TetraSafeStart Plus 250 mL, for Newly Set-Up Fish Aquariums

I tried to cycle my 20 gallon, fish in, for 6 weeks using Seachem Stability and Prime conditioner and no matter what I did, my ammonia was always 0.25 (I have ammonia in my tap), 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate. After I’d feed my fish, the ammonia would spike to 1.0 ppm, I’d freak out, and do a 30-40% water change and detox the ammonia with a double dose of Prime. My tank never cycled until I bought Tetra SafeStart Plus.Here’s what I did. I bought the two 8oz bottles. I did a 50% water change and took a siphon and hovered over the gravel a bit to get some of the food and poop out (I didn’t actually dig in to the gravel so that I could preserve the bacteria in the gravel). I used Tetra Aquasafe to condition my water this time, since I felt like Prime would mess up the bacteria somehow.I waited about an hour before putting bacteria in. I took one, shook it really hard, and dumped the whole bottle into my filter while it was running even though the bottle treats 50 gallons and I only had a 20 gallon tank with 3 mollies, a swordtail, and two female bettas. I should mention that I have a bio sponge, a couple of layers of filter floss, Purigen, and carbon in my filter (Aqueon Quietflow 20). And I filled up the bottle with tank water, shook it really hard again to get the rest of the bacteria out, then dumped the water into the filter.Then I did nothing for 3 days. I fed flakes lightly once a day during that time. On the 4th day, I took the second bottle, shook it really hard, and put about 3 oz into the filter while it was running.I did nothing for 2 more days. Then I decided to test the water. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 ppm nitrates! Holy crap my tank cycled in about a week and none of my fish died!!!Okay so I was a believer in this stuff. I had to try it again. I bought the 3.38 oz version for the 10 gallon Glofish tank I was setting up. First I rinsed the tank, gravel, and decor in tap water and set up the gravel and decor. Then I added dechlorinated water using Aquasafe conditioner. I put on my filter (Aqueon Quietflow 10) and let the water run for 24 hours. Then, I went out to buy 3 long fin tetra Glofish. Came home, acclimated them by floating the bag and slowly adding my tank water into the bag. Then I netted them out and put them in my tank.I turned off the filter. I shook the 3.38 oz bottle of SafeStart really hard and poured all of it into my filter (this time I only had carbon and filter floss, and bio sponge). I let it sit for 10 minutes then turned the filter back on. I did nothing for 3 days. On the 4th day, I took my 8 oz bottle of SafeStart I bought earlier, shook it really hard and added about 3 oz into the filter. Because this was a new tank, I added another 3 oz into the filter while it was running 2 days later.Finally I tested the water on the 7th day. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 5 ppm nitrates!!! Cycled in a week with 3 fish, all still alive and well.I think the key is to overdose on SafeStart and add a little more on the 3rd or 4th day after the initial dose to help boost the amount of bacteria available. Don’t do water changes, don’t add Prime, nothing. Don’t test your water for at least a week, you will psych yourself out, convince yourself you need to do a water change or dose with Prime, and so on. Just feed lightly during this time and let SafeStart do the work.Some people swear by Seachem Stability but Tetra SafeStart Plus is my go-to bottled bacteria. It works if you use it correctly.

As expected

Tetra Safe Start è un eccellente prodotto ed è uno dei pochi che contiene veramente batteri per uso acquariofilo. Fa tutto quello che promette, ho avuto modo di testarlo per avviare alcuni acquari e non ci sono mai stati problemi con i nitriti; un vero attivatore batterico.

Review for Tetra Safe Start PlusIf you don’t have to read my whole review, I will simply state:Great Product! Does what it says it will do. Please note this will not “instantly cycle” an aquarium, but will add beneficial bacteria that will assist and accelerate the process.I read many reviews before purchasing, and some reviewer(s) comments were so in depth and extremely helpful, I wished to add my experience and hopefully someone may find this useful in the future.I wanted to give an honest review of Tetra Safe Start Plus. I have read many negatives to biological additives for aquariums, but I decided why not, it couldn’t hurt and any little help would be useful.I was performing a Fishless Cycle on a freshwater (Cichlid tank) for the first time in my life (lots of experience with Aquariums, mostly Saltwater).I followed basics, added Ammonia to about 4ppm and waited for a decline so I could dose again. After 10 days I was getting no drop in ammonia and began to get impatient.I added a full dose of Tetra Safe Start Plus to my 75 gallon tank. The very next day I began to see ammonia drop. I tested ammonia daily and re-dosed with ammonia to bring it back up to 4ppm. At first I was dosing every other day, by the end of the week I was dosing every day. BUT I had no Nitrite reading yet. I performed a 40% water change and re-dosed with Tetra Safe Start Plus (only the recommended dosing for the water replaced). I also continued to dose with ammonia.The next day I had ammonia readings along with Nitrite (and a small Nitrate reading). As the week progressed I continued to test the water daily (and dose with ammonia daily). After one (1) week the tank was converting all readings back to 0 after 24 hours!! Tank cycled, ready for fish!!In conclusion, dosed with Ammonia (4ppm) and waited 10 days, added full dose Tetra Safe Start Plus (and tested water daily until ammonia began to drop), added ammonia to maintain 4ppm until it was converting ammonia to 0 in about 48 hours (day 16-18 of cycle). Performed 40% water change, re-dosed with Tetra Safe Start Plus (only recommended dosing per water change). Continued adding ammonia daily and testing daily until Ammonia, Nitrite was converting within 24 hours (day 21). I continued dosing with ammonia and testing water for another few days. Tank cycled! Fish added on day 28!Thank you for time reading this, hope someone finds it helpful.

It's been over 20 years since I've had an aquarium, and I either never heard of SafeStart Plus (TSS+) or else it wasn't around back then. It was a real white knuckle affair trying to get that tank to cycle. It's been a totally different experience with my 5 and 10 gallon betta tanks using TSS+. The 10 gallon tank has been solid as a rock since week one. Zero ammonia. Zero nitrites. And a max of 10-15 ppm nitrates. I do weekly 25% water changes and my giant betta boy is happy, healthy, and safe. (Clearly, it does help only having 1 fish in a 10 gallon tank. That's sort of the starting point for community tanks, whereas it's the start, middle, and end for a tank with only 1 betta fish.The 5 gallon tank was more of a challenge. It was the first tank I got so maybe I got my mistakes out of the way before getting the 10 gallon tank. I was seeing a mild rise in the ammonia (using Seachem's Alert badge it registered a mild green color instead of bright yellow) and the directions on the bottle of TSS+ aren't the greatest. I did a lot of Googling to determine whether or not I should do water changes within the first 2 weeks and whether or not I should add some TSS+ with every water change. (At first I had read that you should NOT do a water change in the first 2 weeks of a new tank when using TSS+, and you should NOT add more TSS+ with each water change. I then concluded that I SHOULD have done water changes in the first 2 weeks and it's fine to add more TSS+ with each water change until the tank is cycled.) Since the ammonia never got above an "alert" level (.05%), and since, again, there's only 1 fish in the 5 gallon tank, I'm satisfied that it only took a couple of weeks to stabilize/cycle. (By contrast, the 10 gallon tank was stable within the first couple of days.)Overall I'm completely satisfied with this product, especially for anyone who has bettas. The main thing I learned is that after the ammonia and nitrites drop to zero and stay at zero for a couple of weeks it's STILL important to test regularly for nitrates and do water changes accordingly because TSS+ does not eliminate nitrates. And if they get high they can harm fish just like ammonia and nitrites. I wasn't aware of that and had gotten a little cocky about zero ammonia and zero nitrites.