Names that mean the same

[VioletThePurple]

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[Back in the fold]

Dechlorinator is that and nothing else. It neutralizes chlorine period. Water conditioner can have other ingredients in addition to the dechlorinator such as aloe vera or vitamins.

 

[Naughts]

But some conditioners don't even dechlorinate so read the bottle carefully.
I just use the API water conditioner which dechlorinates and removes heavy metals without adding anything unnecessary. Aloe vera is oily and will inhibit healthy gill functioning and can be particularly problematic for labyrinth fish like betta who breath surface air.

 

[Oblio]

De-chlorinator is a water conditioner. It's Venn diagram circle would be wholly contained in the Conditioner circle.

 

[VioletThePurple]

De-chlorinator is a water conditioner. It's Venn diagram circle would be wholly contained in the Conditioner circle.

I know it's the same, I'm asking what you call it.

 

[GaryE]

I know it's the same, I'm asking what you call it.

I really wish there were an easy answer.

If I dechlorinate with it, the name is obvious. If I have chloramines, then I need more, and I'd probably say water conditioner. If you use just a dechlorinator and your city adds chloramines, bad things will happen, so you want it to be clear when you post here.

 

[Byron]

Every product I have seen is labelled as a water conditioner. All conditioners dechlorinate and most do additional functions beyond that. I have never seen one labelled "dechlorinator," though it might exist. What we aquarists call it may vary, I have used both names in posts depending.

 

[Colin_T]

I like to think of water conditioner as something like Rift Lake conditioner or Livebearer conditioner that adds mineral salts to the water to increase GH, KH & pH. These usually (but not always) have a dechlorinator in them.

A dechlorinator is used to neutralise chlorine in tap water. It also breaks the chloramine bond and neutralises the resultant chlorine, leaving the ammonia in the water. Some brands of dechlorinator will also convert the free ammonia into ammonium, which is less harmful to fish. This allows the filter bacteria and live plants to use the ammonium in the treated tap water but the ammonium doesn't harm the fish.

Having said this, in general use and if you talk to most people, they regularly interchange the two words and consider them the same thing.