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I wonder if it was made for cleaning empty tanks....

Its crazy if they expect people to use it on tanks with fish in them.

I have used Nutrafin Waste Control a few times, and it does seem to do as it says. My tank was much cleaner after I used it. I does make ammonia spike but I haven't really seen much change in ammonia when I use it. I guess i dont have a heavily planted tank.

Okay, I promised I will let you know how it goes with the Waste Control. In one word: nada. No ammonia spike on one hand, but no breaking down of waste on the other. Well, a wasted £7.

For Babel, the whole paragraph:

"When:
* Weekly in conjuction with Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement to provide the biochemical stability of a natural waterway and maintain healthy water conditions for your fish

* New tank set-ups"

You must admit it is much more poetic when you see it in context.

As of today we should rephrase all our posts to say Waterway (unnatural, though) rather than Fish Tanks or Aquariums!

in conjuction with Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement

I sure would translate that to be "this product will kill your biofilter you had best be ready so go buy more stuff to dose the tank with otherwise we'll kill your fish"

or something like that.

^_^
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"The rain is falling down like silence in a shroud"

I got curious too... So I decided to try it on a smaller tank which houses only guppies at the moment, who are supposed to move to the outside pond anyway once things warm up around here.

I don't know why, but the bottle which I have doesn't mention any ammonia spike, in any size of font (unless it's microscopic font). Only under the "When" to use it does it say to use it "in conjuction with Cycle Biological Aquarium Supplement" (etc.), but still doesn't mention that it may cause any harm to fish.

Well, armed with the information in previous posts, a bottle of AmQuel+, a bucket (in case I need to do water changes) and a spare tank (in case all else fails), I've added the stuff about an hour ago.

So far, nothing has happened, no ammonia and no miraculous cleaning. But I'm sure that Cory_Di would love regular updates on how things are going, so I promise to deliver those!

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but all it seems to do is "reverse" the cycling of the tank. "

No, I think that chemically, it would have the same effect as adding a bunch of fish all at once. Which of course, is bad.

I like Di's idea about trying it from the beginning. Or maybe right after a really good gravel vac? Or add Bio-Spira along with it? Of course, it would require LOTS of water changes (just like overstocking) which would probably add up to more time spent then just gravel vac'ing less often. Plus you wouldn't have the satisfaction that comes from REALLY vac'ing the bottom and watching all the crud get sucked out!

-Dennis

Im wondering now if its to boost tank cycleing.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but all it seems to do is "reverse" the cycling of the tank.

I'm wondering how it would work if you did it from the beginning, once the smallest amounts of waste started to build. Granted, you would continue to add it weekly and it would cost money, but I wonder what benefit it would have? It breakes the long poopies down faster into mulm?

Does anybody know what this product does? Is it just another form of bacteria to seed the tank with? It seems to claim it works faster than the biological filter....so what is it?

-Dennis

There may be some shortcuts, Smantzer, but sadly, like the fishless cycling method in the hands of a beginner, they start out short and end up eternally messed up.

--garyroland.

I used this for a while, since I have dirty dirty cichlids. Just as garyroland said, my ammonia shot up like nobody's business. Guess I should've read more... there really are no short cuts in this world...

Proteins in the organic waste will be deaminated by the heterotrophic bacteria, which means breaking the proteins down into ammonia.

-- Gomer

They also have one called BOWL CLEANER, which i bet it catching a lot of people out. I mean, its not really CLEANING a bowl is it

Gotta hand it to the marketing men!

For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

I guess they were saving on print...

I have what's left of a gallon of this stuff and the print remains somewhere between ant eyes and praying mantis view.

--garyroland.

I'm not using it, I was just reading the label and got curious.

So it actually does EXACTLY what it says: It DOES break down waste faster, and it DOES cause ammonia spikes. I guess you can't say they didn't warn you.

By the way gary, the bottle I was reading was a very small size, and ALL the writing was small print!

-Dennis

"Waste Control" by Nutrafin, a Hagen company, is an interesting product...

Loaded with heterotrophic strains of bacteria, the strains that solubilize waste, the product label claims: "For rapid reduction of organic waste in aquariums."

The claim is very tempting as you read further: "Cleans gravel, power filters and interior aquarium surfaces."

Well, how could one go wrong?? Easy.

The temptation was too strong not to test this product awhile back. But I had forgotten one thing. I should have known better.

Whenever organic waste is reduced or eliminated a bi-product emerges as ammonia, and lots of it.

The label, in ever so fine print, goes on to say: "During this process ammonia levels may peak."

They did. Boy, did they ever.

The next sentence on the label is what Babel was referring to: "Simultaneous use of Nutrafin Cycle Biological Filter Supplement will help control ammonia and nitrite peaks."

Maybe we should start re-reading my old articles to remind ourselves to leave the "too good to be true" products alone.

--garyroland.



Last edited by garyroland at 06-Dec-2004 11:04

I've read about these before, If I remember it was a post that garyroland wrote up. On the back of the bottle it says that it causes ammonia spikes, and should be used with like 5 different products.

If you're interested in wasting your money, feel free to PM me I'll send you my address . Have a look @the bottle, and consider if what they claim the product does makes any sense .

^_^
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