When To Add Chemicals

Hello,

I'm new to owning an aquarium an I just have a couple questions. When it comes to adding chemicals such as 'Easy Balance', 'QuickStart', 'Prime', etc. Do you add them every time you do a water change or gravel vac or only when there is an issue? I was adding Easy Balance every waterchange and QuickStart anytime I added new fish.

I've had my tank for a month to two months and my ammonia, nitrite, ph, and nitrate were all good for awhile, but now my ammonia and nitrite isn't very good. I don't know if it was that my tank never cycled or if it did, just now the ammonia and nitrite are going back up.

 

Don’t use chemicals. Especially bacteria. Do it naturally or you’ll be a slave to chemicals and spend a lot of money because you’ll need them over and over and over again. Chemicals are never recommended for a tank.

Also, if ammonia is going up- it’s not cycled.

 

You need to use chemicals to de-chlorinate new water when you do water changes. I use prime, but there are plenty of other products. However, it is not necessary to add bottled bacteria when you do water changes. Most of the beneficial bacteria lives in your filter. Even doing thorough gravel vacs shouldn't upset your cycle.

Have you added a lot of new fish recently? A cycled tank can go through a minI cycle if many new creatures are added.

 

I never add any chemicals aside from plant ferts on occasion but as far as the cycle, it can do it if you add too many fish too fast to an established tank, you overfeed, or if something died and you don't remove it/find it. Did you try to cycle the tank with or without fish when you first set it up? Some chemicals like prime only do a quick fix as far as neutralizing ammonia and nitrite, but you still have to let the tank go through the phases. Quickstart, if you've been using the same bottle, the bacteria may have died and that could be a cause of a sudden spike as well. As far as easy balance, depending on what fish you have, and what ph your tap water is at, might be pretty pointless to use as it acts mostly as a temporary ph buffer. My thoughts are mostly just use prime when you do water changes and depending on the fish use easy balance if your ph values are too high or low out of the tap(or use filtered water) and note, that frequent small water changes allow for a more stable environment than occasional large water changes. I do 2 gallons a day on my 100 gallon instead of 20-50% changes weekly-monthly and it works well for me

 

Use a water conditioner, like prime, anytime you add water if your water has chlorine/chloramine. Other than that you probably don't need chemicals. Others would be able to help with when to use other chemicals better than I can.

 

Hello,

I'm new to owning an aquarium an I just have a couple questions. When it comes to adding chemicals such as 'Easy Balance', '', '', etc. Do you add them every time you do a water change or or only when there is an issue? I was adding Easy Balance every waterchange and QuickStart anytime I added new fish.

I've had my tank for a month to two months and my , nitrite, , and nitrate were all good for awhile, but now my ammonia and nitrite isn't very good. I don't know if it was that my tank never cycled or if it did, just now the ammonia and nitrite are going back up.

Short answer: You don't need to add Easy Balance ever. You can add QuickStart during a cycle, but you needn't add it afterwards. You need to add Prime for every water change if you're using tap water containing chlorine/chloramine

Long answer: I had a look at Easy Balance's product information page on Tetra's website, and here are its claims and my thoughts:

• KH correction: unless your tap water is unusually soft or you're using RO water (in either case your KH might be between 0-1 degrees) and you're needing to meet a specific hardness target for certain species of fish/inverts or plant growth, then there's no point.
• pH correction: raising KH raises pH and as per my comments with KH, unless you're targeting a specific pH for a particular purpose, there's not much point.
• "Phosphate removing effect, nitrate reduction, production of carbon dioxide, trace elements and a replenishment of vitamin B": I would hazard a guess and opine that much of this is window dressing to make the product seem like it does more than it can.

These sorts of "do-it-all" products are really lousy, as you're better off using specific additives to correct a known problem: sodium bicarbonate/calcium carbonate can raise KH/pH, phosphates/nitrates are removed through water changes, trace elements are present in tap water and micronutrient ferts.

