# Tetra Easybalance Plus with Nitroban - for aquariums, what do you suppose...?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tetra-easybalance-plus-with-nitroban-for-aquariums-what-do-you-suppose/599337>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 11, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tetra-easybalance-plus-with-nitroban-for-aquariums-what-do-you-suppose/599337 "2011-10-11T19:11:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tetra-easybalance-plus-with-nitroban-for-aquariums-what-do-you-suppose/599337/1 "2011-10-11T19:11:56Z")

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There is a porduct Tetra Easybalance Plus with Nitroban - for aquariums. Tetra’s site claims [Serves as a nutrient for denitrifying bacteria that consume the oxygen releasing nitrogen from the aquarium.](http://www.tetra-fish.com/sites/tetrafish/catalog/productdetail.aspx?id=1276&cid=74) It has been a long time since I studied chemistry and microbiology but I don’t understand. (Some hobbyists claim it is snake oil and doesn’t work at all.) If it works what do you suppose the product might contain?

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**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\
**Post date:** [October 15, 2011, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tetra-easybalance-plus-with-nitroban-for-aquariums-what-do-you-suppose/599337/2 "2011-10-15T14:17:07Z")

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Bump to see if the weekend crowd has any thoughts on this.

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**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tetra-easybalance-plus-with-nitroban-for-aquariums-what-do-you-suppose/599337/3 "2011-10-16T05:54:42Z")

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Perhaps you should have read the first paragraph:

“they nourish beneficial de-nitrification bacteria that convert nitrate to harmless nitrogen gas.”

They’re either confused or bullshitting, since nitrates are not a great danger to fish, and can be controlled by water changes. The site claims the product “completes the nitrogen cycle,” and appears to be aimed at people who think they’re too busy to change the water.