It is always a worry that you may upset the balance when adding stock to an existing aquarium. The waste levels in the tank will increase and it will take time for your filter to grow the additional bacteria required to break down this new level of fish waste. During this transition period, the water quality in many aquariums will take a hit, leading to the requirement for water changes and other measures to bring the balance in the aquarium.
The Stocking up goop pouch will eliminate this potential issue by adding to your current bacteria levels, so that your filter is fit and strong enough to break down the waste that is intoduced with your new fish.
Each 'Stocking Up Goop pouch' contains enough bacteria to break the waste down of up to 40 grams in weight of new fish. As an example, 40 Neon Tetra at 2cm long will weigh 5.2 grams and a Swordtail of 5cm will weigh approximately 2 Grams.
The only time that any customers struggle with the use of goop is when it has been used in extremely soft water with very low KH present or used in conjunction with new soil or other active substrates. An active substrate such as soil will leach large amounts of ammonia for a number of weeks. It will also, often, absorb KH from your water. All nitrifying bacteria rely on KH to survive and thrive. Without it, your cycle and/or goop will die. If you are using a new active substrate then we advise monitoring your water for ammonia leaching and KH depletion before buying any Nitrico product. Only when your water is stable should you consider using any Nitrico bacterial product.
We do not recommend ever adding more than double dose to any aquarium as bacterial die off may cause a spike in nitrite. If you feel that you may require a higher dose, please contact us.
The size of goop pouch that we recommend for a tank is sufficient to break down the equivalent of 2ppm waste ammonia in 24 hours at 26 deg. C. Rarely is it necessary to increase this dose unless the tank is heavily stocked or there is an additional ammonia source present. If you add too much goop then you may see a nitrite spike due to bacterial die off. This does not mean that the bulk of the bacteria are dead. It just means that the number of bacteria is adjusting to the correct levels for your situation. A nitrite spike can usually be rectified quickly with a water change with dechlorinated water. Once the bacteria die off has occurred, the water chemistry should stabilise very quickly.
Nitrico goop cannot make up for an inadequate filter system or lack of flow in your tank.
Please take a look at the FAQ section on the Nitrico website as many questions are answered there.
