What's the best water conditioner

FYI - products stating that they "remove" heavy metals are lying. They may complex them and precipitate them out from the water column. Fine, they are in the substrate or the filter instead - which is still in the system, and after a few hours to days max, the agent breaks down and the metals are again fully available. Do not believe everything you read on a label. Much of it is branding puffery.

Slime coat additives: Is there somthing wrong with your fish's slime coat? If so it is probably due to bad water conditions, which should not happen, or at least should be corrected. Fish have no difficulty maintaining a fully normal and functional slime coat. Additives to assist this are snake oil, especially as a purported routine and chronic "need" in a heathy tank. A "conditioner" to neutralize disinfectants used by utilities to make the water supply safer is required unless you use "time" - as I do more than 95% of the time.

When my utility-provided water has chloramines, I use Prime. When it is chlorine-only, I use time.
 
Well, I'm going to have to use the stress coat for the next couple of weeks anyway. I'm hoping I can minimize its effects...but not sure how. I need to remove the chlorine, but I cannot do so outside of the tank. So I think I need to treat the entire tank first, then do the WC. Maybe I should skip the WC for a week or two until I can get some plain old dechlorinator?
 
I remember reading somewhere that is was best to add as little as possible to your water...how could it be good for your fish to have more stuff to swim in.
I used to use both Amoquel and Novaqua...that's what was reccomended to me when I started in the hobby, but I've switched to Prime. I could so do a Seachem ad. :joke:
 
I use my RO/DI unit to strip everything out of the water. Then I use certain salt mixes to "design" my water to my exact pH, kH, and gH specifications. Put in some plant food into that water and age it and aerate it in a seperate tank with a small whisper and heater to keep it at the correct temperature and to prevent it from going stagnant. I always have top quality water available on waterchange day without anything extra added to the water like conditioners. I like this approach because I can move anywhere and always have the exact same water for my fish. Before I got my RO unit, I used Wardley's Chlor Out to condition my water. Since it was a simple sodium thiosulfate mix, it did not smell bad and any ammonia released from the chloramines would quickly be consumed by the bio-filter before they could harm the fish.
 
I've seen no one using Tetra's Aqua safe.

When I started on the hobby, I used the yellow bottle, but since I got my bigger tank I switched to the green bottle (for ponds) and since it's more concentrated I can save some bucks. I called Tetra's costumer service and was told I I could use this product in a tank as long as I was able to calculate and measure the smaller quatities needed for smaller water changes.

Is there something wrong with Tetra's water conditioners? Need some opini0ons here.
 
patoloco said:
I've seen no one using Tetra's Aqua safe.

When I started on the hobby, I used the yellow bottle, but since I got my bigger tank I switched to the green bottle (for ponds) and since it's more concentrated I can save some bucks. I called Tetra's costumer service and was told I I could use this product in a tank as long as I was able to calculate and measure the smaller quatities needed for smaller water changes.

Is there something wrong with Tetra's water conditioners? Need some opini0ons here.
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It has that slime coat stuff in it. It also makes those bogus claims of removing heavy metals.

Roan
 
Im new to this and use Nutrafin Aqua plus. Dont know if this is good or bad, although it does state that it coats scales and fins to protect against cuts and scrapes.

One question.....
Im supposed to add 10ml per 70 litres every water change. Do I measure that against how big a water change I am doing, or the size of the tank? Ive got a 129 litre tank, so Id add about 20ml no matter how much of a water change Im doing?
 
i used to use the cheap stuff from wal mart but since trying prime i am very pleased with its performance i havent looked back since nor do i plan to.
 
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