What happens, when Denitrol has been dosed and the animals aren’t added until several days later?
If you don’t immediately add your animals, the cleansing bacteria included in Denitrol will quickly die from lack of food. If you wait a few days before adding the animals (against the advice of these instructions) problems will occur with ammonium/ammonia and nitrite. In the end, the bacteria will not be able to develop and will die off due to a lack of food. As a result the ammonium excreted by the fish will not be broken down. Since no bacteria are present to oxidise ammonium into nitrate in two steps, a nitrite peak will occur despite the application. If the first fish are introduced immediately after the addition of Denitrol, the purification bacteria get food and begin to multiply. This is comparable to an unathletic person who starts doing sports and first has to "train up" his fitness. This ensures that there are enough bacteria right from the start and that neither ammonium/ammonia nor nitrite become a problem when more fish are added. Please always increase the fish stock moderately and only after a few days.