Cheap water conditioner

[vantgE]

I don't know if this is the right place but it's has saved me a bit of money, thought i'd tell yous

I've been useing becket brand chlorine and chloramine conditioners, it's for ponds and we buy it at rona for nine dollars, in a 473 ml size, according to the bottle does everything aquaplus does, but it's also extra strength use only 5ml for 20 galons(aqua plus requires 10 ml for 10 gallons), my last bottle of aquaplus cost about ten dollars and was only 273 ml at petland.

I am spiderman -sm-

-05-

[Toirtis]

I will trump you with Seachem Prime .....500ml runs about $18, and treats 5000 gallons (whereas that Becket treats only 1892 gallons for $9)...1ml treats 10 gallons.

Beckett: $0.00475/gallon

Prime: $0.0036/gallon.

Not a huge difference, but if you are treating more than 20,000 gallons/year...it adds up.

[RD.]

I'll trump you both ........

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=60222

BTW - there's a huge misconception as to what will treat what, and with regards to 'pond' formulas, what they were designed for.

If you take the time to read through that 3 page thread, you'll find that neither one of the products you're both using are very cost effective.

The only cost effective way to treat tap water is to use a powder form of chlorine and/or chloramine remover, not the liquid forms.

Seachem Safe is good, but Cloram-X gives you an even bigger bang for your buck.

Hope that helps ..........

Edited February 7, 2005 by RD.

[vantgE]

Where do i find seachem just any fish store?

And don't realy like the idea of solids since i'm adding it as i add water with my python

Edited February 7, 2005 by vantgE

[RD.]

And don't realy like the idea of solids since i'm adding it as i add water with my python

So do I.

I mix the powder in a 4L water jug & add it while I'm refilling my tank via my Python. Same thing I did previously with Prime, the powder is just far cheaper.

What do you think these companies use to make up their liquid formulas?

[vantgE]

yes I supose

can i get it in town, i never order off the internet

[RD.]

I rather doubt it.

Unless I'm mistaken, I believe the Calgary water is treated with chlorine, not chloramine, in which case the cheapest way to treat the water would be with sodium thiosulfate. (which is also a dry powder)

Check this out:

APPLICATION: 1 liter of chlorine at 200 ppm can be neutralized with 1.5 gram of sodium thiosulfate

You can get 5 kg for $24.00 here:

http://www.aquamerik.com/catalogue/produit...desodium&lg=eng

I would think one would be able to find it in Calgary as well. I suspect the LFS's aren't using Seachem Prime to treat all of their tanks.

[RD.]

A few more good reads on this subject:

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm

http://216.168.47.67/CIS-Fishnet/AFM/G29151.htm

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/water/chlorine.shtml

[fatpuffer]

Can seachem Prime actually detoxify nitrIte and nitrAte? I can see nitrIte but I thought the ony way to get rid of nitrAte was do a h20 change.

js

[RD.]

Oh, and BTW - when using Seachem Prime to treat the chloramine treated water in Red Deer, my tests showed that I needed to use twice the dosage recommended by Seachem in order to neutralize/bind the ammonia properly, so in reality with our city water a 500 ml bottle only treats 2500 gallons, not 5000.

[fatpuffer]

Really! well i have been using the 1ml per 5 gallon...I think that would be okay right? The fish seems to be doing well...i will double check on how much i am putting...thanks RD!

jonah

[RD.]

From the Seachem site:

Q: How does Prime make a difference in reducing Nitrates?

A: The detoxification of nitrite and nitrate by Prime (when used at elevated levels) is not well understood from a mechanistic standpoint. The most likely explanation is that the nitrite and nitrate is removed in a manner similar to the way ammonia is removed; i.e. it is bound and held in a inert state until such time that bacteria in the biological filter are able to take a hold of it, break it apart and use it. Two other possible scenarios are reduction to nitrogen (N2) gas or conversion into a benign organic nitrogen compound.

I wish we had some more "concrete" explanation, but the end result is the same, it does actually detoxify nitrite and nitrate. This was unexpected chemically and thus initially we were not even aware of this, however we received numerous reports from customers stating that when they overdosed with Prime they were able to reduce or eliminate the high death rates they experienced when their nitrite and nitrate levels were high. We have received enough reports to date to ensure that this is no fluke and is in fact a verifiable function of the product.

Personally I think if you need to use a chemical to reduce your nitrates, you ought to be giving your head a shake. Also, I've read more than once where someone has used a rather large dose of Seachem prime when performing a water change, and they wiped out all of their fish.

From a long term fish breeder:

One word of caution. Adding Prime directly to your tank can be dangerous if you over do it. I recently performed a water change on my 29 gallon Occellatus gold (pair) tank and my 20 gallon long N. multie tank. I added the prime directly to the water, rather than pre-treating the water. I accidently splashed a bit too much but thought nothing of it. With in 20 minutes I had killed my female occie breeder and a couple of fry that I was not able to pull out earlier. I didn't over do it as so much on the multies, but I did lose all the newly hatched fry.

[RD.]

Jonah - As previously stated, in Red Deer, you need to use twice the recommended dosage of Seachem Prime. I used Seachem's own "Multi Test" kit to get the "free" ammonia readings. I performed numerous tests, over the course of a year, and they always came out the same.

If you don't "double the dosage", you will have a small ammonia spike after each & every water change, which over time, even in small doses, is harmful to a fishes health.

[freshmike]

VERY imformative thread, thank you all. :beer: :thumbs:

[Toirtis]

RD: Lots of LFSes use Prime....they get good-sized wholesale discounts on the big (2L-20L) bottles. Its just too bothersome to mix the thiosulphate for most of them.

I will not add any dechlorinator directly to a tank if I can possibly help it.