Water Conditioner

Is it good to use, what are the repurcutions if you use too much of it

Wish I had something to add, but I have some questions as well. Is the chemical reaction for dechlorinating and breaking up chlorimine instant?

Reason I ask is because my tank is cycling but already has my fish load because I followed the Walstad advice and added fish immediately. What I wonder is if doing water changes is killing any nitrifying bacteria that could be starting everytime I add new water that has been treated with a conditioner.

Was going to start my own thread but makes sense to ask on this one...I think....

The anti-chloramine chemicals work pretty quickly. The possible downside is then having a sudden release of amine groups in the water which can enter the ammonia/nitrate cycle. But this is a temporary loading to that cycle.

Not to serve as free advertising for Seachem or anything (though I work at Petco so it is kinda habit to recommend products by brand and name) but Prime and also I believe AmQuel (Kordon) not only dechlorinate, but have compounds to bind the amine groups released by the breakdown of the chloramine. I personally use Prime as my water conditioner simply because it pretty much does everything, and it is much more concentrated, so you get a lot more bang for your buck (though it's a big pain to dose in small tanks).

I also recommend Prime without hesitation. It's true that the small amount required makes it easy to add extra to a small tank, but it doesn't really matter.

The reaction is effectively instant once the chemical is mixed in. Nearly all commercial dechlorinators are mostly sodium thiosulfate, but Prime does have an additive that binds ammonia (temporarily - they say it lasts about 24 hours) and heavy metals. These chemicals are quite harmless to both fish and filters. Prime says you can safely add up to five times the recommended dose if needed to neutralize ammonia or nitrite toxicity during cycling, and in my limited experience even higher doses are not harmful, just entirely unnecessary.

Prime works so fast that you can actually add it to the tank directly and then add chlorinated water. It will actually dechlorinate the water fast enough that the fish show no signs of stress. I now do all my water changes by siphoning with a garden hose, then hooking the draining end to the faucet and turning it on once it's drained far enough. I almost always do this with filters turned off since draining causes HOB filters to lose suction, but in one tank with a sump filter and another with a sponge filter I've seen no negative impact from briefly exposing the filter to chlorinated water in this way.

You really need to use a dechlorinator of some kind on any water you add to your tank unless you're using well water though.

You really need to use a dechlorinator of some kind on any water you add to your tank unless you're using well water though.

I have city water but do not use any chemicals.

It is a GREAT joy & convenience to be able to go directly from tap to tank and not have to bother with the nuisance of any chemical cures. Or having to let water stand overnight for chlorine to dissipate, or worry that my water supply will switch to chloramine without telling me.

When we bought our current house, it had 2 standard GE canister-style water filters hooked up in series in the PVC lines near where the water enters the house. They each use a 2"x10" (more or less) replaceable filter cartridge available at any home improvement superstore. I upgraded from the cheapest sediment cartridges to an upgraded version that says it also removes chlorine ... $11.99 for a packaged pair at Home Depot for my latest purchase. I replace the cartridges in both filters every 3 months.

If these filters had been set up for fish room only, rather than whole house, I'm sure they would last much much much longer, and therefore be significantly cheaper to operate.

And if I was really frugal and meticulous instead of being lazy and lacking time, I would replace the cartridges on an as-needed basis, rather than on an arbitrary schedule. I put a faucet in between the two filters, so it's possible to test the water exiting from the "first contact filter", say weekly. If there was any detectable level of chlorine after stage one filtration , then toss Cartridge 1, move (the backup) Cartridge 2 to Filter 1, and put a new Cartridge in Filter 2. (And I did that for a month once, before re-opting for convenience.)

The non-replaceable part of the filters run about $30 to $80 each, the GE models I inherited are about $40 these days. Since those were already in place, I haven't researched the purported benefits of the more expensive filter housings over the cheaper ones. But the disposable cartridge is doing all the real work.

Edited by Doug_Dame, 29 September 2009 - 10:17 AM.

Researched the active chemical and the reaction is nearly instantaneous.

I use whatever dechlor I find that is cheap . I think AmQuel was the cheapest I could find locally at one point.

I have been known to change water without even using anything...which I don't recommend, but have nevertheless done.

I also recommend Prime without hesitation.

I agree. I only use prime. When I change water in my 75gal, I just pour in a half cap while the water is filling back up. I also have a small bottle that I take out collecting with me. I usually add a couple drops to the creek water before transporting home (it also helps to have some handy if you need to add some emergency water that may have chlorine in it).

I'd actually be careful with Prime. Me, along with many others have had problems with it. You can read about my encounter here: http://annasbrainthi...me-problem.html

And I'm not the only one.

Now I use Aquasafe for ponds. It's cheap, comes in a huge bottle, and goes a really long way (just like Prime in that respect). I've never had a problem with it.

how about StressCoat?

how about StressCoat?

There are instructions on the bottle. Get the one with the measuring car on top as opposed to the squirt bottle. It is 1ml/gallon for conditioning and assisting the slime coating on the fish. It is .5ml/gallon for water conditioning only.

There are instructions on the bottle. Get the one with the measuring car on top as opposed to the squirt bottle. It is 1ml/gallon for conditioning and assisting the slime coating on the fish. It is .5ml/gallon for water conditioning only.

yes this is the one i use. i'm just wondering how you guys rate it?