Chemicals for established tanks

Hello, I’m relatively new to the hobby. Got first aquarium about a year and a half ago. Now I have 4 big tanks and 9 small betta tanks.
All my tanks are basically the same makeup: freshwater, non-planted, tropical fish. All have filters and heaters. All are established.

Anyways, my question is, what exact chemicals, besides a dechlorinator, do you use for your water changes? I feel like I’m using a lot and that I might be falling for some inaccurate marketing.
I’m trying to figure out if I really need any of the stuff I’m using. I use the same products on all of my tanks, of course in different amounts based on how many gallons in the aquarium.
So right now I use Prime & API aquarium salt in all the new water I’m adding after a water change. Then I will dose according to the bottle directly into the tank: Seachem Stability, Seachem Stressguard, API Stress-Zyme, API Stress-Coat, & API QuickStart. Literally all these products say use every water change and I’m having trouble finding info about what the difference is with all this stuff.

So I’m wondering what chemicals most other people use that have tanks like mine? Sorry this is so long, wasn’t sure exactly what to put in this post to hopefully get the answers I want. Would love to eliminate all these products if they’re not needed. Thanks!

 

You only "need' the declorinator.

 

I have similar chemicals but if I'm being honest you don't need all of that for every WC. Stressguard, Stress Zyme, Stress Coat is a little too much stress relief. Bottled Bacterias like Stability and Quickstart don't do much to a cycled aquarium. Stability may help but only dose every once in a while. If I were you I would cut the Stressguard, the Stress Zyme, The Quickstart and the Prime. Keep the Stress coat because its a 2in1 (So dechlorinate and stress relief per say, and maybe even keep the Stability for occasional doses. All that other stuff IMO you probably don't need. Also what kind of Fish do you have (how many do u have as well) and what sized tank. Are they fish that get stressed easily? Is the tank super overstocked?

 

Actually... besides a dechlorinator you need nothing. It always boils down to this. If the tank is cycled, the fish are healthy and there is nothing going extremely wrong, you have to add nothing. In my country the tapwater is dechlorinated at the plant before the water is put into the public water system, so we don't even need a water conditioner.

Salt should only be used in case of sickness for softwater fish. Bettas are adapted to softand acidic water, too much salt is detrimental. Instead better go for botanicals like Indian Almond Leaves. Same effect on the fishes health without the downsides. But they are only a nice-to-have. No a must-have.

Stressguard and Stress-Zyme are just a way for the manufacturer to make money. They don't do anything for unstressed and healthy fish. Quite the opposite: The safety sheet for Stressguard states a possible chance of it being mutagenous.

Adding beneficial bacteria to a cycled tank is also not doing anything besides raising chances of a bacteria bloom.

All the products you list besides the dechlorinator are just money from your pocket into the manufacturer's pocket. Period.

 

. . . I feel like I’m using a lot and that I might be falling for some inaccurate marketing.

Unfortunately that's what has happened. As others have indicated, if your source water contains chlorine or chloramine you need to treat for that, but that's all you need to do.

The marketing for additives is similar to when companies that make filter cartridges and media recommend changing them frequently. It's much better to just rinse them (replacing them is actually harmful, since that removes a significant portion of your beneficial bacteria), but if you do that they don't get to sell you new ones.

 

I have similar chemicals but if I'm being honest you don't need all of that for every WC. Stressguard, Stress Zyme, Stress Coat is a little too much stress relief. Bottled Bacterias like Stability and Quickstart don't do much to a cycled aquarium. Stability may help but only dose every once in a while. If I were you I would cut the Stressguard, the Stress Zyme, The Quickstart and the Prime. Keep the Stress coat because its a 2in1 (So dechlorinate and stress relief per say, and maybe even keep the Stability for occasional doses. All that other stuff IMO you probably don't need. Also what kind of Fish do you have (how many do u have as well) and what sized tank. Are they fish that get stressed easily? Is the tank super overstocked?

Hey so I know it sounds like I have a lot but actually I don’t think we do yet. We are still slowly adding fish. So I have 8, 2 gallon, male betta tanks, all have just one male betta, nothing else, Except one has nothing and I just have it ready incase I need a hospital tank. Also, I have a 5 gallon tank for our baby guppies to be born into, we’ve had 2 batches so far, not all have survived cause we kinda didn’t know what we were doing at first. Right now in the 5 gallon I have 6 potentially pregnant females but will take them out if we get babies. And once the babies are big enough they will go to a different tank. Then I have a 10 gallon with just 2 glo tetras. Then I have a 35 gallon female betta sorority tank with 15 female bettas and a random sword tail. Then I have a new 30 gallon that has nothing in it yet because it’s only been running a couple weeks. Last but not least is our 55 gallon that has a bunch of guppies, probly 20, and then 2 female bettas. To answer your question, I think the only fish we have that get stressed are the female bettas if I put a new girl in but that only lasts for a couple of hours and if one is too aggressive I would just move her to another tank. Also, not adding anymore to the sorority for now. Thanks for the reply.

Actually... besides a dechlorinator you need nothing. It always boils down to this. If the tank is cycled, the fish are healthy and there is nothing going extremely wrong, you have to add nothing. In my country the tapwater is dechlorinated at the plant before the water is put into the public water system, so we don't even need a water conditioner.

Salt should only be used in case of sickness for softwater fish. Bettas are adapted to softand acidic water, too much salt is detrimental. Instead better go for botanicals like Indian Almond Leaves. Same effect on the fishes health without the downsides. But they are only a nice-to-have. No a must-have.

Stressguard and Stress-Zyme are just a way for the manufacturer to make money. They don't do anything for unstressed and healthy fish. Quite the opposite: The safety sheet for Stressguard states a possible chance of it being mutagenous.

Adding beneficial bacteria to a cycled tank is also not doing anything besides raising chances of a bacteria bloom.

All the products you list besides the dechlorinator are just money from your pocket into the manufacturer's pocket. Period.

Thanks so much for the info. Especially about the salt, I had gotten it for a sick fish a long time ago and just kept using it because on the back it says “good for gills” something like that. Anyways, thanks so much cause I love my bettas and don’t want to cause them stress .

Unfortunately that's what has happened. As others have indicated, if your source water contains chlorine or chloramine you need to treat for that, but that's all you need to do.

The marketing for additives is similar to when companies that make filter cartridges and media recommend changing them frequently. It's much better to just rinse them (replacing them is actually harmful, since that removes a significant portion of your beneficial bacteria), but if you do that they don't get to sell you new ones.

Thanks for the info! The not changing your filter so often was actually the one thing I could find on the internet that differed from the manufacturer. Thankfully I figured that out pretty early on . Yay, I’m so happy I can save some $$$ and get things I actually want!