QuickStart, like any bottled bacteria product, arouses all sorts of passionate (and sometimes very heated) debate. I'm fairly on the fence about them. I use them when cycle; I don't use them when doing water changes post-cycling; I don't think they harm your cycle or aquarium; I think their claims of effectiveness are exaggerated; I think there's a lot more factors (free ammonia inhibition, nitrous acid inhibition, low pH, low temperature, phosphate block, lack of nutrients, use of RO water) that better explain cycle crashes/instability than claiming that bottled bacteria either was ineffective and/or caused a cycle stall.

Prime is just a water conditioner that destroys chlorine and chloramine, and also temporarily detoxifies ammonia to ammonium (less toxic to fish) for 24-48 hours to enable beneficial bacteria to oxidise it to nitrite. It's useful if your tap water contains ammonia, but otherwise straight water conditioner (like API's Tap Water Conditioner) will work just as well. Seachem does claim that Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate (supposedly by reducing them to nitrogen gas or other end products), but there's a lot of uncertainty in the community as Seachem has released little evidence of its mechanism of action due to it being "proprietary information".

I'm not anti-chemical by any means. I think a big reason for the accessibility of aquariums are the ready availability of chemicals to correct known and understood problems. But it really depends on the aquarist to (1) understand the problem; (2) find an effective approach; (3) understand which product will fit the approach while minimising its effects on other aspects of the aquarium's ecosystem.

Adding a product that claims to do it all will most likely end up fixing nothing (if there was even a problem to begin with) and causing more troubles with wonky water parameters.

 

You need to use chemicals to de-chlorinate new water when you do water changes. I use prime, but there are plenty of other products. However, it is not necessary to add bottled bacteria when you do water changes. Most of the beneficial bacteria lives in your filter. Even doing thorough gravel vacs shouldn't upset your cycle.

Have you added a lot of new fish recently? A cycled tank can go through a minI cycle if many new creatures are added.

Yes, I just added 2 Mickey platies, 2 guppies and one bristlenose algae eater. My tank is only 37 gallons.

Short answer: You don't need to add Easy Balance ever. You can add QuickStart during a cycle, but you needn't add it afterwards. You need to add Prime for every water change if you're using tap water containing chlorine/chloramine

Long answer: I had a look at Easy Balance's product information page on Tetra's website, and here are its claims and my thoughts:

• KH correction: unless your tap water is unusually soft or you're using RO water (in either case your KH might be between 0-1 degrees) and you're needing to meet a specific hardness target for certain species of fish/inverts or plant growth, then there's no point.
• pH correction: raising KH raises pH and as per my comments with KH, unless you're targeting a specific pH for a particular purpose, there's not much point.
• "Phosphate removing effect, nitrate reduction, production of carbon dioxide, trace elements and a replenishment of vitamin B": I would hazard a guess and opine that much of this is window dressing to make the product seem like it does more than it can.

These sorts of "do-it-all" products are really lousy, as you're better off using specific additives to correct a known problem: sodium bicarbonate/calcium carbonate can raise KH/pH, phosphates/nitrates are removed through water changes, trace elements are present in tap water and micronutrient ferts.

QuickStart, like any bottled bacteria product, arouses all sorts of passionate (and sometimes very heated) debate. I'm fairly on the fence about them. I use them when cycle; I don't use them when doing water changes post-cycling; I don't think they harm your cycle or aquarium; I think their claims of effectiveness are exaggerated; I think there's a lot more factors (free ammonia inhibition, nitrous acid inhibition, low pH, low temperature, phosphate block, lack of nutrients, use of RO water) that better explain cycle crashes/instability than claiming that bottled bacteria either was ineffective and/or caused a cycle stall.

Prime is just a water conditioner that destroys chlorine and chloramine, and also temporarily detoxifies ammonia to ammonium (less toxic to fish) for 24-48 hours to enable beneficial bacteria to oxidise it to nitrite. It's useful if your tap water contains ammonia, but otherwise straight water conditioner (like API's Tap Water Conditioner) will work just as well. Seachem does claim that Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate (supposedly by reducing them to nitrogen gas or other end products), but there's a lot of uncertainty in the community as Seachem has released little evidence of its mechanism of action due to it being "proprietary information".

I'm not anti-chemical by any means. I think a big reason for the accessibility of aquariums are the ready availability of chemicals to correct known and understood problems. But it really depends on the aquarist to (1) understand the problem; (2) find an effective approach; (3) understand which product will fit the approach while minimising its effects on other aspects of the aquarium's ecosystem.

