Water Conditioner

[Francesjane]

So, do I add water conditioner amount based on how much water going into the tank when doing a water change?
Or by how much water is in the tank when full?

 

[techen]

The only time you need to add the amount the tank has is when you first set it up or you need to drain it all.
 
Just use the amount needed for the water change volume.

 

[EllieJellyEllie]

+10
 
You dont want to over condition the tank.

 

[Ch4rlie]

+10
 
You dont want to over condition the tank.

 
Why?
 
I have seen conflicting advice about the use of water conditioner/ de-clorinators.
 
Some say fish are fine without it and in fact may benefit them, others says will harm or even kill fish without de-chlorinator.
 
So always though better to overdose to be on safe side but I always dose as per instructions to what water I have replaced with rather than whole tank volume.
 
Be nice to have definite evidence of which is best.
So far in my research, no conclusive proof of either with or without makes a great deal of difference. Must be a bit of a ' grey area' dependant on water parameters in your tap water really.

 

[Francesjane]

Well I was told by a lady who has multiple fish tanks that she adds the conditioner to the volume of her full tank, which is what I have always done and my fish have not suffered for it I don't believe....
 
My tank is nearly cycled and its taken 4 weeks so far, so if I am showing 0 ammonia 0 Nitrites and between 20 and 40 Nitrates then I take it it's nearly cycled, dont want to assume of course. 
 
I know that some people say that using too much water conditioner slows the cycle process down, maybe that is excessive over use?
 
I guess if its working what I am doing, and my fish are ok, which is the main concern for me, then I shall continue doing the same ?
 
Any other thoughts to deter me from continuing this way?

 

[Lunar Jetman]

 

+10
 
You dont want to over condition the tank.

 
Why?
 
I have seen conflicting advice about the use of water conditioner/ de-clorinators.
 
Some say fish are fine without it and in fact may benefit them, others says will harm or even kill fish without de-chlorinator.
 
So always though better to overdose to be on safe side but I always dose as per instructions to what water I have replaced with rather than whole tank volume.
 
Be nice to have definite evidence of which is best.
So far in my research, no conclusive proof of either with or without makes a great deal of difference. Must be a bit of a ' grey area' dependant on water parameters in your tap water really.
 

 
Why?
 
Well I would say the biggest factor is cost. You'll go through the product much quicker and have to keep buying more.
 
Also, what research have you done so far?

Conditioners/De-Chlorinates will remove things like chlorine and chloramine from your water as well other other heavy metals that can be harmful to your fish. Also some add slime coatings to your fish to help reduce stress and help with healing as well as preventing infection.
 
As to over conditioning, what's really the point? if you've got a basic "tap safe" product it will remove the chlorine present in the prescribed dose. Once it's gone its gone and there's no more to remove! I guess it would be the same with the "stress coat" stuff too. You dose the prescribed amount to protect your fish and it covers the fish with the stress coat. Once it's on, its on!
 
It probably won't hurt to overdose but it's not going to improve things greatly I would have thought.

Personally I just get a tap water conditioner and focus on that. Some of the products I've got have some sort of stress coat but I'm not really that bothered as my tank is well maintained and the fish kept healthy.

 

[Essjay]

It depends on how you refill the tank.
 
If you use a bucket, add dechlorinator to each bucket of water, at the dose amount for the amount of water in the bucket.
 
If you refill with a hosepipe, add enough dechlorinator to the tank to treat the whole volume of the tank.
 
If you add the refil water from a bucket but only want to add dechlorinator to one bucket of water out of several, it would also need the amount to treat the full tank.
 
 
The reasoning is that there are all sorts of things dissolved in tank water, not just nitrate, and these other things can react with the dechlorinator before it has chance to react with the chlorine/chloramine in the refil water. If the water is run in via a hose or from an untreated bucket, there needs to be enough dechlorinator left over after it has reacted with these other chemicals to remove all the chlorine. If the water is added from a bucket and dechlorinator is added to each bucketful, all the chlorine will be removed as there is nothing else in the bucket to react so you only need the amount for the volume of the bucket..

 

[Francesjane]

thanks everyone...all this helps

 

[KirkyArcher]

Any water remaining in the tank is already "conditioned", The idea behind water conditioner is to condition unconditioned water 

Why on earth that could be interpreted as treat the entire volume of the tank I'm at a loss to understand, I have never seen on a single bottle of conditioner/dechlorinator instruction to add enough for the entire volume of the tank. (unless of course you're filling an empty tank)#
 
On the subject of overdosing, when bought in concentrated forms most of the ingredients is usually marked up somewhere on the container as being "toxic" and also "Harmful to wildlife"

 

[Essjay]

When you add unconditioned water via a hose pipe, if you add  enough conditioner to the tank to treat only the new water, some of it will react with other chemicals in the tank so there won't be enough to treat the chlorine and the other chemicals. Some chlorine will not be removed. You have to add more than the amount to treat just the new water in these circumstances, and the usual 'rule' is to add enough for the whole tank volume not just the new water.
 
If using abucket to refill it is easier to add a bucket's worth of conditioner to each bucket.
 
 
 
MOD EDIT:  This is not a practice that is safe for ALL dechlorinators.  It certainly is safe with Seachem Prime, but a quick read of the back of 'POND MEDIC' indicates: "DO NOT OVERDOSE". 
 
A final note to members, please remember that when reading advice like this on the forum, the ultimate decision lies with you.  The members from this forum span the globe, and what products and practices work in one part of the world with certain products may not work in another part of the world, or with other products.

 

[fluttermoth]

I actually emailed Seachem about this a couple of years ago (I didn't keep the email, unfortunately!) and they confirmed that, if adding dechlor to the tank rather than a bucket, you should dose enough for the whole tank's volume, for exactly the reasons that essjay has mentioned.

 

[Ch4rlie]

I actually emailed Seachem about this a couple of years ago (I didn't keep the email, unfortunately!) and they confirmed that, if adding dechlor to the tank rather than a bucket, you should dose enough for the whole tank's volume, for exactly the reasons that essjay has mentioned.

Presumably that would just for Seachem Prime and not for any of the other dechlors thats currently on the market.
 
So if I was to take that statement as a general rule then are we best to assume that will apply for ALL dechlors to be added to the whole tank's volume to be on the safe side if using hoses to fill tanks for water changes?
 
And if using buckets just to dose for the bucket's volume of water before adding to tank?

 

[fluttermoth]

I actually emailed Seachem about this a couple of years ago (I didn't keep the email, unfortunately!) and they confirmed that, if adding dechlor to the tank rather than a bucket, you should dose enough for the whole tank's volume, for exactly the reasons that essjay has mentioned.

Presumably that would just for Seachem Prime and not for any of the other dechlors thats currently on the market.

I don't think it applies only to Prime; in the email, they confirmed that it was true, and then asked if I was using Prime or not!
 

So if I was to take that statement as a general rule then are we best to assume that will apply for ALL dechlors to be added to the whole tank's volume to be on the safe side if using hoses to fill tanks for water changes?
 
And if using buckets just to dose for the bucket's volume of water before adding to tank?

Yep. That's the way I've always done it, with Prime and a load of other dechlors, buckets and hoses, depending on the size of the tank (obviously I'm not using hoses to do my 55l, or my son's Edge!).

 

[Ch4rlie]

Lovely 

 
Gonna do just that from now on in that case then.
 
Thanks fluttermoth 

 

[BLACK DDOG]

I found that if I overdosed, over the next couple of weeks I had an increase of algi.