now it took me about a week to get salt water test kit. Ammonia Nitrites 0pmm. Nitrates already at 5pmm.
This weekend nitrates went up but not quite 10pmm. With a small spike of Ammonia not even .25 pmm. No change to nitrites. Ph 8.0 salinity stable at 1.023.
Now I did get and will be running a uv sterilizer because seahorses are susceptible to bacterial infections. After having reef tanks for many years I do understand the invaluable job a skimmer does. But for now water changes will do.
Water used for changes will be made up in a separate tank a few days ahead so salinity ph kh etc should not be an issue.

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## pjb9166 (Apr 2, 2012)

As a precaution. I did a water change and i dosed the tank wit instant ocean bio-spira not sure i needed it. But today my tank it reading 0 ppm Ammonia and my Nitrates did bounce up to 10 ppm.

Well my ponies made it from Hawaii and they are sitting at FedEx not three miles from me.
How the heck can I go to work?

My ponies corral is ready for them.









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## pjb9166 (Apr 2, 2012)

Everything turned out ok. My ponies are here and in the tank. After a mess up with FedEx. But that's a whole different story.























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