Switching Water Conditioner Brands

[dundadundun]

i'd have to agree. api does make some stellar products imo. i especially like a couple of their meds since they're not cocktails. simply, purely what you're looking for. their plant ferts leave much to be desired, imo but then again i'm biased to dry dosing there.

also... i'd agree most dechlor products simply do the job. top fin, on the other hand, i'd be weary of. as a matter of fact i had the same slime issue. i may have falsely attributed it to pond snails now that someone else brings it up.

to delete your posts you have to click on edit/delete and then click on delete before your time is up to edit your posts.

i understand about trying to catch up.

 

[Carch]

It does actually worry me because according to some people most water conditioners are comprised of the exact same chemicals

Well, I'm certainly no expert at all, and this is honestly the first time I have read into this myself. That said, I may or may not be right, I'm just posting what I found through a Wiki search.

Lenny's original statement was in regards to Top Fin's Tap Water Dechlorinator. It's ingredients according to Petsmart's own page are: Sodium thiosulfate, sodium carbonate, water. As Lenny mentioned, these ingredients are in other dechlorinator brands, however I have no doubt in my mind that the ingredients in the Top Fin declorinator are very low-grade and cheap. I cannot prove this, however... so it's a hunch on my end.

My bad experiences are with Top Fin's Water Conditioner, here's the ingredients list: Water, EDTA, PVP, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Thiosulfate, Glycerin.

One ingredient stands out: PVP. I'll save my time and any possible misinterpretation and just link to the Wiki about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly_vinyl_pyrrolidone

This stuff is most likely what causes the vaseline effect within tanks that I've experienced. And I would never want to expose my fish to things of that nature.

 

[GoldLenny]

mg: skimmer! :grinno:

all kidding aside... lenny has been pretty much bashing the "best dechlorinator on the market" (prime) according to most aquarists posting on the web. and did suggest top fin. if my opinion were to be at complete liberty of that product it certainly would speak for itself. i'm not sure my complete opinion would be welcomed on this forum, therefore i will spare my efforts and the mods time.

:nutkick: top fin... and yes that is a sentence.

Exactly how have I been bashing it? I think you need to read or re-read my posts.

 

[GoldLenny]

I have 5 tanks right now total so I probably don't have enough to justify buying in bulk. Thank you soo much for your throughful and detailed answers! It's a very good read to me. I've learned so much already about conditioners from you!

Anyone have an opinion on Tetra or Kent water conditioners?

Unless your five tanks are BIG tanks, you probably don't need the bigger containers of products. API's TWC treats up to 9,400 gallons of water. Even if you have five 100G tank, doing a 25% PWC on each of them every week would only be around 6,000G a year so a 16oz. bottle of API could last you a year and a half. A 500ml bottle of Prime (16.9 oz.) would last you 40 weeks.

 

[GoldLenny]

Well, I'm certainly no expert at all, and this is honestly the first time I have read into this myself. That said, I may or may not be right, I'm just posting what I found through a Wiki search.

Lenny's original statement was in regards to Top Fin's Tap Water Dechlorinator. It's ingredients according to Petsmart's own page are: Sodium thiosulfate, sodium carbonate, water. As Lenny mentioned, these ingredients are in other dechlorinator brands, however I have no doubt in my mind that the ingredients in the Top Fin declorinator are very low-grade and cheap. I cannot prove this, however... so it's a hunch on my end.

My bad experiences are with Top Fin's Water Conditioner, here's the ingredients list: Water, EDTA, PVP, Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride, Sodium Thiosulfate, Glycerin.

One ingredient stands out: PVP. I'll save my time and any possible misinterpretation and just link to the Wiki about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poly_vinyl_pyrrolidone

This stuff is most likely what causes the vaseline effect within tanks that I've experienced. And I would never want to expose my fish to things of that nature.

I think PetsMart's page has the wrong ingredients listed in the *more details* section for Top Fin Tap Water Dechlorinator. http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2752208&lmdn=Fish#prodTab1 Those ingredients sound like a buffer product with the Sodium Carbonate ingredient and not mentioning EDTA. I looked at the MSDS a while back and it does have only Sodium Thiosulfate and EDTA and the bottle on the website also says it treats heavy metals meaning that it would have EDTA in it. If you work for them, you might want to bring this to their attention. I'm guessing those ingredients would be for a buffer up or pH neutral type product.

I wish all companies were required to keep their MSDS sheets available right from the product page. That is one good thing about both Seachem and API... although both of them do use the "proprietary ingredients" non-disclosure trick on a regular basis.

 

[Slappy*McFish]

Personally, I prefer Prime.

 

[Rbishop]

Yep...to much negativity going on in this thread...seems some posts are nothing but sales pitches anymore.

Prime is the best dollar value per dose out there and it's functions can't be beat. Nothing like repetitive posts and testimonials to beat the dead horse.

Getting worse than the Dr. Tim threads....

 

[Jspigs]

Yep...to much negativity going on in this thread...seems some posts are nothing but sales pitches anymore.

Prime is the best dollar value per dose out there and it's functions can't be beat. Nothing like repetitive posts and testimonials to beat the dead horse.

Getting worse than the Dr. Tim threads....

:iagree:

 

[dundadundun]

Yep...to much negativity going on in this thread...seems some posts are nothing but sales pitches anymore.

Prime is the best dollar value per dose out there and it's functions can't be beat. Nothing like repetitive posts and testimonials to beat the dead horse.

Getting worse than the Dr. Tim threads....

:iagree:

sorry. :wall:

 

[nc0gnet0]

Prime is the best dollar value per dose out there and it's functions can't be beat. Nothing like repetitive posts and testimonials to beat the dead horse.

Actually seachem SAFE is by far the best dollar value out there..... not PRIME. Same product in a powdered form.