Chemicals for new aquarium

[cdseverance]

Hi. I am new to the hobby and have questions concerning chemicals. On a startup tank I already know to use a product like Fritz Zyme 7. What other chemicals will I need for a startup? Like the absolute necessities? Thanks in advance

 

[Byron]

Welcome to TFF, and to the hobby.

There are very, very few chemicals needed. If you are dealing with municipal tap water, it will have chlorine or chloramine in it and you do need a good conditioner to detoxify whichever they use. All water going into the aquarium once it is cycled with fish in it must be treated to remove these substances. Before someone mentions it, you can remove chlorine by briskly agitating the water or letting it sit 24 hours--but this is only effective on chlorine, and it does mean containers for the water outside of the aquarium at every water change. Chloramine must have one of the conditioners to deal with it.

If you have live plants, you may need a fertilizer, or may not, depending. That's another big topic.

These two additives are the only ones you should be adding generally speaking. If you have a problem such as a fish disease, etc, you may need a specific medicine, treatment, etc. But that is a specific emergency-type issue.

You mention Fritz Zyme 7. This is a so-called bacterial supplement. According to the company's website, this substance removes ammonia and nitrite in new tanks. It may or may not help in establishing the nitrifying bacteria. It most assuredly is not going to do any sort of instant cycling on its own. There are several similar products on the market, and they are much the same--they may or may not help, but that is as far as they go. The only two exceptions are Tetra;s SafeStart and Dr. Tim's One and Only. I won't get into all the details, just want to be clear that aside from these two, you are not really getting much if anything.

It is recommended by some that you keep some Aquarium Salt on hand. In 30 years I used this twice. There are a few specific issues where it is a good treatment. I won't go into all that either. The point is, fish live in clean water, not chemical soups.

 

[FranciscoB]

Depending on your water supply, only a dechorinator (for chlorine and or Chloramine). The enzymes? Don’t need them unless already have them. Good luck!

 

[10 Tanks]

Hi. I am new to the hobby and have questions concerning chemicals. On a startup tank I already know to use a product like Fritz Zyme 7. What other chemicals will I need for a startup? Like the absolute necessities? Thanks in advance

Hello cd. I've never used any chemicals other than the standard water treatment. Seachem's "Safe" is a good one. That's all you need. I follow the "Kiss" method. "Keep It Simple and you'll be Successful".

10 Tanks

 

[sharkweek178]

A lot of the chemical supplements they sell are really unnecessary and the issues they are supposed to fix can be managed by other means that are much safer for the fish. You won't find the solution to algae in a bottle. The only things I add to my tank water are declorinator before it goes into the tank and liquid fertilizer for the plants. (Seachem Prime and Seachem Flourish Comprehensive Supplement respectively).
Technically this uses chemicals but you don't add them to the tank, an API Freshwater Master Test Kit. That would be helpful for your cycle.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Listen to Byron, he is a very smart guy and very experienced,

I am very lucky. I have super good well water and never need a dechlor. I do have some as i use them when away from home or when I bleach dip plants. That is followed by a rinse and a dip in a bucket wth dechlor in it.

I have planted tanks and add ferts for them.

The one place Byron, and others disagree with what I do is that I add Flourish Excel to planted tanks weekly. In its normal form and strength it is a biocide and would kill most things in a tank. In the formulation of this product it provides a form of carbon that plants can use but. apparently, algae cannot. My experience over the years is that it is safe if used according the the directions (not overdosed).

However, I respect the right of Byron, and many others, not to use it. But this product, and other similar ones, have been around for some time. They are used by a lot of hobbyists. If these things, when used properly, were damaging or killing fish, why is the net not full of reports over the decades to that effect. I can say a few plants do have a bad reaction to this product. But I have also used it in all sorts of planted tanks which included breeding angels and discus as well as breeding plecos. Those tanks may also have held inverts- snails and shrimp. That is my experience. Others will have to make their own decisions regarding the safety or lack thereof for this product.

There are other products made by SeaChem I would never use and which seem very popular. I do not fault anybody for not wanting to use Excel. But I do feel obliged to mention my experiences using it for 20+ years. I dose 3 ml/10 gals of water. The are about 37,854.1 ml/10 gallons of water. That works out to 1 part per 12,618. I dilute all the ferts in water and add them gradually across the surface as I refill the tank. For tiny tanks I add it all in the end of the refill.

 

[Stan510]

Epsom salts are a good safe additive..good for plants color and good for fish slime to ward off bacteria. The LFS owner told me decades ago he tosses in some to every tank and he always of course had fish coming and going.