At What Ammonia Reading Should Tss Plus Be Added?

Hello Everyone,

I got my first bottle of tetra Safe Start plus and Seachem Prime yesterday from Amazon. I already have fish in my 25 Gallon tank and I am doing Fish-In cycle. I have been using other conditioner till now.

Today I will do a water change with Seachem PrI'm and wait 24-48 hours before adding TSS plus.

My question is what should be the ammonia reading (mg/l) for TSS to work?

My ammonia reading was 0 mg/L for the first 10 days and then it started to go to 1.5 mg/L. So every time it shows 1.5 mg/L, I do a couple of water changes and it goes down to 0.5 mg/L. After couple of days it goes back to 1.5 mg/L.

Can I add TSS plus if my ammonia reading is 1.5 mg/L? Will this much ammonia kill the bacteria in TSS? Also I am concerned that after adding TSS, I have to wait for 14 days before doing any water change. Won't the ammonia go high up for 14 days without water change?

I am only feeding my fish once a day, amount they finish in 2 minutes.

Unfortunately I added 1 betta, 4 Platy and 9 guppy. My tank is about 85-90% stocked during the Cycle. Stupid mistake I made as a first timer. I can't take the fish back to store. Only option is to keep them in the tank.

I have 2 filters in the tank: EHEIM BioPower 240 (65G/h) and Marina (12 G/h). Filteration wise I am good.

 

Your ammonia readings are going to be inaccurate when using Safestart. It contains an ammonia type chemical as well as the bb. So don’t stress on readings at first. You can add prime every 48 hours if the fish show signs of ammonia poisoning.

 

Ammonia won't kill the bacteria in TSS. The whole point of safe start is to be adding the beneficial bacteria that normally develops naturally, immediately. This BB will convert the ammonia. You need ammonia for the bacteria to eat and start the cycle.
I don't think anything will be harmed if you add TSS with Prime, but you can wait 24 hours before doing so if you want.

 

Ammonia won't kill the bacteria in TSS. The whole point of safe start is to be adding the beneficial bacteria that normally develops naturally, immediately. This BB will convert the ammonia. You need ammonia for the bacteria to eat and start the cycle.
I don't think anything will be harmed if you add TSS with Prime, but you can wait 24 hours before doing so if you want.

Thank You for your reply. My concern is that what if the ammonia goes high. Currently it is already 1.5 mg/L. As I don't have to do any water change for 14 days after adding TSS, is there a change that the ammonia will go very high considering the bio load?

 

There is, but you can add Prime when the ammonia becomes dangerous.

 

There is, but you can add Prime when the ammonia becomes dangerous.

Won't adding prime negate the effect of TSS? Sorry for so many questions.

 

Prime only detoxifies Ammonia and Nitrites up to 1ppm for 24-48 hours it doesn't kill the ammonia which in turn makes it "safer" for your fish. The cycle will still continue. Just be sure to keep testing your water. From what i've read from others using TSS it will sometimes skip the Nitrite phase of the cycle so don't be alarmed if you don't see any signs of Nitrites.

 

Won't adding prime negate the effect of TSS? Sorry for so many questions.

Adding Prime will cause the TSS to fail.

here's my advice, do a large water change to get the ammonia level as close to 0ppm as possible. Then wait 24 hours and add an entire, well shaken, appropriate sized bottle of TSS+. Then just wait out the 14 days. I would recommend against testing your water during those 14 days, because the readings can make you panic and do something that will cause the TSS to fail, such as doing a water change or adding Prime.

I also recommend checking your pH level before you do anything. As the pH level goes below 7.0, ammonia starts converting into ammonium. And by the time a pH gets into the low 6's, all ammonia has turned into ammonium. The good thing about ammonium is that it is far less toxic than ammonia (some claim it is non-toxic). The bad thing about ammonium is that it is a terrible food source for the bacteria and it can make your tank difficult if not impossible to cycle.

Best of luck!

 

Adding Prime will cause the TSS to fail.

here's my advice, do a large water change to get the ammonia level as close to 0ppm as possible. Then wait 24 hours and add an entire, well shaken, appropriate sized bottle of TSS+. Then just wait out the 14 days. I would recommend against testing your water during those 14 days, because the readings can make you panic and do something that will cause the TSS to fail, such as doing a water change or adding Prime.

I also recommend checking your pH level before you do anything. As the pH level goes below 7.0, ammonia starts converting into ammonium. And by the time a pH gets into the low 6's, all ammonia has turned into ammonium. The good thing about ammonium is that it is far less toxic than ammonia (some claim it is non-toxic). The bad thing about ammonium is that it is a terrible food source for the bacteria and it can make your tank difficult if not impossible to cycle.

Best of luck!

Thank You for your reply. I added TSS 11 days ago when my Ammonia reading was 1.5 mg/l. Since then I did not do any water change and neither did I add Prime. However I did test the water twice since adding TSS and below are the readings. I am using Tetra liquid test Kits.

Tank has been running with all fish since 1 month. I did not have TSS before. I have been doing regular water changes to keep ammonia down. Added TSS after 1 month running.

6 days after adding TSS:
Ammonia=0 mg/l
Nitrite< 0.3
Nitrate>12.5 mg/l

8 days after adding TSS:
Ammonia=0 mg/l
Nitrite< 0.3
Nitrate 25 mg/l

I will do another test after 6 days and check the readings.

 

It looks like your off to a good start. It looks like your nitrite converting bacteria colony still needs to grow a bit more and I would fully expect that nitrite level to be 0ppm when you test again in 6 days.

Best of luck!

 

It's looking good. Too high of an ammonia level can kill beneficial bacteria but it has to go well above what you have reported. When I use TSS, I squirt most of it directly into the filter so the bacteria can get established faster on the filter media. That is where most of it winds up being in a cycled tank. A tank can cycle even without a filter but it takes much longer. My experience with TSS is that it can completely cycle a new tank in less than 3 weeks where it can take 6 weeks or more without it. I really don't worry about their statement to not do water changes because very little of the bacteria will be removed during a water change. I think they are more concerned with having enough ammonia to keep the bacterial growth going. The first time I used TSS, I only saw nitrites for 2 or 3 days. In the second tank, which was also seeded with some used filter media from the cycled tank, I never saw any nitrites and the tank cycled in five or 6 days. At this point, I will never start up a new tank without using TSS. I have never used Prime so can't comment on it's effects.