Someone I know said they use tetra Easybalance. Does tetra Easybalance actually work?

Says on the bottle that it 'reduces frequent water changes'
'Keeps aqaurium water fresh for up to 6 months' and 'stabilizes pH and KH and reduces phosphate'

It is also says it contains Nitrate reduction granules to reduce nitrate to permantly low levels
It says that you have to add some to every week for up to 6 months. I assume that after six months you have to do a water change or stop using it for a while

Sounds great if it does work but i am wondering where the nitrate goes. It does say that the substrate should be kept free of debris so i am guessing the granules in Easybalance absorb the nitrates and these are then removed with a gravel clean? So if it does work then water changes are not neccesary except when doing a gravel clean

If it cant be used permanently, could it replace water changes when you are on holidays or cant do a water change for some reason

I did try it about three years ago. I found that my nitrates did rise so I stopped using it. I think these products are probably okay with small community tanks, but I wouldn't waste your money when you are keeping Oscars. Even if you could keep your nitrate levels very low, you could not leave your tank very long without having to give it a clean manually, Oscars are just too messy, a good filter will remove a lot of the crap, but unfortunately, the only way to make sure the tank is cleaned properly is using good old elbow grease.

If it only works on small community tanks then it aint gonna save much work, it only take a few mins to do a water change on a small tank


What about using it for when you are on holiday or when you cant do a water change, do you think its better than nothing? (This would be in addition to the usual stuff when you are away from your tank for a while like feeding less). I cant see it doing any harm and im sure they do a concentrated one for big tanks. This might be something else i need to have on hand just in case

Why don't you try, give it a trial for one week. Try and work out what your nitrates normally when you come around to the water change. Then use some easy balance and compare, you'll know if it works then.

I would give it a try but it would be a waste of time. I phoned a friend who used to own a fish shop. She said that the easybalance type stuff only really works with small community tanks, oscars produce far too much waste(like you said). When I mentioned having some for those occasions when you cant do a water change she said that for it to work you have to use it week after week, you cant use it for just 1 week as it wont work

Think I will stick to water changes

Yes, you might have a degree of success with small community fish, but from my experience using it with large messy fish like Oscars isn't really worth it.

There are various products on the market that supposedly help to reduce tank maintenance. I look at them very suspiciously to be quite honest. A lot of these big companies produce many products like this. I bet you they haven't been tested on big fish, they just tested on little fish.