Tetra Aqua Easybalance - Anyone Tried This Yet?

[Ami]

The blurb from Aquatics Online:

Happily, the fishkeeper's life is about to change forever

It's all thanks to EasyBalance - a revolutionary new liquid water additive, which cleverly eliminates the need for frequent water changes.

Until now, there was really only one way you could keep your aquarium water properly balanced. That was by removing some of the old water every few weeks and replacing it with fresh - a messy and time-consuming chore.

Now EasyBalance changes everything - researched and developed over many years, long term tests have proved conclusively that TetraAqua EasyBalance actually eliminates the need for frequent water changes.

In effect, when EasyBalance is added to the aquarium, it replicates the 'refreshing' action of traditional water changes - so now fishkeeping will be much easier and cleaner.

Now, using a little EasyBalance every week will keep your aquarium water in chemical and biological balance for six months.

I saw someone asked a question about it in the October PFK and basically, you buy this stuff in a little bottle, add some to your tank once a week and hey presto, no need to do water changes for at least 6 months. One of the PFK writers had tried it over a period of several months and said his water was as clear as he's ever seen it.

I checked a local pet shop the other day and it was £3.99 for a 100ml bottle, although Aquatics Online do have it cheaper.

I was wondering if anyone had any experience of using it yet as it sounds like it would be worth using to save you time, although might be a tad expensive in the long run. Would maybe have prevented the nasty algae ridden tank I came back to after 3 weeks in Thailand earlier in the year though!


Ami

 

[Bloo]

No personal experience, but here's lots of threads with lots of different views for you
I understand the general consensus being that it's best to do weekly water changes as opposed to adding further chemicals to the tank.

Personally I've never used it - or bothered trying it due to the general view on the product here - but there have been several people asking the same questions for quite some time now it seems.

If you are interested, you are some older views on the same topic :

Tetra Easy Balance...., ....surely that cant be right
Tetra Easy Balance, Has anyone tried this?
Easy Balance -- Any good?
Tetra Easy Balance any good?, Supposedly reduces need for water change
Tetra Easy Balance, No more water changes?!
Tetra EASY BALANCE and new tanks..., when would you start using it?

 

[Ami]

No personal experience, but here's lots of threads with lots of different views for you
I understand the general consensus being that it's best to do weekly water changes as opposed to adding further chemicals to the tank.

Personally I've never used it - or bothered trying it due to the general view on the product here - but there have been several people asking the same questions for quite some time now it seems.

If you are interested, you are some older views on the same topic :

Tetra Easy Balance...., ....surely that cant be right
Tetra Easy Balance, Has anyone tried this?
Easy Balance -- Any good?
Tetra Easy Balance any good?, Supposedly reduces need for water change
Tetra Easy Balance, No more water changes?!
Tetra EASY BALANCE and new tanks..., when would you start using it?

Cheers for the links Bloo! I guess that's what I get for not having been around much in the past couple of months.

The guppys with easybalance v guppys with no easy balance was a bit off putting though. I think I'll go find that thread at some point and see if they furthered the experiment by swapping guppys between the tanks.

It does still seem like it would help over short periods though as it's much easier for my friend to put in a couple of caps of easybalance than do a 10% water change every week!


Thanks again,
Ami

 

[jungle king]

I don't know much about this to but I did read that letter The fact that tetra wern't even going to tell the mag what is actually in it but that the main ingrediant is nitrate minus granules that can be bought as a stand alone product.

So until 100 private tank owners have run a test on it I would be unsure to use it but saying that most new products go through a skeptical stage

 

[qwikimpss]

Personally I wouldn't spend my money on this and gamble with my fish's health when I can do weekly water changes for NEXT TO NOTHING and know for a fact that my water will be in good shape...but that's just me.

 

[morgan]

I have used a similar product and when I do the weekly water change the water is not as dirty. It is normally dirty because I have a large Pleco who is moving to a larger tank soon.

 

[Ethos]

I have the product, but I've been too chicken to try it. If you do, tell me how it works in the real world!

 

[laurasmithuk]

i used it for a while and did see some difference in water quality especially how clear it was. only problem being i cant afford another bottle at the moment!

 

[Mikaila31]

I've used that stuff just a few days ago . I added some to my 55 gallon when I did a water change. Normally i don't use it but my water wasn't as clear as it normally is, i do water changes once every 1 1/2 weeks. I've used it once on this tank before and my water is normally always very clear. I've never seen it have any affect on the alge in the tank, and it dosn't effect the fish at all. I don't really follow the directions on the bottle, and by doing water changes every week and a half. I probably remove any i added after a couple of weeks. I don't follow the directions becuase they say:

-add 1 teaspoon for every 5 gallons of aquarium water. repeat dosage weekly
-Change 50-75% of your aquariums water once every 6 months , provided easybalance has been added as recommeded and the aquarium is properly maintained.

I've always been told that u shouldn't change more than 50% of your aquarium water unless there's a big problem with it(someone correct me if i'm wrong). And with fish that are not use to water changes it could get a little stressful to remove all that water at once, and on larger tanks it can become difficult.

Hope that helped a little and didn't make things more confusing .

 

[Ami]

You're right about the nitrate granules Jungle King, but they don't stop you from having to make water changes for 6 months.

It seems that most people are nervous to use it - like I am - but those who have think it's great.

Maybe I'll get brave and get my friends to use it over xmas whilst I'm away cos there's no way they'll do weekly water changes for me!

Ami

 

[kakihara]

You're right about the nitrate granules Jungle King, but they don't stop you from having to make water changes for 6 months.

It seems that most people are nervous to use it - like I am - but those who have think it's great.

Maybe I'll get brave and get my friends to use it over xmas whilst I'm away cos there's no way they'll do weekly water changes for me!

Ami

Hi

I only have a 13 gallon Hex tall tank and I use the easy balance stuff. My tank is only 4 weeks old (or is it 5 ... I have no cencept of time) and has 4 fish in it.

I use the easy balance once a week but I still do a water change once a week too, I actually put it in when I'm doing the change ... I wouldn't trust my fishes life on the word of that bottle though... it doesn't look sincere!

K