Adding a product that claims to do it all will most likely end up fixing nothing (if there was even a problem to begin with) and causing more troubles with wonky water parameters.

Thank you for the responses, they really help.
So, when problems do occcur like they are now, how does one approach fixing his/her aquarium the natural way without using chemicals? By doing waterchanges/gravel vac? Reducing feeding?

I definitely don't want to use chemicals if I don't have to, especially if some could do harm.

Also, I read an article that said to do 10% water changes weekly and 25% gravel vac/water changes bi-weekly. Does that sound right?

I understand there is a difference between a water change and gravel vac, correct?

 

Yes, I just added 2 Mickey platies, 2 guppies and one bristlenose algae eater. My tank is only 37 gallons.

Its called a bristle nose pleco. You need to feed the little ones vegetables. I bet you just spiked your tank. How long has the tank been running for? Is it brand new? I stay away from chemicals, but prime isn't a chemial. I call it a live aaver from chlorine. Haha

 

So, when problems do occcur like they are now, how does one approach fixing his/her aquarium the natural way without using chemicals? By doing waterchanges/? Reducing feeding?

I definitely don't want to use chemicals if I don't have to, especially if some could do harm.

With respect to your current issue: high ammonia and nitrites.

Generally, when you have fish and your ammonia/nitrite spikes and isn't going down, the only appropriate way to remove these compounds is to do water changes. Vacuuming the gravel is more intended as part of routine maintenance to clear away decaying organic matter, uneaten fish food and solid fish waste: these contribute, to some extent, to accumulated ammonia levels in the tank. But the majority of ammonia in most aquariums comes directly fish via being excreted from their gills.

In any case, water changes may temporarily clear your spike, but it doesn't necessarily explain why it occurred and if it'll recur after a water change: it may be that your bacteria colony isn't sufficient to support an oxidation rate for ammonia/nitrite that'll clear it away. It could be far too acidic water stalling the nitrification process. There are a range of factors.

But we need more information. Can you provide a full list of water parameters? Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH, GH, KH.

Did you do a fish-in cycle or a fishless cycle?

 

Its called a bristle nose pleco. You need to feed the little ones vegetables. I bet you just spiked your tank. How long has the tank been running for? Is it brand new? I stay away from chemicals, but prime isn't a chemial. I call it a live aaver from chlorine. Haha

It has been running for 2 months. After several weeks I put some fish in it. At one point I accidently poured activated filter carbon directly into the aquarium because I didn't read the directions well. I had to start over, take all the fish out drain the tank and try to remove all the carbon, but there was still a lot left over which I just left in the tank. The fish seemed to do pretty well afterwards even though they were in a large amount of tap water which I treated afterwards. Later on, I ended up with Ich. Could of been from the stress caused from putting them back in the tank, but this was several weeks later. I didn't Medicate them, I just put a little aquarium salt in, and slowly turned the temp up to 87/88 degrees for 2 weeks so I could kill off the ich. I did a small 10% water change after that and then bought some fish a couple days ago. Before, my paremeters were good so it said via tetra app. Now, they aren't so good. Tomorrow I'm doing a waterchange/gravel vac or do I need to do the gravel vac? I can give you the parameters then. Do I do the water test before or after the waterchange?

I also want to note that in my area the water is Very hard. Anytime I have done a water test the results have showed that my water is very hard. My alkalinity isn't very good either and I have struggled trying to balance these out. Could this be the cause of it?

Sorry for all the questions, but l also bought a ATI hydro sponge filter intended for 10 gallons to put in my tank. Although this isn't needed, would it still be okay to use simultaneously with my marineland bio-wheel filter? It's not going to affect my paremeters in a negative way will it?

I am just trying to do everything right, and it is starting to affect my positive thinking. I hope I can get good at this.

 

Do I do the water test before or after the waterchange?

Do it before, but also test your tap water as its parameters are important in diagnosing.

Could this be the cause of it?

Generally, no. But we'd need a full set of tank water/tap water parameters to really get an understanding as there could be incidental factors.

Tomorrow I'm doing a waterchange/gravel vac or do I need to do the gravel vac?

