Using water conditioner to rebalance leftover bleach in aquarium?

Dalton'n'Darwin

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I've had my axolotl for many years now and have not needed to do any major maintenance until now, so I'm a little rusty on some things, but here's what's up;
I'm currently dealing with what I believe was a collumnaris outbreak in my tank and have recently purged anything I can with a bleach solution and was advised to use water conditioner afterwards to help neutralize it faster.
What kind of ratio of conditioner:water should I use to neutralize hidden bleach before I start to cycle the tank again?
Any and all help appreciated, thanks.


(Normally, for 20gal of tap water, I only need to use 1 ml of conditioner. Water in my area tends to be hard. Axolotl is being fridged in the meantime and given salt baths every day. I have a 20 gal tank. I'll be using Fluval Cycle after this with some low-bioload fish (to become feeders) to cycle the tank for two weeks before fully reintroducing her.)
 
Hi!
I would just rinse the bleach off anything non porous and toss/replace anything that was (sponges, media..etc). I don’t see the value in adding more chemicals. Make sure it all passes the smell test and then rinse again for good measure.
you could also do a fish less cycle with ammonium chloride. I find that it cycles a tank faster without introducing fish pathogens. I also do a quasi-full water change once the filter is cycled to get rif of the metabolites.
Hope it helps!
 
Hi!
I would just rinse the bleach off anything non porous and toss/replace anything that was (sponges, media..etc). I don’t see the value in adding more chemicals. Make sure it all passes the smell test and then rinse again for good measure.
you could also do a fish less cycle with ammonium chloride. I find that it cycles a tank faster without introducing fish pathogens. I also do a quasi-full water change once the filter is cycled to get rif of the metabolites.
Hope it helps!
This is super helpful, thank you.
I'm rinsing and replacing my setup right now, but I hope I can at least figure out what the solution would have been for using tank conditioner to clear out the problem.
In regards to using Ammonium Chloride; I've already bought Cycle for my tank and will need to keep bathing my Axolotl for some time longer, but I'll keep your method in mind. It sounds great and I'm glad you mentioned it.
One clarifying question- Just so I understand, you're saying that you use Ammonium Chloride (which says it's supposed to take 5-7 days) to do a fishless cycle, then you do a quasi-full water change when it's done (and water test is good), and then begin reintroducing your axolotl?
 
Well, the whole point of ammonium chloride is to use with a biological booster so it's not too late if you decide to use it. Once the filter is cycled, I change the water to remove anything left in the water column...give it 24 hours, check my chemistry..and if its all good I add the animal.
 
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