So I was at Petsmart trying to decide on which water conditioner to get and decided to get technical with it. I was comparing Seachem Prime and API water conditioner to see which was the most cost effective. I also looked up Aqueon water conditioner and Tetra water conditioner to see which of the four was the most effective for the cost. To compare them i used 473mL size bottles (16 fl oz.) and I got all prices from Dr. FosterSmith (except for aqueon, I had to use petco for this)
API:
1 Ml, removes chlorine and detoxifies heavy metals in 20 gallons of water. To detoxify chloramines you need 5mL to treat 30 gallons of water.
Price: 5.99 for 16fl oz./ 473 mL. So you would be able to treat 9,460 gallons of water for chlorine and heavy metals or 2,838 gallons for chloramines
Aqueon:
5Ml, treats 10 gallons for chlorine and chloramines.
Price: 11.99 for 16fl oz./ 473mL. So you can treat 946 gallons for chlorine and chloramines
Seachem Prime:
This comes in 500ml and not 473ml so that will be taken into account.
5mL, treats 50 gallons of water for 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. (you can also do 5X the dose to lower nitirite levels in an emergency)
Price: 12.02 for 500mL. So you can treat 5000 gallons of water 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. But for sake of the comparison, lets say you got 473mL, that means you would be treating 4730 gallons of water.
Tetra:
This comes also in about 500mL bottles but again, will be scaled down.
One teaspoon/ about 5mL treats 10 gallons for chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals
Price: 6.99 for 500mL. so you treat 1000 gallons of water for chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals. At 473mL you can treat 946 gallons of water.
So from the above data it seems like Tetra and Aqueon are essentially the same but aqueon is almost double the price (there may be differences in ingredients, this test was to check solely for concentration). We are left with Prime and API, for the cost it seems like API would be your best bet because you could buy two 473mL bottles and treat 18,920 gallons of water for heavy metals and chlorine or 5676 gallons of water for chloramines for the same price as one bottle of 500mL prime which would treat 5,000 gallons of water for 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. Although you get 676 extra gallons of water with API, API does not seem the mention anything about neutralizing ammonia. Between API and Prime it seems to be a quantity vs. quality type thing but for me personally I think it makes the most sense to buy Prime.
Feel free to throw in any numbers on different brands that I didn't take into account.
Also feel free to make any corrections on numbers or any other factors I may have not consider which I should have
Dosage was retrieved directly from each brands site.
API:
1 Ml, removes chlorine and detoxifies heavy metals in 20 gallons of water. To detoxify chloramines you need 5mL to treat 30 gallons of water.
Price: 5.99 for 16fl oz./ 473 mL. So you would be able to treat 9,460 gallons of water for chlorine and heavy metals or 2,838 gallons for chloramines
Aqueon:
5Ml, treats 10 gallons for chlorine and chloramines.
Price: 11.99 for 16fl oz./ 473mL. So you can treat 946 gallons for chlorine and chloramines
Seachem Prime:
This comes in 500ml and not 473ml so that will be taken into account.
5mL, treats 50 gallons of water for 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. (you can also do 5X the dose to lower nitirite levels in an emergency)
Price: 12.02 for 500mL. So you can treat 5000 gallons of water 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. But for sake of the comparison, lets say you got 473mL, that means you would be treating 4730 gallons of water.
Tetra:
This comes also in about 500mL bottles but again, will be scaled down.
One teaspoon/ about 5mL treats 10 gallons for chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals
Price: 6.99 for 500mL. so you treat 1000 gallons of water for chlorine, chloramine, and heavy metals. At 473mL you can treat 946 gallons of water.
So from the above data it seems like Tetra and Aqueon are essentially the same but aqueon is almost double the price (there may be differences in ingredients, this test was to check solely for concentration). We are left with Prime and API, for the cost it seems like API would be your best bet because you could buy two 473mL bottles and treat 18,920 gallons of water for heavy metals and chlorine or 5676 gallons of water for chloramines for the same price as one bottle of 500mL prime which would treat 5,000 gallons of water for 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine. Although you get 676 extra gallons of water with API, API does not seem the mention anything about neutralizing ammonia. Between API and Prime it seems to be a quantity vs. quality type thing but for me personally I think it makes the most sense to buy Prime.
Feel free to throw in any numbers on different brands that I didn't take into account.
Also feel free to make any corrections on numbers or any other factors I may have not consider which I should have
Dosage was retrieved directly from each brands site.
