Review on Efficient Aquatic Cycling with Tetra SafeStart Plus for New Aquariums by Tammy Lewis

I have over 20 years of fish farming experience and have worked on a commercial tropical fish farm. I use this product regularly to get my new aquariums started right away. Remember to always use ENTIRE vial at a time as directed. I originally thought that if the whole bottle was enough for 100 gallons I could use 1/5 of the bottle for my 20 gallon aquarium, but this is WRONG. You must use the entire bottle even if you only have a 20 gallon tank. Using less product will result in product failure and cycle disruption. Also remember to shake the bottle well before use. The bacteria in this bottle need ammonia, nitrite, and fish waste to survive, so make sure your tank is stocked (just lightly at first) or the bacteria will starve and die before you even add the fish. showed better results with Tetra SafeStart than with Seachem Stability. I find that stability works best in a brand new tank with a perfectly clean filter. If the tank is partially recirculated (e.g. no ammonia but high nitrite levels) then adding stability will be less effective in controlling that high nitrite level (I don't know why). It's like the bacteria in Stability are being suppressed by what's already in the tank. On the other hand, Tetra SafeStart effectively kicks in and controls nitrite levels for several hours if you follow directions and fill ENTIRE bottle at once. I have both Stability and SafeStart at home. When I need to get a new tank up and running quickly, I use Stability. Safestart can recycle a new tank just as well, but costs more as the entire tank is required at once. If the aquarium is changed due to rapid overfilling or loss of the biofilter by moving the biofilter to another aquarium, I believe SafeStart is necessary and Stability will not work even after 7 days of normal use. It has been discussed that the Tetra SafeStart product needs to be refrigerated and that any extreme temperature will kill the bacteria in the bottle rendering it unusable. Haven't encountered this problem yet and have used about 10 of these large bottles from cold winter mountains to hot summer months, all supplied by Revain. Just remember to always use ENTIRE bottle as directed. Use the bottle even when the filter sponge or substrate is clean. If the filter is dirty, the bacteria cannot properly adhere to the sponge/substrate and will cling to the fish debris on the filter. This is bad because when you wash the dirt off the sponge (with aquarium water or dechlorinated water, of course) you also wash away your bacteria and destroy your biofilter. It is extremely important to only use this product with a clean filter to ensure proper bacterial attachment to the filter sponge or biological media.