Alot of people are strongly against it. I for one used to but i found out something. I bought 2 2.5 gallon tanks with filter gravel ect. I cycle one.
the other i added Stress zyme right away. The cycled tank held up better no surprise than just the stresszyme tank. But my cycled would have ammonia blooms which lead me to step to i added stress zyme to my filter and the results was amazing. It had cut down the ammonia spikes by 50% give or take.

Which lead me to my conclusion Stresszyme wont do crap for a new tank but aids in a cycled tank. Which in my opion stresszyme is alot more effective in established tanks. I think its food for bacteria.

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5.5 gal planted 3 rasboras 3 neon and a mystery snail

1 gal planted 1 crowntail betta

Big into fish live in a small apartment will get more when i have more space!

I use a little Stress-zyme sometimes when I change filters and I may add a little behind the filter so it has to pass through filter and it is my opinion that it works. I have used it cycling with fish too and I believe in it....any kind of "live bacteria" to be added is ok with me. Just don't overdo it is all.

I would not argue for or against, but in general don't believe in any of these products. It is difficult tell just how much it really helps or coincidence. Send a sample off to a lab and have them tell you how much living bacteria there was in the sample....then it would be easier to believe. All tanks are different.

I used Ammo-Lock to control the spikes. It didnt speed up the cycling but it kept the ammonia to a minimum until the fitlers caught up. I like your experiment but I am curious how it would hold up in a 55 or 75gal tank.

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75gal - 3 tinfoil barbs, 2 convict cichlids, 1 syndontis, 1 fire eel, 1 pleco
55gal - 6 black neon tetras, 3 lyretail dalmation mollies, 3 emerald green corys, 2 albino corys, 1 zigzag loach, 1 kuhli loach, ,1 rubber lipped pleco, 1 otocinclus, 1 goldfish

I do agree with not using anything except water, but the first time I ever tried using Stress-zyme live bacteria was a couple of months ago and I was setting up brand new 15 gallon with 3 fish for creating cycle. I added the bacteria about 3 different times when ammonia was edging up and the tank completely cycled on 17th day and that is fastest I have ever experienced in my aquarium experience. So, I figured the bacteria may have helped, but I do water changes almost daily on a new tank setup....maybe only 20% depending on reading and as high as 70% if readings are up more than I like. Since I have been adding just a little behind the filters when I change the cartridges on my emperor 400's.... the bottle of stress zyme says 2014 for expiration date so I hope they are still alive in there. LOL

Too much of having to "believe it is working" for my taste. No matter what reason you add...to help you cycle the tank, after every water change, after adding more fish, etc...still no way of knowing for sure of whether it did anything or not.

to me thriving plants are way better then any chemical or bacterial supplement.

The plants will prevent ammonia while lowering carbon dioxide and adding oxygen.

Thus allowing the bacteria to build up and establish the tank.

Then in the future the plants are still there ready and able to immediately consume any ammonia spike that should happen.

So no need for any of this type of chemicals, enzimes, or bacterial suppliments.

my .02

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fw leiden since 1979, fo salt since 1979, mixed reef 55g 2002-2009. Strong emphasis on the tank taking care of itself. Balanced with plant life, no water changes, tap water, no filters in FW. Only dosing calcium, alk, mag in marine reef tanks. http://www.aquariumforum.com/f15/my-...ods-26410.html
recent tanks (till 2009) 7 years- 10g FW leiden 7 yrs, 55g mixed reef 7, 2 yrs, 20g FW leiden, 10 g fw leiden , 29g mixed reef, current tank 55g leiden