The filter aids available in the UK are not held in high esteem by a lot of fishkeepers
Which is a huge shame because there are a lot of good products out there if you bother looking around and doing some research amd experimenting other than relying 100% on what other people think and write online...
I have had to use loads of different 'biological bacteria boosters' or whatever naff name they get and i hear a lot of first hand reports and see the test results and getto see what works and what doesnt.
Its still my opinion but at least its a opinin based on experience...
Personally.. I dont rally rate the Tetra products, safestart doesn seem to do much an tbh i hate the company purely for their Easy Balance. The label stes "drastically reduces your need for waterchanges" like heck does it. I am so sick of people wit 5 fancy goldfish in a 19 Liter spongebob tank using easybalance and wondering why they ae on their tenth group of goldfish (not bought from us!) in as many weeks... when they have never done a water change. ts actually not a bad product to use midweek if keeping big fish or heavily stocked tanks like malawis!! but that int who they aim the product at.
Stress Coat and Stress Zyme are vry good, considerin ho much i wish Aquarian foods were just taken off the market, their conditioners are pretty good... Though i would say stress zyme is great for regular maintenance, use it when you do a water change etc its good, if yo have a massive nitrite spike.... it doesnt do anything in a hurry...
Cycle... Cycle is an odd one, they changed their ingredients in it about 6-8 months ago, the old formula worked great (personally... it works great as a regular maintenance but not if you have a problem but colleagues dissagree). Their new formula is nowhere near as effective (i forget what it is they changed). But MAs own brand of bacteria booster is the OLD style cycle, the beter one that worked ok.
Interpets "Bioactive Tapsafe" is fantastic, for a cheap product (compared to the others) we have ALLhad far better effects with customers with any tank, small ones in particular and cycling. Far less problems. (not to be confused with their normal/goldfish tapsafe).
Also Aquadistri/Colombo do a fantastic start up bacteria supplement called Bactuur Gel (its very good in 60 - 300L tanks but in smaller tanks its unreliable and bigger tanks you need loads of it! But they also do a Pond form called "Nitrate Gel" which is the same but seriously concentrated and works bloody well!
I have used this on my cousins malawi tank when she had an amonia spike. I have photos of the tests somewhere...
But when tested hourly... the Amonia dropped from being off the scale to 0 in 12 hours and with the Nitrite, on the JBL Freshwater Master Test Kit (deffo one of the best if you have money to spare LOL) went down one on the chart every hour. There were 8 shades between worst and 0 on the chart and within 8 hours it hit 0.
Thats as fast as anything can work. It instantly neautralised everything, cleared the ammonia and then set to work on the nitrite. Good water change needed afterwards. (though not as thorough as the one that caused the spike
)
http
/www.aquadistri.com/en/detail/05050100/bactoplus-1-ltr (quickest link i could find to i think the right product, i've been using old style packaging)
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That said... i take peoples opinions on cycling tanks on this forum lightly becaus so many people go on and on about cycling with neat ammonia or fish in cycling etc when tbh, it can easily be done with the right products which are made right for that reason and in reality... like 80% of fishkeepers use a branded biological bacteria supplement to cycle their tank which works just as well if you do it properly as messing around with ammonia.
I just think hat you are made to feel a bit inferior sometimes for using a shop brought product rather than doing a DIY job and buying ammonia. I have had customers come in realy confused and ashamed to ask for help because i directed them to this forum and they got slated for asking which products people advised them to use.
Such a minority of fishkeepers care to use forums and that isnt just the dedicated fishkeepers that use the forums, a lot of the more dedicated fishkeepers avoid forums like the plague to aboid conflicts, stupid advise, daft questions and arrogant fishkeepers who think their way is best.
I just think people need to think more before they type.
EDIT: sorry for the typos and lack of spaces, myspace bar doesntwant towork tonight!!!