Both Seachem Pristine and Seachem Stability will add beneficial bacteria to your freshwater, brackish water or saltwater tank. So, can you use these products together simultaneously?
You can find out in this guide from Aquarium Blueprints.
Can you use Seachem Pristine and Seachem Stability at the same time?
You should be able to safely use Seachem Pristine and Seachem Stability at the same time if you already have a mature tank with an established biological filtration.
For the uninformed, the Seachem Pristine will add a mixture of beneficial bacteria that will help breakdown organic wastes and clear the water column in your aquarium. As a result, it will slow down the number of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates being produced.
The Seachem Stability will add a different mixture of beneficial bacteria that will directly consume any excess ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in your tank.
By using both of these products together, along with a weekly water changes, you should be able to keep the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in check.
How to use Seachem Stability and Pristine when cycling a tank
If your tank is new and does not have an established biological filter that has been properly cycled, then we recommend taking the following steps when so that you can get the most out of using Seachem Stability and Seachem Pristine at the same time:
1. If you haven’t done so already, set up your fish tank.
Make sure you add substrate, aquarium-safe decorations, rocks and live plants as the beneficial bacteria from Pristine and Stability will grow on these surfaces. Live plants will help consume ammonia and nitrates as well.
You should also have your heater, bubble stone and/or filter set up.
2. Next, you need to add water to your fish tank.
If you are using tap water to fill your tank, make sure that you use a dechlorinator such as Seachem Prime to remove chlorine and chloramine.
Otherwise, both of these will kill the beneficial bacteria from Pristine and Stability.
2. To cycle a tank, you will need ammonia. You can either use pure ammonia, fish food or live fish.
We don’t recommend pure ammonia as it won’t help grow the beneficial bacteria colonies from Pristine. We also don’t recommend using live fish during the cycling process as you will just make these creatures suffer by exposing them to ammonia and nitrites.
Instead, we recommend adding a pinch of fish food flakes or pellets in your tank. These food will eventually decompose and, therefore, release ammonia.
3. After adding water and fish food in your tank, we recommend adding Seachem Pristine. The bacteria colonies from this product will help break down the fish food in your tank.
When it comes to how much you should add, we suggest following the official dosage recommendation of 5 mL of Pristine for every 10 gallons or 40 liters.
4. Next, you can add Seachem Stability.
These bacteria colonies will help break down ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.
Once again, we recommend following the official dosage recommendation of 5 mL of Stability for every 10 gallons or 40 liters.
5. Continue to keep adding a pinch of fish food and then dosing 2.5 mL of Seachem Stability for every 10 gallons or 40 liters during the first 7 days of cycling your tank.
6. One the 8th day, we recommend testing the water parameters of your tank by using something like the API Freshwater Master Test Kit.
To provide a safe environment for your fish and other aquatic pets, you should have 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrites and less than 20 ppm on nitrates.
If the testing kit can detect traces of ammonia and/or nitrites, then you can continue to add a pinch fish food and re-test your water every day. Eventually, both ammonia and nitrites should go down to 0 ppm.
If the nitrate level in your tank water is above 20 ppm, then you can do a water change to bring it down to a lower concentration.
7. Once your tank water has achieved 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrites and less than 20 ppm nitrates, you can start adding fish and other aquatic pets to your tank.
8. Each time you add new livestock in your aquarium, make sure you add 2.5 mL of Pristine as well as 2.5 mL of Stability for every 10 gallons or 40 liters.