Is this conditioner safe?

[wodesorel]

The only reason I know about it is because I keep fish. It's not something that the pet stores educate about, nor do they usually stock the kind that their customers actually need to use. Back when all city water supplies used chlorine it was a non-issue. Dump any dechlor in and it was fine instantly, or let it set out for 24 hours and it was safe, too. Now you have this chloramine crap that is so stable that BOILING doesn't remove it! People have tested water that sat out for 2 weeks and it was still in there. Yes, safer for us because there is no way that harmful bacteria or parasites are getting through the pipes and i a cup gets left out there's no risk of getting sick drinking it the next day, but it sucks for anyone that keeps exotic pets.

[kornchaser]

Thanks!! Wow glad I made this post, everyone's learning


Mommy of 11 PP babies:
Poseidon (Sid), Octavius, Matty, Junior, Aries, Kaylee, Turbo, Adrian, Pepper, Flower and Winifred.

[megmaholm]

Thanks!! Wow glad I made this post, everyone's learning

Haha yes, thank you for that!

[kornchaser]

Haha yes, thank you for that!

Haha, anytime!


Mommy of 11 PP babies:
Poseidon (Sid), Octavius, Matty, Junior, Aries, Kaylee, Turbo, Adrian, Pepper, Flower and Winifred.

[Crabinski]

Also this product looks v promising, opinions? http://m.petsmart.com/h5/hub?id=food-ca ... tid-300029

Found this API product at Petco today for $4. The 1.7oz bottle will treat 20 gallons of tap water (1/2 teaspoon per gallon) so, unless you have large pools that you change out every few days, the bottle should last a few months.

[kornchaser]

Found this API product at Petco today for $4. The 1.7oz bottle will treat 20 gallons of tap water (1/2 teaspoon per gallon) so, unless you have large pools that you change out every few days, the bottle should last a few months.

Glad to hear it nots just Petsmart!


Mommy of 11 PP babies:
Poseidon (Sid), Octavius, Matty, Junior, Aries, Kaylee, Turbo, Adrian, Pepper, Flower and Winifred.

[mjjluver]

what if I used API tap water conditioner to make my substrate sand castle consistency? will the ammonia come out if I bake it? and how urgent is it? i have two molters currently.
or does this only apply for drinking/dunking water for them?

Is there something specifically to take out the ammonia that I can use in addition to the API conditioner or do you recommend just throwing out the bottle and using Prime Seachem?
thanks

[wodesorel]

Ammonia is a byproduct of the dechlorinator making the chlorine in chloramine harmless. It lets what was bound ammonia go free. It's in very tiny amounts normally, usually not enough to cause damage but without having a testing kit it's hard to know for sure, so rather than have to go through another step and more cost for the tests, it's easier to start with a dechlorinator that also does ammonia.

I would not worry if you've mixed substrate. There will be much more ammonia from them popping during the first week than what came from the water.

[wodesorel]

And to answer the second part, for the price, a good bottle of Prime might be the way to go for their water. You could get AmmoLock from API, but I think it costs the same as the others.

[Hermiesguardian]

I like this API conditioner:

http://www.petsmart.com/fish/dechlorina ... -36-300031

The small 1.25oz bottle treats 592 gallons of water, 2 drops per gallon, and sells for about $5.

It doesn't say that it also neutralizes ammonia. I know it's sounds silly, but "removes chloramines" is not the end of the story - a standard dechlorinator will remove the chlorine part of the chloramine, but will leave the ammonia behind. Not so much of an issue in a cycled aquarium where the biological filter often takes care of the ammonia quickly, but in a stagnant bowl it can become a problem and ammonia burns gills big time. You only have to worry about this if your water source has chloramines in it, though most of the US is moving towards using it in the tap water. I put together a color coded guide a couple years ago on which product removes what to make it a bit easier on everyone, and the super strength is just a concentrated version of the normal Tap Water Conditioner: viewtopic.php?f=25&t=92553

I looked at the list for water conditioners. Of course I'm looking for anything that takes care of it all in one fell swoop. Lol. But when I look up the ones that supposedly do everything, the packaging is usually missing anything about heavy metals. Like zoo med hermit crab drinking water conditioner. It doesn't mention anything about heavy metals. Same for zoo med repti safe.

[wodesorel]

Seachem Prime does everything in one! It is a little more expensive but you only need 2-4 drops per gallon and it does not expire so it lasts forever.

[Hermiesguardian]

Seachem Prime does everything in one! It is a little more expensive but you only need 2-4 drops per gallon and it does not expire so it lasts forever.

Thank you! Is this referring to heavy metals "Detoxifies nitrite and nitrate"?

[wodesorel]

No, nitrites cause severe gill damage like ammonia does and is part of the bacterial cycle of a fishtank. (Ammonia gets eaten and nitrite is a waste product, nitrite gets eaten by a different kind of bacteria and comes out as nitrate which is much less toxic and can be used by plants or removed with regular water changes.)

You want something that specifically says heavy metals. Prime has it in the description: http://www.seachem.com/prime.php

[Hermiesguardian]

No, nitrites cause severe gill damage like ammonia does and is part of the bacterial cycle of a fishtank. (Ammonia gets eaten and nitrite is a waste product, nitrite gets eaten by a different kind of bacteria and comes out as nitrate which is much less toxic and can be used by plants or removed with regular water changes.)

You want something that specifically says heavy metals. Prime has it in the description: http://www.seachem.com/prime.php

Why when I look it up the bottle on the web site doesn't mention heavy metals. The only thing I found at a pet store today after looking at every conditioner they had, was betta safe but only in fizz tabs. Lol. I got it anyway.

[wodesorel]

Casual fish keepers don't worry so much about metals anymore so it isn't a huge selling point. Somewhere on the bottle it will say heavy metals if it does take care of them, but it may be buried in the fine print!