Best Dechlorinator for Planted Tanks?

[Blueiz]

Hmmm.... The only thing that will REMOVE nitrates from your tank are water changes. Detoxification means that..that it makes these compounds non toxic to fish. Doesnt matter what water conditioner you use, just so long as you dont use a nitrate absorbing pad, or somethng of the sort, your plants will still be able to use the nitrate..

Prime is my conditioner of choice..all my tanks are planted..

Blue

 

[Rex Grigg]

So much misunderstanding here.

1. It's best in a planted tank to have measurable amounts of nitrates. In fact many people who have planted tanks add nitrates.

2. When used at normal levels as a water conditioner Prime has not effect on nitrates. You have to use it at ELEVATED LEVELS. As I recall you have to dose it at a level about 5X normal to have an effect.

If you head over to the most active forum on the web devoted to nothing but planted aquariums www.plantedtank.net you will find a couple of polls where Prime comes out as the water conditioner of choice.

Not to disparage anyone here but the knowledge level at www.plantedtank.net is MUCH higher in general there than here.

 

[eyeman]

So much misunderstanding here.

1. It's best in a planted tank to have measurable amounts of nitrates. In fact many people who have planted tanks add nitrates.

2. When used at normal levels as a water conditioner Prime has not effect on nitrates. You have to use it at ELEVATED LEVELS. As I recall you have to dose it at a level about 5X normal to have an effect.

If you head over to the most active forum on the web devoted to nothing but planted aquariums www.plantedtank.net you will find a couple of polls where Prime comes out as the water conditioner of choice.

Not to disparage anyone here but the knowledge level at www.plantedtank.net is MUCH higher in general there than here.

I pretty much agree:

Prime does not remove the Nitrate. You could use a ten times dose and your measurable Nitrates will not change. They are still there. We just arn't sure if they are still available to the plants. I see no reason anyone would do this for Nitrates. Water changes will fix most anything.

Here is a link to PLANTEDTANK.NET as you mentioned and he says pretty much the same thing I said. We don't know well enough about how plants use nutrients to say.

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/g...-do-you-use-dechlorinate-your.html#post130133

 

[quadpants]

Prime is the way to go. It is way cheaper too since it is like 5x more concentrated than stuff like Amquel and Aqua Plus. I agree with Rex and others as it doesn't remove Nitrates and is the overwhelming dechlor of choice at Planted Tank and most other places which would probably know!

 

[Marinemom]

Prime is by far the better product in my opinion. I use it in all of my aqurariums and that would include the fully planted aquariums as well.

Marinemom

 

[loaches r cool]

On the bottle of Prime it states...

".... detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them".

I dont know where you guys got going on this removes nitrates thing. Looks like the OP about that said 'detoxifies nitrite and nitrate', not removes nitrate from your tank. And it further states that the biofilter will still need to remove them. In a heavily planted tank you plants are most of your biofiltration when it comes to nitrites and nitrates. So that all sounds good to me.

Even if it did alter nitrite and nitrate to a form unuseable by plants (I didnt say remove them from the tank) dont most of use dose nitrate anyhow?

 

[Mgamer20o0]

if we are not adding it the little amount thats in there the plants would need.