BigJoe

Ok i was at Wal-mart today about to buy some new tap water conditioner cause i think mine has basiccally been killing my tank... and i saw the tetra easybalance w/ nitraban... I don't believe or care about the nitraban part except that might help with my inevitable problem of overstocking a tank... I have a few plants and want more and the ones i have seem to be doing fine but everytime i get on a good schedule of waterchanges my quality seems to be going down... recently when i tested right before my fishies suddenly got sick after a waterchange i found out i had ammonia... and my pH is at <6.0...

i am wondering when it says that it builds hardness and buffer, does that part of it work... as well as adding other trace elements

agabr123

i'm not sure about the hardness an buffering aspects, but i do know that a member here had the easybalance actually crash their cycle. for a water conditioner i'd use either prime, stress coat +, amquel +, or ammolock (ammolock changed the formula a little over a year ago so now it works the same way as the others rather than "locking" the ammonia).

how high is your ammonia? to fix that you should do daily 50% water changes until you get your tanks cycle back under control.

have you tested your pH from your tap? do you have any driftwood in the tank? you can use crushed coral or limestone as a substrate to help raise the pH naturally, using chemicals to change it can be very stressful on your fish, a stable pH is better than one that fluctuates.

aquarist48

Good morning. I would like to add to agabr's comments. Please do not add any chemicals to increase your pH levels. It will only make a bad situation worse. He's given you great information above and advice. Nova Aqua + is also a great water conditioner for stress. Good luck and hang in there. Do your water changes, keep an eye on your perimeters.

It would be a big help to us too if you could fill out your aquarium information.

BigJoe

when i say water conditioner i mean simply a dechlorinator... i have heard good things about all those above but unfortunately without ordering online i can't get them within an hours drive... i used the dechlorinator from walmart (tetra) for a while with no problems and when i switched to API water conditioner it destroyed my tank over time... if it's not the dechlorinator then i have no idea what it is... as for ammolock and such i don't have any interest in the ammonia protection right now as i am fishless atm... good news though my cycle is starting to swing back already... just haven't done any waterchanges...