Do I need new Tetra Safe Start injection?

[MontessoriFishTank]

I am new at this, and making lots of mistakes already.

10g planted tank, it has been running for a week. I had good intentions of running it fishless for a month to cycle; however, I discovered Tetra Safe Start and the advertising says that you can add fish immediately. So I got two mollies and TSS, and added all this to the tank this morning.

Then I realized that the tank PH was about 6.2, probably because of the API CO2 booster I had been adding for the last few days. So this evening, I did a 20% water change, hoping to bring up the PH for the mollies (my regular tap water is about 7 PH). I had planned to do daily water changes to keep the mollies happy.

But oops - I just read online that chlorine-removal products also kill TSS. Does that mean I just killed off $20 worth of beneficial bacteria, hours after putting them in? Do I now need another dose of TSS?

 

[CAPSLOCK]

*I am not familiar with that particular product
But, chlorine removing shouldn't have an effect on bacteria - chlorine would though. Otherwise, every time you did a water change, you would have to totally re-cycle the tank. That being said, most of those types of products are essentially witches brew - the likeliness of bacteria surviving in a bottle on a shelf for months on end is small to say the least. Having live plants should help some, but keep an eye on the ammonia level.

If that is instead a product to bind ammonia so it is non-toxic, I have no idea if that would interact poorly with chlorine removal.

Longer term, you will want to make sure that if you're dosing with CO2 in any way, that the pH is remaining as stable as possible. Having the fish adjust to a lower than recommended, but stable, pH will be better than swinging it all around trying to hit some specific number.

 

[Thyra]

Do you have a way of testing for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? If so test your water daily for now and if you see any ammonia or nitrite change about 50% of your water. Don't add any more fish until things are stable and do not worry at all about pH. When you start to see some nitrate you will know your tank is stable. Tetra safe has worked well for some people, but it is probably not necessary.

 

[rohnds]

I have used Safe Start. But rather than waiting adding fish immediately, I waited for few days. That was not enough to develop substantial bacterial colony. Nothing happened to fish that I added. So my guess is that Safe Start really work.

I doubt if de-chlornator would have any effect on the bacteria in Safe Start.



Rohn

 

[Thyra]

Here is an article about Safe Start

Q & A With Tetra About Tetra SafeStart | Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle | 58116

 

[FreshyFresh]

Welcome aboard MontessoriFT.. aka MTF?

You've come to the right place for great info. Follow CL and Thyra's advice here.

Fish-in cycles are fine, but I would have chosen fish that are less negatively effected by adverse water conditions. Zebra Danios come to mind. Mollies are a bit more sensitive, for a happy Mollie anyway.