# AmQuel and NovAqua



## olakytrion (Feb 22, 2005)

I've been looking through various betta sites and some recommend using both of these additives with waterchanges (AmQuel and NovAqua) i understand that they both act as a dechlorinator, but they are supposedly adding good stuff to the water as well and help your betta to be healthier....

For alot of these people who recommend these additives i have found have misinformation in other areas of fishkeeping, and it makes me skeptical of believing that these additives are really going to help.... i have been taught to add to the water only what is really needed, and that doing regular water changes and keeping the tank healthy in general will work better than adding a bunch of additives, but so many people recommend these im starting to wonder if it really helps, or if its like the 1" per gallon myth....

Will my betta be better off with these additives, or will the dechlor im using now (which i know to be a good brand and works well) be just fine????

thanks a lot!


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## aaa (Jan 19, 2005)

i know nothing about both product, but i have used both of them before. i buy whatever is cheap so basically i have use every type of water conditioner and i found out all of them work the same. it really doesn't matter much. i used all of them and fish live with no problem.


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I use amquel as a dechlorinator. I don't know if it's any better or worst then anything else, but I know it works very well and with the amount of time and money I have in my fishroom I want something I can trust.


RC


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## Imbrium (Feb 7, 2005)

I use amquel, because at my lfs I can get my bottle refilled for a discount. Plus they add a lot of ammonia to the tap water here and amquel breaks it down to a form that's less dangerous for fish. The only thing about it is you have to get a test kit that doesn't use Nessler reagents because they are incompatible with amquel.


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## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

As long a your dechlorinator removes ammonia, ammonium and heavy metals you are fine.


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## Prez (Jan 25, 2005)

How many gallons of water are you changing at a time?

It may be cheaper to head to Walmart and buy some spring water/RO'd water/distilled water for about $.58/gal.  Compare that to how much using Amquel and NovAqua would cost you at each refill.

You will also not worry so much about too many additives in the water.

Personally, at the beginning of my [limited] tank career I used all kinds of additives including Amquel+.  My betta was fine with it but sometimes the tank would look and smell strange.  Now, I only use the water listed above (mainly spring water [it's non-carb..lol]) when doing water changes and my tank has been great since.


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## olakytrion (Feb 22, 2005)

well its a 5 gal and i do ~40% changes twice weekly, and around here spring water is like $1 a gallon, and i dont ever see any RO water, and from what ive heard distilled water is bad because there are no minerals in it.... so thats a lot of spring water to go through. Plus, how would i heat the water before i put it in the tank? the house is usually pretty cool and i keep my tank at a strict 78, so im not sure how i could do that....


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

Spring water can be any PH or hardness. Spring water doesn't really tell you much about the water. DS and RO water are both too pure for fish to live in. You might want to mix your water 1/2 & 1/2 with RO or DS water, but unless your water is really crazy you shouldn't need to mix it for betta Splendens. Just use a good declorinator and let you water age overnite before you use it. YOur bigger problem may be keeping your change water the same temp as your tank water.


RC


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## Prez (Jan 25, 2005)

40% twice .. weekly??  

Ok, maybe I should have asked what your system is.  Filtered? or just sitting in a 5gal tank with a heater?  Even so, if you only have (1) betta in a 5 gallon tank with just a heater, I think 40% X2 every week is too much or maybe better to say not necessary -- that's 80% of the waterchanged each week -- that seems it would be even MORE expensive using the Amquel and NovAqua then.  :wink: 

I have a 6gal Eclipse system with:

(1) male Betta
(3) White Clouds
(1) Gold Nugget pleco
(3) Amano shrimp

I do a 30% water change every 2 weeks and occasoinally gravel vacumning- I have never had a problem using the Walmart spring water.  Sometimes I use a bit of distilled and Spring together and water tests have been great.



> spring water is like $1 a gallon


There's no Walmart in your area?!?!...LOL  I thought they were everywhere.  :lol:

Heating the water?  Umm.. do you have a clean glass container?  Do you have a microwave?  Voila!


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## (RC) (Jan 18, 2005)

I do 95% daily WC changes on my best show bettas that are in 2.5G tanks. The Barracks system gets 50% water changes daily. It holds 85 Bettas.

RC


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## olakytrion (Feb 22, 2005)

well, from everything ive heard about keeping bettas in tip-top shape, do as big of a water change as often as you can- 40% twice weekly is a good amount for me... 2 gallons of water really isnt too big of a deal for me, so i was actually thinking of going to 40% 3 times a week.... how does that sound?

the tank is a 5 gal eclipse with a bio-wheel in it, and a 50 watt rena cal heater.

my tap water is quite good, (pH is around 7.4-7.5, but everything is excellent) so i really didnt think id have to go to spring water, and i really dont want to go to a 50/50 RO and tap or DI and tap. too much work.

i actually change 2 gallons each WC, (thats why i figured around 40%) and i dont have a microwave or container that will hold 2 gallons of water in it, and i dont want to microwave seperate container with filled with water...

it may just me, and theres probably no harm in it, but i dont really want to give my fish microwaved water....

i have just been getting hot water from the tap, adding dechlor drops, and then letting it sit until it hits 80 F.... i know its not exactly overnight (which would be ideal), but this is better than straight from the tap to the tank, isnt it?.... maybe my logic is flawed..... should I not be doing it like this?


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