I'd do both. Water changes are generally always a good idea.

It's not going to affect my paremeters in a negative way will it?

It shouldn't. Eventually it'll assist in housing more beneficial bacteria.

 

Do it before, but also test your tap water as its parameters are important in diagnosing.



Generally, no. But we'd need a full set of tank water/tap water parameters to really get an understanding as there could be incidental factors.



I'd do both. Water changes are generally always a good idea.



It shouldn't. Eventually it'll assist in housing

As of right now, I just have the tetra 5-in-1 test strips. Do I just use those to test the tap water like I do with the aquarium water?

 

Yeah, test your tap water as you would your tank water.

It'll be a good idea to upgrade to the API liquid-based test kit. From what I've read, the test strips can be notoriously inaccurate/inconsistent.

 

Unless your tap water is high in ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, water changes are your friend.

My 7 tanks have never had disease. But I change up to 50% , 2 Xs a week.

10% a week isn’t removing enough nitrates unless you have one betta in a 20 gallon. With normal stocking, 30% a week is a very minimum.

More is better.

But use the API master test kit to determine exactly where you are at. But fish living in their poop and urine isn’t good.

But chemicals, plant fertilizer, is necessary if you have a planted tank.

 

Yeah, test your tap water as you would your tank water.

It'll be a good idea to upgrade to the API liquid-based test kit. From what I've read, the test strips can be notoriously inaccurate/inconsistent.

I do plan on getting the liquid test kit. I've used them before some 10 years ago.

 

So I did a 20% waterchange/gravel vac today. I also did a watertest of both the tap water and aquarium water before doing the waterchange.

I don't have the liquid tests so I had to use the tetra 5-in-1 test strips.

Tap water:
-ph between 7.2 - 7.8
-akalinity between 0 and 40
-total hardness between 150 and 300
-nitrite 0
-nitrate safe? Hard to tell (color doesn't match anything)
-ammonia .25

Aquarium:
-ph between 7.2 and 7.8
-akalinity hard to tell
-total hardness between 150 and 300
-nitrite 3.0
-nitrate safe? Hard to tell (color doesn't match anything)
-Ammonia .5

 

So I did a 20% waterchange/gravel vac today. I also did a watertest of both the tap water and aquarium water before doing the waterchange.

I don't have the liquid tests so I had to use the tetra 5-in-1 test strips.

Tap water:
-ph between 7.2 - 7.8
-akalinity between 0 and 40
-total hardness between 150 and 300
-nitrite 0
-nitrate safe? Hard to tell (color doesn't match anything)
-ammonia .25

Aquarium:
-ph between 7.2 and 7.8
-akalinity hard to tell
-total hardness between 150 and 300
-nitrite 3.0
-nitrate safe? Hard to tell (color doesn't match anything)
-Ammonia .5

Invest in the apI test. I found those strips to be way off. I could test my tank 2 times in a row and get 2 completely different answers. Made me struggle with my tank. One test would show all good and the next it would tell me everything was way off in danger zone. API will give ya better readings

 

Invest in the apI test. I found those strips to be way off. I could test my tank 2 times in a row and get 2 completely different answers. Made me struggle with my tank. One test would show all good and the next it would tell me everything was way off in danger zone. API will give ya better readings

Will do thank you. Based on my results, nitrites, ammonia and ph being high. What do I do? Sit back and let the tank do its thing?

 

Will do thank you. Based on my results, nitrites, ammonia and ph being high. What do I do? Sit back and let the tank do its thing?

How often are you doing water changes? I notice your tap water has .25 ammonia. If you are doing weekly water changes and your fish seen to be happy I’d order the kit. As soon as it gets here test and see what your tank is at. Then go from there. That’s what I would do

 

I was doing them every 1.5+ weeks. I'm going to start doing them every week. Is 25% water changes per week good enough? Can I gravelvac every week?

 

Yes, I just added 2 Mickey platies, 2 guppies and one bristlenose algae eater. My tank is only 37 gallons.

The bristlenose might have helped spike your ammonia. Platys and guppies aren't very dirty fish but plecos are.

The spike may be because your bacteria colony wasn't large enough to account for the pleco so it has to grow larger and keep up.

