RainboWBacoN420 said:
To be honest I think Prime is over rated and it stinks, Its 1 redeeming feature is that its cheap because you only need a little.
It may be overrated, but is it not a good water conditioner...?
What would you recommend? I'm curious.
Byron said:
For the record, the Aqueon Plant Food contains (from their website):
Aquarium Plant Food 0-0-1
Guaranteed Analysis
Soluble Potash K2O..................................1%
Calcium ...................................................0.2%
Magnesium (Mg)........................................5%
0.03% Water Soluble Magnesium (Mg)
Sulfur (S)..............................................0.036%
0.036% Combined Sulfur (S)
Boron (B)............................................0.0006%
Iron (Fe)..................................................0.12%
0.12% Chelated Iron (Fe)
Manganese (Mn)............................0.00008%
0.00008% Chelated Manganese (Mn)
Molybdenum (Mo).............................0.0035%
Zinc (Zn)...........................................0.00012%
0.00012% Chelated Zinc (Zn)
That's odd, I looked at the bottle a few weeks ago and it listed copper at about... 0.0001%, I believe?
This is cut/pasted from the Aqueon website. Frankly I would have expected copper to be included as it is an important micro-nutrient. But this is not likely an issue here, unless this is being overdosed.
I'd like to comment on the Prime issue. This is one of only two conditioners I know of (the other being
Ultimate) that detoxify nitrite, though there may be others. For this reason, it is a good conditioner to use in new tanks as it will detoxify ammonia (by changing it to ammonium) and nitrite (by somehow binding it). On a regular basis, however, I do not recommend Prime unless there is nitrite or nitrate in the source water (Prime also detoxifies nitrate in some manner).
First, I do not like using a chemical compound that does things that do not need doing, put simply. If one does not have nitrite or nitrate in the source water, then there is no benefit to adding chemicals to detoxify these. Except in a new tank, ammonia and nitrite should be handled effectively and sufficiently by bacteria/archaea and plants, and nitrate can be kept low by good maintenance (water changes, not overstocking or overfeeding, filter cleaning) and live plants even if just some floating, plus the natural denitrification occurring in the substrate. I keep mentioning something many fail to understand, which is that every substance added to the water is getting inside the fish, and this must be kept to the minimum.
Second, Seachem admit they do not fully understand how Prime "detoxifies": nitrite and nitrate, and whenever the manufacturer of any product is unable to explain how that product works, I become unsettled. The other thing is that Prime becomes ineffective after 24-36 hours, so the nitrite and nitrate "detoxified" will at that point again turn toxic if they are still present. This is (or should be) more relevant in cycling tanks, as it means a water change using Prime is necessary (assuming fish are present). Prime should never be used as some sort of "cure" for these issues.
The "best" water conditioner is one that only does what needs to be done in your particular situation, or as close to this as possible. In other words, if one only has chlorine in the tap water, then a conditioner that only detoxifies chlorine is all you need. Now, all of the common conditioners will do this, most will also deal with chloramine, and most also detoxify heavy metals. But beyond this, unless you need more, don't. Some add other things like aloe vera which not only has no benefit to begin with, but may actually be dangerous to fish as it is likely this stuff affects the delicate gills.
Byron.
/www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=3983
