Which water conditioner?

[layna]

The person who i got my axies off only ever used API stress coat and his axies were all healthy, so naturally i continued the trend and got myself some.
Its all i ever use and all i ever will, its a decent price for the amount you get and seems to do the job

Thumbs up for API stress coat

 

[NadeZ]

The thing you have to watch out for with dechlorinators, is that most of them work by breaking Chloramines down to yield Ammonia and Chlorine, and then neutralizing the Chlorine. Obviously a cycled tank will convert this Ammonia into Nitrate, which nullifies the purpose of a water change to lower Nitrate levels.
I don't know the actual amounts of Chloramine in tap water, to calculate how much Ammonia you would essentially be adding so it maybe that the water change still brings about a significant net reduction in Nitrate. Seachem Prime goes beyond to neutralize ammonia, nitrite and nitrate, making it a truly safe conditioner (I don't know about the others) and obviously, most general conditioners remove metals and other contaminants, not just chlorine and chloramine.
That's just my advice, based on chemistry, to avoid cheap dechlorinators that do not say how they remove the chlorine/amine. Personally, if you know that you're water does not contain contaminants other than chlorine, just leave it to stand for a few days.

 

[auntiejude]

I don't know the actual amounts of Chloramine in tap water, to calculate how much Ammonia you would essentially be adding

The amount of chloramine in tap water is tiny (<1ppm), the chemical reaction in removing the chlorine is 1:1, so the amount of ammonia produced by dechlorination is negligible; a cycled tank would have no problem in dealing with it. Water is treated with exactly the same chemicals that we use for an aquarium for use in kidney dialysis - completely non-toxic.

Don't believe me? Test your tap water and dechlorinated water for ammonia - they will test the same.

avoid cheap dechlorinators that do not say how they remove the chlorine/amine.

There is only one substance that is used to remove chlorine/chloramine - sodium thiosulfate. This neutralises chlorine, chloramine and metals. Since ALL dechlorinators contain this substance, they all do the same thing the same way. The thing that differs is the other stuff in the bottle - aloe vera, various salts and minerals. 'Cheap' dechlorinators don't contain the extra additives but do exactly the same job as the expensive ones in terms of dechlorination.

Seachem Prime goes beyond to neutralize ammonia, nitrite

But your cycle does this anyway. You actually need ammonia and nitrate to feed the bacteria in the filter.

 

[NadeZ]

@Auntiejude
I had no idea the levels were so low, fair enough then the cheap single-purpose dechlorinators would be fine


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[bugdozer]

Prime trades on its "ammonia locking" properties as a selling point, it's as if a brand of food plastered a big "FAT FREE!" label on its packaging, when all other brands of the same food also contained no fat but didn't mention it.
That, and it boasts about being incredibly concentrated so you only need a little bit. Which makes it incredibly easy to add a huge percentage more than you need to the water.

 

[auntiejude]

Prime trades on its "ammonia locking" properties as a selling point....... That, and it boasts about being incredibly concentrated so you only need a little bit. Which makes it incredibly easy to add a huge percentage more than you need to the water.

Good point on the dosage, a very high dose (10x) is toxic to fish, so I assume less than that would be toxic for axies.

I bought a water conditioner with aloe a while back, and I found I was still getting chlorine readings on my test and had to add more than the bottle said, and my axies developed a problem with fungus.

I swear by plain thiosulfate - I buy the crystals from a photography supplier and make up a dechlorinator solution a litre at a time.

You also need to remember that dechlorinators degrade over time, so if you buy a huge bottle by the time you get to the last few doses it will be less effective than the first.