Safe Start/Established media

Hello, I have a question about safestart. If you move some established media over to start a new tank, can you add some safestart to help boost the bacteria colony? Or is it best to just stick to one or the other? And if you use safestart, would it be best to add it right when you put the fish in, or could you put it in while you are drip acclimating the fish for an hour? Just wondering? (I know it says on the bottle to add the safestart then fish but I had to ask!) Thanks

 

I just transferred all my existing sand and plants to a new tank (didn't have filter media, since the filter had died a few weeks earlier), and added TSS. So far, it seems to have worked perfectly. The critters are all active, and every one is happy. You can easily do both, though I wouldn't have used the TSS if I didn't already have it. If you don't have it, you don't really need it if you're going to seed the tank. If you do have it, it won't hurt, and will probably help

 

Agreed if you have TSS it the odds of it not helping are certainly very slim. Its best that you add the fish within 2 hours of adding the TSS, so TSS first then the fish. I believe drip acclimating them will just fine. Just remember to add the entire bottle, and no water changes and setting for about two weeks. Water changes too early could cause the TSS to fail and your test readings will be funky the first two weeks, so no point in testing. It will only make you wanna do something unnecessary.

I just finished cycling my tank with TSS and old filter media and my fish. Great product. I was cycled in about 10 days but I let the two weeks go by to really make sure the bacteria got a grip in the tank before performing any maintenance.

 

Adding used media from a cycled tank is the quickest way to cycle a new tank but it will only be able to handle the bio-load it was use to. Adding TSS will most definitely help if the bio-load is higher than what the media is able to handle on its own. The TSS will start helping convert the extra ammonia that the bacteria colony can’t handle and will help you keep from having an ammonia spike.

TSS is designed to be used with fish in place but that don’t mean that you can’t add it even a few hours before you add the fish. I will also work if you add the fish and then a few hours later add the TSS but it is not advised that you add it days later because the higher level of ammonia already accumulating in the tank might cause it to fail.

As stated earlier I wouldn’t bother doing any testing for a couple of weeks because the results are going to be inaccurate due to the addition of the TSS. Let the tank cycle with the TSS like normal and your fish should do fine.

 

Thanks bowcrazy for the info! It has answered my question about tss.

 

Thanks iLikeFish0918, You have helped a lot on answering my questions about tss!

 

Adding used media from a cycled tank is the quickest way to cycle a new tank but it will only be able to handle the bio-load it was use to. Adding TSS will most definitely help if the bio-load is higher than what the media is able to handle on its own. The TSS will start helping convert the extra ammonia that the bacteria colony can’t handle and will help you keep from having an ammonia spike.

TSS is designed to be used with fish in place but that don’t mean that you can’t add it even a few hours before you add the fish. I will also work if you add the fish and then a few hours later add the TSS but it is not advised that you add it days later because the higher level of ammonia already accumulating in the tank might cause it to fail.

As stated earlier I wouldn’t bother doing any testing for a couple of weeks because the results are going to be inaccurate due to the addition of the TSS. Let the tank cycle with the TSS like normal and your fish should do fine.

+1
Great way to explain it