How Much Water Conditioner To Use In A Water Change?

[gazb5590]

Was just wondering how much Seachem Prime I should use in a 10L bucket. I've been doing some big water changes recently and my tank has started cycling all over again but my ammonia spiked yesterday and I'm not sure if this is because the tank has started a whole new cycle or because I'm not treating the water properly before adding it to the tank? Also should I use Seachem Prime on its own to condition the water or should I be using something such as Tetra Safestart in conjunction with Prime to treat the water?
Also my PH had a sudden drop to 4.3 a few days back after a water change. At first I added some crushed shells and ocean rock but it still stayed around 4.5 and the fish looked very stressed so I added some baking soda and the PH is about 8 now. Was just wondering if this is dangerous in anyway?
All advice is welcome

 

[CezzaXV]

You'll want 0.25ml to treat a 10L bucket, so pipettes at the ready! It's quite safe to overdose, however, so don't worry about being exact. You shouldnt need to dose with anything else.

If you have ammonia in your water, Prime will bind with it which will make it safe for your fish for a short period but fully usable by your bacteria. This can sometimes cause false positives on a test, so the best thing to do is test a day or two after your water change to see a more true reading.

Crushed shells won't raise your pH, but it will make your water harder so more resistant to pH changes. A big sudden change in pH like that won't have done your fish much good, but it's done now so all you can do is hope your fish pull through it. Do you know what the pH of your tap water is?

 

[phoenixgsd]

Was just wondering how much Seachem Prime I should use in a 10L bucket. I've been doing some big water changes recently and my tank has started cycling all over again but my ammonia spiked yesterday and I'm not sure if this is because the tank has started a whole new cycle or because I'm not treating the water properly before adding it to the tank? Also should I use Seachem Prime on its own to condition the water or should I be using something such as Tetra Safestart in conjunction with Prime to treat the water?
Also my PH had a sudden drop to 4.3 a few days back after a water change. At first I added some crushed shells and ocean rock but it still stayed around 4.5 and the fish looked very stressed so I added some baking soda and the PH is about 8 now. Was just wondering if this is dangerous in anyway?
All advice is welcome

your tank wont cycle again because you did a large water change, unless you changed the filter, as its the filter that cycles, not the water, so the tetra safe start shouldnt be needed, seachem prime is used very sparingly, for 10lt i would use a small dropper or something similar like a syringe, also i think ive read that sudden ph changes are more harmful to fish, they are more happy with a stable level and some can adapt to that level and can be quite shocked when ph up or down is added, im no expert though and still learning myself, hopefully someone with more experience will help

 

[CezzaXV]

Very few fish would have been happy at 4.3, so changing it might not have been a bad thing, but the size of the change might have been a problem. I can tell you though that I have very soft water and my pH is up and down like a yoyo, and I've yet to lose a fish to pH shock. The trick is in making sure pH changes aren't sudden (as they might have been with the bicarbonate), and only changing it when you absolutely have to. It's been done now so they'll either pull through or they won't. If you ever have to do it again, I'd recommend treating a bucket of water with the bicarbonate and dripping it into the tank over the space of hours rather than dosing direct to the tank.

 

[gazb5590]

Thanks a lot for the advice. I added the bicarbonate a few days back now and the fish seem a lot less stressed now than what they did at 4.3 so hopefully everything should be ok. And my tap water is around 6.6. I've really struggled to cycle my tank though so hopefully it will work this time round

 

[CezzaXV]

It's possible you're in a mini cycle, so will hopefully clear soon. Just keep doing water changes whnever necessary.

It's true that the bacteria we try to grow during a cycle can struggle in low pH water, but they will adapt so just hang on in there. Your tap water seems to have a healthy pH so if you feel your pH is too low in the future just do a water change. It never hurts to do a water change