# Water Conditioning Products



## karys (Aug 29, 2010)

I am looking at water conditioning products, and, well, I am confused! As experienced fish keepers I am sure you can help me out with this!

So the first product I looked at was this
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/weekly-water-cleaner-by-pets-at-home-25619
I was reading it, and it seems pretty good, but it mentions nothing about chlorine. Does this mean that it won't take the chlorine out of tap water?

So then I looked at this
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/aqua-safe-aquarium-water-conditioner-250ml-by-tetra-19009
Which says it makes tap water safe, but mentions nothing about Nitrates and Ammonia.
I am confused!

Does this mean I need both?
And if so, when do I use each of them?

Please help!


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## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Don't bother with anything that promises to remove nitrate or ammonia. these may or may not work, but they will definitely cause you major problems later. Just stick with dechlorinator.
That "weekly water cleaner" stuff is NOT dechlorinator, and you don't want it.


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## vickiandkev (Aug 29, 2010)

We use tap pond doctor and works great. I agree dont use any that claim to remove ammonia etc they just cause spikes!


hope that helps


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## karys (Aug 29, 2010)

ah ok! Great, thank you 
So how do I get rid of ammonia and nitrates?


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## Revolution1221 (Apr 20, 2010)

Prime! all the way you get so much for your money compared to other products. Most are 10mL per 10 gallons and prime is 10mL per 50. It does claim to remove nitrites and ammonia but lots of people on this site use prime and ive never had a problem or heard of anyone else having a spike while using it. I have personally taken a sample of tap water tested it the ammonia and nitrates came out like most tap water slightly elevated then treated with prime and tested a little later and they came out at almost zero.


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## karys (Aug 29, 2010)

Thank you! I will look that up


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## JimW/Oscar (Jul 4, 2010)

karys said:


> So how do I get rid of ammonia and nitrates?


You have to get rid of ammonia via biological filtration (nitrifying aerobic bacteria grown in a media like a sponge, biomax, etc in your filter) and the only way to remove nitrates is through regular partial water changes.

I agree that Prime is an excellent tap water conditioner. Anymore your dechlorinator needs to be able to break the chloramine bond as so many local water principalities use chloramine rather than chlorine anymore. When the chemical bond between the chlorine and ammonia in chloramine is broken and the chlorine is nutralized unfortunately the ammonia remains, the biological filtration should be able to take care of the ammonia though Prime also converts ammonia into ammonium which is much safer for your fish while also still consumable by your biological filter.



Revolution1221 said:


> "Prime" does claim to remove nitrites and ammonia but lots of people on this site use prime and ive never had a problem or heard of anyone else having a spike while using it. I have personally taken a sample of tap water tested it the ammonia and nitrates came out like most tap water slightly elevated then treated with prime and tested a little later and they came out at almost zero.


While I've seen on line ads claiming Prime removes nitrites and ammonia Prime's bottle directions explain about the conversion to ammonium (it also bonds with nitrites and pacifies that molecule quite a bit). Your ammonia tester may still register ammonia after using Prime but that's the ammonium.


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## karys (Aug 29, 2010)

Thank you so much for all the help you have all given! I am glad I went on here before getting my fish


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