If you already have a colony then doing small water changes every day or when the results edge into danger zones will keep the tank going until your bacteria catches up.

You might, also, look into modifying your filter to increase the surface space for your bacteria to grow. My topfin filter has two small net bags of Fluval ceramic pieces that are designed for bacteria colonization and that has helped out as well.

It you want to build the colony of bacteria faster, you can get tetra safestart plus. As long as you haven't done a major water change or added a dose of prime/water conditioner large enough for the whole tank, you can add it as a maintenance dose as soon as you buy it as long as your ammonia is under 3 ppm. Once its established, you don't have to add it again. I haven't added it to my tank for over a month and my tank is doing fine.

I saw you use quickstart and that may work just as well but it didnt really work for me.

My tanks was not cycled with 4 mollies and a pleco and out of control ammonia and the only way I managed to fix it was 2 days of constant water changes to reduce the ammonia to 2.5 and dosing with tss 24 hours later. My colony was established and my tank fully cycled 7 days later.

I was doing them every 1.5+ weeks. I'm going to start doing them every week. Is 25% water changes per week good enough? Can I gravelvac every week?

If your bacterial colony is mainly in your filter then you can vacuum the whole tank floor every week and do weekly water changes without an issue. That's what I do after I modified my filter to be a bacteria colony dream house.

If your filter is like a basic top fin whisper or something that doesn't have a good sized bio-filter specific area designed for bacteria to grow on, then your bacteria may be more in your rocks and on your decorations. If that's the case then you should only vacuum half of your tank at most per week so you don't remove too much of your bacteria colony.

 

If your bacterial colony is mainly in your filter then you can vacuum the whole tank floor every week and do weekly water changes without an issue. That's what I do after I modified my filter to be a bacteria colony dream house.

If your filter is like a basic top fin whisper or something that doesn't have a good sized bio-filter specific area designed for bacteria to grow on, then your bacteria may be more in your rocks and on your decorations. If that's the case then you should only vacuum half of your tank at most per week so you don't remove too much of your bacteria colony.

I’ve always gravel vac my tank. I do weekly water changes that’s about 1/3 of my tank. I find that gives me the most time to gravel vac and it so seems to be the sweet spot for my tank. So where my tank is 30 gallon I do 10 gallon change every Thursday. Every 4 water changes (once a month) I pull my filters and wash them in old tank water to pull the yuk off them. I clean the glass on the outside of the tank. And try to scrape off dried on build up on the glass too. Takes me about a hr to do everything I do.

 

You can gravelvac every week as long as your tank isn’t planted. 25 to 30% changes should be plenty, depending on how many fish you have. I have 15 fish in a 20 gallon planted tank and I get away with 25% change once a week. Every tank is different though and a lot depends on the water in your area too.

 

With your levels, if accurate, I would be changing 50% every other day.

3.0 nitrites alone will kill your fish pretty quick. If you did a 50% WC, you would be at 1.5, still dangerous. Another 50% would get you to .75, not good. Plus fish are still pooping and peeing.

Feed lightly every other day, do a 50% WC every other day and in a week you should be good, and have the API master test kit. Once you get that, you’ll know.

 

So, when levels like mine are out of wack, it is best to just do water changes and gravelvacs, only and not add chemicals?

My levels are a little better, but they are still not where they need to be. It has been over a month since I fmshowed my results on here. The fish seem fine, though for the most part.

The water I put in yesterday had been sitting out for a week. Is that fine? The fish seemed a little stressed when I came home from work. That was when I did a watertest. My levels were better, but not great. My nitrites are still a little high and my ammonia could be lower.

I'm just surprised my tank hasn't balanced out, yet. It's been running awhile.

I feed my pleco cucumbers and algaewafers. How often should I do that?

 

So, when levels like mine are out of wack, it is best to just do water changes and gravelvacs, only and not add chemicals?

Generally, yes. I looked at your previous test results and it seems that most parameters (with the exception of a nitrite and ammonia) are fine.

The KH (what Tetra refers to as alkalinity) seems a bit unusual. It appears low in your tap water, but high in your tank. It'd be worth picking up the API GH/KH test kit as confirmation.

