water conditioner

J

JoeB

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Aug 1, 2004
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Hi guys and gals!
My friend gave me her eclipse and some stuff she bought to go with it. Among the stuff is TetraAqua Easybalance water conditioner. What is this stuff? It says it "stabilizes pH", "reduces phosphate and replenishes vitamins and minerals." It also says it eliminates frequent water changes (change water every six months). What about nitrates? Hmmm. The reason why I am asking is because I have a planted tank and I wonder if it is safe for it. Should I toss this bottle?
 
Should I toss this bottle?
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Yup. and do weekly 40% water changes. Your plants and fish will both love you. my plants pearl the most right after a water change. For about 24 hours after a 40% change they will all have little strams of bubbles coming off of them. changing water every 6 months, as I'm sure you've realized, is asking for trouble.
 
Tossed it, thanks for the comments. I guess there are a lot of questionable products out there. Funny, I remember her telling me, "yeah, the guy at the pet store said this is all I need..."
 
There is no substitue for weekly water changes. 25% to 40% what ever your preference, you can't go wrong. Your fish will love it. I don't think there is any "BS" out there that will let you go month's between water changes.
 
heard a few good things about it

A couple of our students took home their big fish tanks and are keeping them at Mom and Dads house, so they can't be there to do maintenances like they should. So, they started using Easy Balance. They have nothing but good things to say about it. They've been using it for a year, year and a half. They DON'T wait 6 months before gravel siphoning or doing water changes. One thing that's important and it's on the label is to have good aeration. They recommend adding an airstone or bubble wall. As a retailer, this is THE perfect product for that one customer who only does water changes every couple months (usually 100% ones at that). And especially those who have tanks with big, messy fish. It's almost a given that neglected tanks will experience a pH crash at some point and then their fish get sick and die. We had someone "give" us a 12" oscar that had been in a (obviously) neglected tank for a long time. It had the most horrendous case of hole-in-the-head disease I ever hope to see. My night crew took the fish and when I saw it the next day I immediately had it euthanized. I say, use it with the understanding that you still need to have good feeding, stocking and maintenance procedures. You cannot ask for a miracle. I wish all fish owners were as conscientious as the kind of owners who visit fish message boards! :)
 
Any product that messes with pH is a bad product. Without knowing your water chemistry you end up more often than not having wil pH swings.

And adding an airstone really doesn't do anything as far as chemicals go, so I don't understand why they would say to add that?
 
KateA. said:
As a retailer, this is THE perfect product for that one customer who only does water changes every couple months (usually 100% ones at that). And especially those who have tanks with big, messy fish.
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People who do one water change every several months, particularly with messy fish, should be given a pet rock, not a product that encourages and validates lazy husbandry practices. A product like Easy Balance sends precisely the wrong message: that you can keep a living creature in a fairly closed environment without having to care for it. Why would anyone want to be a party to that?

Jim
 
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