Shelf life of aquarium products

[Plan-B]

I live in a small town and have only one very expensive option to buy fish supplies from. For this reason I tend to buy bulk online or whenever I’m in the city. Now I find myself wondering how long these products (and others) will last before expiration.

Fish food – flake / freeze dried. (I keep mine in my freezer in an attempt to keep it fresher. I’m not positive this is a good idea though)

Fish food – frozen. (Things like frozen blood worms ect.)

Dechlorinators and other additives, buffers and conditioners.

Meds (I have a 1 gallon bottle of melafix pro and dosage for it is 5ml to 50 gallons. If melafix doesn’t expire and my fish stay relatively healthy this bottle could be around for 20 years)

Test kits – Liquid form / paper strip form.

Basically I’m curious as to how long these products will last sealed and also how long they have until expiration after being opened.

 

[Colisa lalia]

Flake left out stays good for about a month. However in the freezer it would be different. A rough rule is chemical rxns. are reduced by half when you reduce the temperature by half. So that is considerably cooler, so about three- four months I think in the freezer would be ok.

Frozen is similar to flake. I also see no problem with flake in the freezer.

Decholrinators usually say on the bottle I think it's two to three years.

I know melafix is about three to four years it should also say on tht bottle.

Test kits are different. They have no experation dates usually. Try replacing them every three to five years.

 

[lizard]

Not sure on the foods and stuff...

In another post, somebody, I believe it was CFC, said test kits are only good for three or six months after they've been opened (even liquid ones).

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[Timmy]

I found some part used (liquid) Ammonia, Nitrite and pH test kits in my loft which must be 7 or 8 years old. They give the same test results as a brand new test kit.

In the same box (so same age) there were tablet Nitrate tests which also still work OK.

 

[Bignose]

The food should be fine, so long as no moisture whatsoever gets in there. The moisture re-allows bacteria to grow on the food, and the bacteria will consume all the vitamins and good parts of the food first -- thereby leaving none for the fish when they eat the food. I have even heard of people saving those dessicant packets you get with a new pair of shoes and keeping that in their containers of food. Moisture is in the air, especially around our tanks, but the biggest thing is to not put wet fingers into the container to get another pinch. I have to imagine that frozen food keeps unless it defrosts.

The test kits may not be trustworthy after about a year or so, it is all about the oxygen getting in there, the solutions evaporating even slowly will change the concentration of the fluid, and if the solution precipitates solids that can fall into the test tube and change the results. Ultimately, the tests are only 'ranges' anyway (just how red is that fluid in the test tube?) so, having a little error is nothing to worry about -- the error of our eyes is probably worse than the error of the tests for some time. But, if you want to be sure, replacing the tests often is a safer bet. I think just about everything above goes for the meds, too, with the additional constraint that sometimes the reactions of the medicine are slow, but ongoing even when in the bottle. Keeping them sealed tight and not exposing them to direct sunlight will help, but (and this is not what you want to hear) it is going to depend a lot on the medicine and the ingerdients in the meds. And to tell how much it depends, you have to look up the ingredients on the meds, and many companies keep these secret anyway, so it will really be up to your best judgement.