Nothing to me suggests that your cycle would be stalled. But it might just a subtle, underlying factor in your tank that's causing the nitrifying bacteria to metabolise/reproduce more slowly. In the mean time, the only thing you can do to remove ammonia/nitrite is through water changes.

Don't be afraid to do large water changes more frequently. Discus breeders often aI'm for 50% water changes daily.

Is there a reason you're leaving your water out for a week? Aging water generally isn't practised that much any longer since the benefits are very marginal (if any remains at all) compared to adding it straight from tap to tank.

 

Is there a reason you're leaving your water out for a week? Aging water generally isn't practised that much any longer since the benefits are very marginal (if any remains at all) compared to adding it straight from tap to tank.

Minnowette, would you mind elaborating a bit on this. It seems like you are saying that chlorine won't degas naturally in a day or three.

 

Chlorine vaporises within a day generally. Chloramines, on the other hand, takes weeks to degas at room temperature.

Not all water authorities add chloramines, but many do, especially for large urban centres where chlorine often volatilises before reaching point of consumption. Chloramine is more suited as a disinfectant for these locations due to its low volatility.

Keeping in mind that I'm in Australia, my local water analysis reveals that I have <0.04 ppm chlorine and 0.98 - 1.48 ppm monochloramine.

It's often simpler to add a dechlorinator to remove chloramines.

 

vaporises within a day generally. Chloramines, on the other hand, takes weeks to degas at room temperature.

Memphis Light Gas & Water claims they don't add chloramines but if that were to change I doubt it would be promptly publicized so to be on the safe side I boil tap water for 30 minutes in addition to allowing time for chlorine to degas; see bottom of page 28 for why I think that works.

Worth mentioning in case anyone doesn't want to use a Prime type product to remove chlorine, like, for instance, if they want to eat stuff grown in their fish water.

 

Worth mentioning in case anyone doesn't want to use a type product to remove chlorine, like, for instance, if they want to eat stuff grown in their fish water.

Another option - albeit more expensive - for those dealing with large volumes for water changes is to use an activated carbon (or RO) filter.

 

The bristlenose might have helped spike your ammonia. Platys and guppies aren't very dirty fish but plecos are.

The spike may be because your bacteria colony wasn't large enough to account for the pleco so it has to grow larger and keep up.

If you already have a colony then doing small water changes every day or when the results edge into danger zones will keep the tank going until your bacteria catches up.

You might, also, look into modifying your filter to increase the surface space for your bacteria to grow. My topfin filter has two small net bags of Fluval ceramic pieces that are designed for bacteria colonization and that has helped out as well.

It you want to build the colony of bacteria faster, you can get tetra safestart plus. As long as you haven't done a major water change or added a dose of prime/water conditioner large enough for the whole tank, you can add it as a maintenance dose as soon as you buy it as long as your ammonia is under 3 ppm. Once its established, you don't have to add it again. I haven't added it to my tank for over a month and my tank is doing fine.

I saw you use quickstart and that may work just as well but it didnt really work for me.

My tanks was not cycled with 4 mollies and a pleco and out of control ammonia and the only way I managed to fix it was 2 days of constant water changes to reduce the ammonia to 2.5 and dosing with tss 24 hours later. My colony was established and my tank fully cycled 7 days later.


If your bacterial colony is mainly in your filter then you can vacuum the whole tank floor every week and do weekly water changes without an issue. That's what I do after I modified my filter to be a bacteria colony dream house.

If your filter is like a basic top fin whisper or something that doesn't have a good sized bio-filter specific area designed for bacteria to grow on, then your bacteria may be more in your rocks and on your decorations. If that's the case then you should only vacuum half of your tank at most per week so you don't remove too much of your bacteria colony.

How do I determine where my bacteria colony is located? I have a Marineland Penquin Bio-Wheel 200 filter.

 

How do I determine where my bacteria colony is located? I have a Marineland Penquin 200 filter.

Most of the bacteria is concentrated in the filter media. For your filter media, it'll be the bio-wheel itself. I also believe there is also a vacant cavity within the filter housing itself to support more filter media.

Putting something like Seachem Matrix or Seachem Purigen in there can definitely increase biofiltration.