Tetra Safestart..it Sort Of Works

[craig855s]

I set up my Rio 240 the other week, dosing with liquid ammonia and i put 100ML of safestart in there (not enough for such a big tank but i wasnt buying the bigger bottle at over 20 quid)

Ammonia didnt process quickly at all, it went just like a fishless from peoples diaries, only when the ammonia did begin to process there was NO nitrite spike, at the 10 day point i added 4 livebearers (2 platys 2 swords) and checked the levels twice daily.

Ammonia was 0.25 for 48 hours (before the fish went in the ammonia was at .25 due to it having some liquid ammonia left in it..i done a large water change to try and remove it but some remained)
So the residual ammonia and the ammonia being produced by the fish took 48 hours to be processed by the filter but after that the filter was cycled for the bio load..of 4 1.5" fish
Nitrite remained at 0 all the time (so i think this means that the safestart contained live nitrospira..that colonised the filter and multiplied succesfully)

Levels have been at 0 for 5 days now and more fish will be added this coming friday (payday)


If i were to do this test again i would fishless cycle using the add and wait method,and on day 5 put the safestart in,then continue to fishless cycle for the full 5PPM-zero in 12 hours and then fully stock.

As it is now ill have to increase my stocking slowly..which is no bad thing as i couldnt afford to fully stock in one go anyway. Just means that my early fish will have to endure a few minicycles

 

[minxfishy]

Strange, as Ive read and tried it and it left a nitrIte spike, processed the ammonia easily enough, but had a nitrIte spike for two weeks.

 

[bitteraspects]

keep an eye out for an ammonia spike

 

[JohnRossDele]

its strange that it worked?

most of those bottles of tetra safestart and nutrafin cycle, simply dont work because the are shipped in very harsh conditions compared to the bacteria they wont survive the shipping (possibly your bottle was safely shipped)

JRD

 

[OldMan47]

Don't ease up on testing Craig. Four small fish in a large tank are not much bioload so you don't expect to see much in the way of ammonia from them. You may have gotten lucky and had enough AOBs to process the small ammonia load from them just by cycling for 10 days or any plants, including algae, may have removed that trace of ammonia for you. Since you don't list any confirmation of the cycle by testing for nitrates, I am assuming that it never happened. The zero nitrites could possibly be a good sign but not if the nitrates don't show the ammonia being processed all the way through. I would be very cautious about adding any more fish for at least another week. If you are truly cycled, it won't go backward. If you are not, it is better to find it out while your stocking levels are low so that you can control the ammonia and nitrites easily with water changes.

 

[craig855s]

Don't ease up on testing Craig. Four small fish in a large tank are not much bioload so you don't expect to see much in the way of ammonia from them. You may have gotten lucky and had enough AOBs to process the small ammonia load from them just by cycling for 10 days or any plants, including algae, may have removed that trace of ammonia for you. Since you don't list any confirmation of the cycle by testing for nitrates, I am assuming that it never happened. The zero nitrites could possibly be a good sign but not if the nitrates don't show the ammonia being processed all the way through. I would be very cautious about adding any more fish for at least another week. If you are truly cycled, it won't go backward. If you are not, it is better to find it out while your stocking levels are low so that you can control the ammonia and nitrites easily with water changes.

Yeah i only ever done 1 nitrate test and it was hard to tell the difference between the tank and tap test.
I do have a few plants (echinodorus,moss balls,and something else)
Today the tests are still zeros. As said ill test til friday and only add fish if levels remain 0. There was enough poop on the sand for todays weekly maintenance to be creating some ammonia (Some MTS and 4 livebearers make the whole sand brown in 7 days..not looking forward to being at full stocking)
If levels remain at 0 til friday ill increase stocking by getting the beginnings of my schools..maybe go for 4 of my 9 harleys then wait 2 weeks for filter to get stable

 

[craig855s]

oh and as for the way the bottle was kept before i used it. It was not chilled in the shop..i bought it and whacked it into my tank...apparently the bottle does not need to be chilled..the bacteria are kept alive using magic (actually some crazy chemicals) It says it contains nitrospira but not nitrosomonas (yet it says it removes ammonia instantly...nope) and it says its shelf stable at room temp for up to 12 months.

I agree. And i honestly think that you could complete a full fishless cycle with this stuff in a couple of weeks

 

[three-fingers]

I've always found Tetra Safestart helps and is better than nothing, even if the claims on the bottle are very highly exaggerated. I've also found it deals with ammonia easily, but nitrite will still take time.

In this case however, the presence of plants greatly skews the results of this test, as they will use up ammonia before it can turn into nitrite.