Husband got Clear Pond instead of a Tetra Safe Start

[sevenyearnight]

There are many reasons my husband doesn't take care of the fish. He thinks you should feed the fish until they stop "looking hungry", and his comment to my frequent water changes was, "I'd just change the water when it needs it." As in waiting until ammonia and/or nitrites show up. I told him that's like not flushing the toilet until the poop reaches your bum. So, today, I said we need Tetra safe Start, he didn't like that the entire bottle needed to be added, so he instead asked a Petsmart employee about "Clear Pond Beneficial Bacteria". Petsmart employee told him it was good so he got that instead. >:(
Ok, I have the receipt to return it, which I'm fairly certain I'll have to, so please give me as much info as possible since I have to argue this with a stubborn man. I can't find any reviews or study results online for it, so I'm hoping someone here will know.

[Pufferpunk]

Get the right stuff.

[sevenyearnight]

Lol, I know for sure, and I was very specific about which one to get and why. I told him he basically just bought a bottle of dead bacteria. I'm still mad. It's not like he got the wrong stuff by mistake. He just decided to trust the "experts" at petsmart.
That crap is going back tomorrow.

[Pufferpunk]

That's why it smells so bad.

[sevenyearnight]

Ew... "beneficial bacteria? That's doodoo baby!"
I didn't open it thankfully. I've been running Mortimer's "old" filter on the tank and transfered his rock caves. I'll switch the stuff out tomorrow and I won't send bargain shopper out. On a positive note, he has been very helpful with setting up the tank besides that.

[Pufferpunk]

Ew... "beneficial bacteria? That's doodoo baby!"

Did your husband say that? Because that's not true.

[sevenyearnight]

No, it's a joke about the smell. I know it is not doodoo.

[sevenyearnight]

Just to clarify, I knew which product to get, told him which product to get. But he insists on being obnoxious and getting what I did not ask him to get, and ask the store employees questions I've already answered because he feels like he's "proving me wrong". I did not, and was not intending on using that clear pond junk, what I was hoping for was maybe a link to some reviews, anecdotal advice, studies, something. Not for me, but something I could show him since he is a stubborn buttocks and doesn't trust me, and got that crap because the guy at the store said it was good.

[HGI]

I'm a little confused, it sounds like your in the progress of starting up a new tank?

Why don't you just seed your new tank with a little bit of media from a already cycled tank you have? Then you can take that money you were going to waste on "Tetra safe Start" and get something that's actually needed.

[sevenyearnight]

I'm a little confused, it sounds like your in the progress of starting up a new tank?

Why don't you just seed your new tank with a little bit of media from a already cycled tank you have? Then you can take that money you were going to waste on "Tetra safe Start" and get something that's actually needed.

The tank has been cycled with old filter media, that's not really the issue.
I was specifically looking for something in print, to show my husband who thinks he knows better because the pet store workers "said so".
Sorry for the confusion.
He doesn't do any research, he doesn't maintain the tanks, he doesn't understand the cycling process, he was just trying to act like he knew better.
I was hoping to have something he could read so he wouldn't put so much faith in the pet store employees, and I don't have to argue with him.

[sevenyearnight]

Getting the safe start was because the tank was much larger than the one I transfered the media from, and I wanted to make sure I had sufficient bacteria.

[J-P]

still you don't need it.

if the puffer is putting out X amount of waste in the smaller thank and the biofilter is fine, he is not going to put out X times 2 amount of waste in a larger tank. The biofilter is already adjusted to his / her level of waste. A larger tank doesn't change that, unless you are adding more fish.

[sevenyearnight]

Yeah, everything was fine without it.
And I took the junk back that next day.
Had some talks about trusting pet shop employees vs. information provided by scientists, long term hobbyist, etc. with the husband.
Issue (for now) resolved lol.

[HGI]

Ahhhh got ya, so I'm going to safely guess that all the tanks are "your" tanks and he doesn't keep any fish and on a side note some of the things I hear petsmart employees say is mind boggling.

About 2 years ago I've never owned fish before in my life and knew barley anything about fish keeping though I'm the type of guy that likes to "think I know everything", the gf was moving out of the house she was in at the time and into another house at the time but couldn't bring her 10g tank with her so I told her she could keep the tank at my place no problem. Me not knowing anything thought it would be an awesome idea to put the tank on the window shelf above the kitchen sink so I had something to look at while doing dishes and so the tank would get lite since there was no light fixture for the tank. Well needless to say the sunlight had its way with the tank, and I decided I'd be a awesome boyfriend and clean the tank for her, so I saved about 4g of the water from the tank and put all the fish in that bucket and tore the tank down and gave her and the filter a good scrubbing with dish soap..... We all know what happened after this so I wont get into details...

2 years this month I spent 6month reading and learning about fish cause I was convinced that I was ready to own a shoal of piranahs that I've always wanted. I then acquired a 170g, built a stand, got a fx5 and some heaters + lights and continued reading and filling the freezer up with scrap halibut/cod/prawns till I found a add on used.com for 6 baby piranhas in my area. I now have 3 tanks running, (170g 7xrbp /90g fahaka /10g snail) and have a empty 30g sitting in the closet waiting for piranha fry.

Moral of this story? I think it was cause I screwed up and killed all my gf's fish that made me want to learn and fully understand about fish keeping so I think it'd be a good idea to just pick up a little 2.5g or 5g or even a 10g tank for your hubby and tell him that you'd like him to take some interest in the hobby you enjoy so you two have something more in common to share. Let him set it up and do all the work, some men only learn from their own mistakes, I'm one of those guys.

If your wondering what ended up happening to that 10g, the gf and I had to move to another town and the tank got left behind She now has a small 2.5g planted with a beta and cherries.

[sevenyearnight]

Oh no! @ dish soap!
And holy moly @ 6 piranhas! Wow!
hahaha
My husband and I have known each other for 10 years, he's just not someone with the time, dedication, and attention span to be responsible for an aquarium. I've tried to teach him stuff, but he doesn't remember things very well. He helps though quite a bit, mostly with lifting and buying stuff lol. He is interested, and he loves the fish, but he is the first to admit that he just isn't the kind of person to maintain a tank.