How Often Can I Use Tetra Easy Balance
- #1
Got it as a freebie. Anyone have any good/bad experiences of this?
Thanks in advance
- #2
we got it with our tank and had np with it, still got all the fish so I guess it must be working 
Bignose
Birds just don't know how to follow the rules.
- #9
The heading on an MSDS is "Dangerous Chemicals" but that does not mean that the product cannot be used safely. Sodium Hydroxide can be very safe, there is a lot of it in soap, for example, and if you eat grits you are eating sodium hydroxide in the hominy. For that matter, a sodium hydroxide solution is used to wash fruits and vegetables, in chocolate and caramel production, and is in every soft drink. Tartaric acid is present in wine, in fairly high concentrations. Formaldehyde is probably the most dangerous, but a solution of 2.5% or less is not very dangerous, and can be very safe if used properly. It is a mild anti-microbial agent. It is a principal component in a lot of ich/other parasite medicines, though in those cases it is usually around 20-35% concentrations. I guess my point here is that many, many, many things have "Dangerous Chemicals" in them, but that doesn't make the product itself dangerous, so there is no need to freak out about it. I am 100% sure that those chemicals are added because they perfrom the job they are supposed to perform. If all they did was kill fish, I am sure that by now the fishkeeping community would know about it and Tetra wouldn't still be making this product.
Now, about its use, I do find it highly suspect. There was a great thread about 2 years ago now where a forum member kept two tanks identically, one with the regular water changes and one following the intructions on the EasyBalance bottle. Bith contained a populaiton of guppies. In the water changed tank, the guppies spawned normally and were their normal guppy selves. In the EasyBalance tank, the guppies were healthy, none died or anything, but they didn't spawn. And I think as we all know, guppies that aren't spawning have something wrong with them. It seemed like it was nothing overt, but the guppies were obviously not 100%.
That thread and many others talking about EasyBalance can be found using the site's search function.
- #10
How odd, I was going to ask the same thing. Have you been buying dechlorinator, by any chance?
Bignose, could you link me to that thread? It sounds interesting but I can never get the search to work on my computer.
- #14
i used for a while, never overfed, did my water changes monthly( said on the back, extended water changes) and all my fish died from nitrate, and ammonia.
Bignose
Birds just don't know how to follow the rules.
- #15
How odd, I was going to ask the same thing. Have you been buying dechlorinator, by any chance?
Bignose, could you link me to that thread? It sounds interesting but I can never get the search to work on my computer.
I don't think it is a question of "working on your computer" you just click on the "Search" button and type in "EasyBalance" here is a good example of one of the threads that comes up: http
/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showto...;hl=easybalance
And, again, Lenny, the chemicals are in there to do a job. If all this product did was kill fish, I don't think it would survive on the market very long. But, this product has been out for well over two years. I agree that it is unlikely to help, and it doesn't keep the fish at 100%, but, I also don't think that adding this is an instant death sentence. The chemicals are in there for a reason: the sodium hydroxide would be basic so it helps prevent pH crashes, the tartaric acid is in there since it prevents many of the undesirable bacteria and pathogens from growing. The same can be be said for the formaldehyde. The concentrations of these are not high, and then when the bottle contents are added (a few mL per 10 gallons) the concnetrations are diluted to even a much lower levels. Look, it is not something I would want in my tank, but it is not correct to say that these chemicals are in there just to kill the fish. They are there to do a job. I am sure Tetra didn't just chuck a bunch of chemicals together and said, "slap a label on it and get it in the stores!" I have little doubt that the chemicals do the jobs they are supposed to do, and do help keep the fish alive -- compared to a tank with no water changes and no EasyBalance, I'd definately take the EasyBalance. But, we know that the water change route is much, much healthier and almost just as easy. But, to say "I just don't see how this stuff can be marketed as safe for fish" is ignorning the fact that those chemicals are there to do a job and that their concentrations are very, very low. It is not unlike air quality or water quality for humans -- a certain small amount of pollution is perfectly acceptable in both the air and the water, since they have no effect whatsoever on people. That, and it is practically impossible to achieve levels of exactly zero pollution. It is the same thing with the fish and EasyBalance -- the concentrations of the chemicals are low enough that they don't cause immediate problems with the fish and still high enough to do the job they are supposed to do. Again, I agree that adding chemicals is not something I want to do to my tanks, but the levels of chemicals in the tank from EasyBalance are not going to be a death sentence for the fish. Tetra, in their search for profit, would not make a product that is anywhere near that deadly -- it would be deadly for their company. Word would get out very, very quickly. It is not a deadly as you make it out to be.
Source: https://www.fishforums.net/threads/tetra-aqua-easy-balance.193425/