AmQuel Ammo-Lock

[khayman218]

Has anyone use this product successfully? When I have used it in the past, it did nothing but suppress the ammonia for a short time and then produce a sudden, irrepairable spike later on. I have used it twice to try to start tanks before and always ended up having to drain all the water and refill using another product - once was with no starter fish, and the second time there were a few feeder goldfish in there which did not survive.

 

[Miles]

AmQuel was invented to import soft-water fish from South America. It was not intended as a general water conditioner. It practical only in emergency situations like ammonia spikes in which you would want to neutralize the ammonia, and remove it through a series of water changes soon after.

I believe most of the Ammonia removal chemicals and zeolite were made for purposes like this, rather than basic use. They were also popular before hobbyist understood the value of a biological filter.

"Prime" seems to be the most concentrated and effective, and it seems most popular with hobbyists that battle Chloramines in their water supply.

 

[Scatocephalus]

Has anyone use this product successfully? When I have used it in the past, it did nothing but suppress the ammonia for a short time and then produce a sudden, irrepairable spike later on. I have used it twice to try to start tanks before and always ended up having to drain all the water and refill using another product - once was with no starter fish, and the second time there were a few feeder goldfish in there which did not survive.

Keep in mind that you need to use the correct type of test kit when using these products. If your test kit uses Nessler reagents you'll get a false positive. That is, your test will indicate ammonia when none is present, at least not in it's harmful state.

Also keep in mind that if you don't remove the source of the ammonia it will continue to build. If you neutralize .25ppm million but additional ammonia is added the Nessler reagent will show not only the new ammonia build up but the treated ammonia as well showing a much higher level than what may actually exist.