API water conditioner raises ph... And does prime actually do what the label says?

[Car1os]

Yesterday I added some api water conditioner to my tank and i noticed that my ph started to rise. So I did a little experiment and i put some aquarium water in 2 cups and added api to one and left the other one alone. The one with api spiked all the way up to 9.9, and my tank usually around 7.3 and 7.2. I dont remember the exact amount I put in but since it was a small cup then thats most likely why it went up so much. Im assuming it only stays that high for a little while but I didnt really feel like waiting that long to find out. After a couple minutes I added prime to the other cup and the ph didnt change at all. I dont know if this is common knowledge or not but I just wanted to let everyone know.

Also, does prime actually detoxify ammonia and nitrite? I see some people saying it does and some people say it doesnt.

 

[Essjay]

I use API Tap Water Conditioner and have never noticed a change in pH. I'll be doing a water change tomorrow and test some water before I add it to the tank.

Prime claims to detoxify both ammonia and nitrite but the effect only lasts about 24 hours before they revert to their 'undetoxified' form. During the 24 hours they still both show in the tests.
There is one website which claims it can't possibly do what they claim but as Seachem won't say what's in Prime, it's impossible to say.

 

[Car1os]

I use API Tap Water Conditioner and have never noticed a change in pH. I'll be doing a water change tomorrow and test some water before I add it to the tank.

I just checked the ph right now and its at 8.8, so still pretty high. I asked one of my family members if they remember how much we added and we added 1 ml.

 

[mbsqw1d]

What are you comparing the PH to? Your tap water? Have you measured your tap water after leaving it to stand for 24 hours to allow co2 to gas off?

 

[Car1os]

What are you comparing the PH to? Your tap water? Have you measured your tap water after leaving it to stand for 24 hours to allow co2 to gas off?

Yes we left it for 24 hours. I dont understand what you mean by what am i comparing my ph to.

 

[Colin_T]

Yes we left it for 24 hours. I dont understand what you mean by what am i comparing my ph to.

Have a control sample that does not get anything added to it.
eg" you get 3 containers of tap water.
1 gets prime added to it.
1 gets something else added to it.
the third container has nothing added to it and is considered the control.

 

[Essjay]

Are we talking about API Tap Water Conditioner or some other water conditioner made by API?

I asked one of my family members if they remember how much we added and we added 1 ml.

What was this added to - the cup of water or the tank?

Yesterday I added some api water conditioner to my tank

What exactly do you mean? Did you just add it to the tank or was it to treat the new water at a water change?

 

[Car1os]

Are we talking about API Tap Water Conditioner or some other water conditioner made by API?


What was this added to - the cup of water or the tank?


What exactly do you mean? Did you just add it to the tank or was it to treat the new water at a water change?

Yes API Tap Water Conditioner. The 1 ml was added to the cup. I mean we had added the dechlorinator because we did a water change and we noticed the pH from the tank started to rise.

 

[Essjay]

Since the dose rate is 1 drop per gallon (or 3 drops for chloramine)1 ml in a cup is way to much to give a meaningful result.

Do you have chloramine in your tap water or chlorine? If it's chloramine, API Tap Water Conditioner splits it up and removes the chlorine part and leaves the ammonia part in the water. It does nothing to detoxify this ammonia so if you do have chloramine, you may be seeing the effect of the ammonia.
Have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

 

[Car1os]

Since the dose rate is 1 drop per gallon (or 3 drops for chloramine)1 ml in a cup is way to much to give a meaningful result.

I know it was too much for just a cup, I was just checking to see if it actually raised the ph or if something else was going on.

Do you have chloramine in your tap water or chlorine?

Im pretty sure its only chlorine. Thats what the website for my towns water says.

Have you tested your tap water for ammonia?

Yes but I dont remember how high it was so ill see if I do one later.

 

[StevenF]

Chemically speaking you cannot remove chlorine from the water by adding anything. Chlorine bonds to water. So if you cannot remove it you need to make it non toxic by reacting it with something else.

For example if you add sodium hydroxide to tap water it will want to bind with the most reactive atom it can find. That would be chlorine. The result is sodium chloride which in small amounts is not toxic to plants or animals. Sodium hydroxide will push the PH up in tap water.

Now I don't know what is actually in the bottle but it like does have some sort of basic chemical in it that in all likelihood will push the PH up. The conditioner has just enough of convert any free chlorine into a harmless salt without pushing the ph up a noticeable amount in the tank.

 

[Essjay]

API Tap Water Conditioner contains sodium thiosulphate and tetra sodium EDTA.

It removes chlorine in the sense that it turns it into chloride.

 

[Essjay]

I have just compared the pH of my cold tap water to cold tap water with API Tap Water Conditioner added at the recommended dose for chlorine (1 drop per US gallon).

They were exactly the same colour.


I didn't test the warm water I had made up for refilling the tank as pH does vary with temperature. I needed to compare both dechlorinated and plain water at the same temperature.

 

[Avel1896]

Hello
You should really opt for JBL tests. Other brands aren't enough accurate.

 

[Car1os]

Hello
You should really opt for JBL tests. Other brands aren't enough accurate.

I dont use a ph test kit. I have a couple electronic ones.