best tap water conditioner?

[randalizm]

hi peoples! whats the best and safest tap water conditioning brand thats out there?

[sublime1184]

A lotta people use prime, I use AquaSafe by tetra...gets the job done, not that much money and never caused problems

[ScottoMacD]

If you need it for chlorine buy the cheapest one. Almost all use the same chemical for dechlor. Don't pay more just for a company name.

If you need it for chloramine. The two best are Seachems Prime and Amquel.

[WinterWind]

I personally use Amquel, and I've used it since I got into the hobby. Very reliable. You could combine it with Novaqua (both by Kordon) and these two will get rid of all the unsafe chemicals and metals in your water.

[Kasakato]

I use Prime. (Harlock sold me on it)

[daveedka]

When I use conditioner I use prime. In my case chlorine only, so water aging allows me to skip the conditioner altogether.
Dave

[Cyclops]

I use Prime. I like it except the smell.

[fishfreaks]

aquasafe tetra and sometime we use aquarium pharmacuticals super strength water conditoner

[mcps95]

Prime is much more concentrated than Amquel/Amquel Plus. So while the bottle may be more expensive, it is cheaper because you use significantly less of it.

Anyone using Amquel should seriously consider switching to Prime. It has saved me mucho $$$$.

[ergo sum]

Here is a really good comparison.

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

[SCU33ZE]

since i went broke i use prime. Little gets the job done. :thm:

[Raskolnikov]

You could also use Seachem SAFE. According to the manufacturer it's basically a dry version of PRIME, and SAFE is about 1/2 the price of PRIME when comparing gallons treated.

Going by the current prices on the most comparable quantities of the two products (at TPP):

500mL PRIME treats 5,000 gallons @ $10.99 (~$.002/gal)
250g of SAFE treats 10,000 gallons @ $9.19 (~$.0009/gal)

[Seaman]

aquasafe tetra and sometime we use aquarium pharmacuticals super strength water conditoner


I also use aquarium pharmacuticals conditioner, its CHEAP and one bottle treats 2500g for $2.85 so 10,000g for $12.00.

[psychadelicdrea]

I use start right from jungle it claims to remove chlorine and cloramine and stimulates natural slime coating and says nuetralizes toxic metals? anyone ever heard of this product and have any ill reports about it

[Seaman]

I try to stay away from "all in one" type products or ones that have things in them I dont need. Like aloe, or things to increase the fish's slime coat. IMo you shouldnt need either of those, so your paying for extras. its always good to have things on hand to help with problems, but IMO you shouldnt be helping the fish's slime coat during every waterchange.


just my opinion, also my conditioner removes chlorine and chloramine, and heavy metals.

[lousybreed]

if you have planted tanks I have read from several reliable sources that you should not use conditioners that bind heavy metals because the plants uses several heavy metals. The chemicals that bind heavy metals make the nutirents inaccesable to the plants and thus starve the plants.

[TKOS]

Like Dave I have chlorine only so I age my water. But I keep some Wardley's on hand just in case I don't have time to age enough water. I have been using the same bottle for a couple of years and it cost me $4 at Walmart.

[RTR]

The binding of heavy metals is a temporary thing in any case, depening on the survival time of the complexing agent used in the "conditioner". They may be removed from the water column to the substrate. They are not really removed from the system.

[lousybreed]

well that depends on what complexing agent is actually used. Some use EDTA which is soluable in water and is not a temporary thing. The association (or dissassociation) constant for many edta compounds favors being locked tight away in the edta structure rather than swimming around in the water. I believe that is is on the magnitude of 1,000,000 to 1. I do have a hard time thinking that plants cannot rip the minerals away from the edta.......It would be interesting to find a paper or a report on this subject.