Cost Effective Water Conditioners

[Neale Musgrove]

Hi...
Great post, lots of detail and info for reference.
I, for a time, was using API water conditioner, which seemed ok, but I did get mixed results.
However, I couldn't completely say for sure the API conditioner wasn't performing because I was experimenting with a planted tank.
I started looking into reverse osmosis and decide to try that approach. So far so good!
I replace the filters once every 6 months even though the manufacturer recommends every 12.

Some aquarium salts are added after this process to replenish the positive elements.

Cheers
Neale

 

[epond83]

not to get too off topic here but, RO is a bit over kill especially since you know you need to add minerals back in.

A sediment filter with two good carbon blacks afterwards will eliminate all the chlorine and chloramine need to do a water change.

 

[squint]

A sediment filter with two good carbon blacks afterwards will eliminate all the chlorine and chloramine need to do a water change.

You need the RO membrane to remove some of the ammonia from chloramine and DI to remove the rest.

 

[RD.]

Prime not as cost effective as previously believed:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/7rbwko/dechlorinators_tested_part_i/

Once "water" is added to a commercial product, no matter the brand name, it's cost effective value drops significantly. With dry powders, where ammonia from Chloramine is an issue, Seachem Safe still rules. For those that are simply on Chlorine, bulk sodium thiosulfate is by far the most cost effective manner to pretreat tap water.

 

[squint]

Once "water" is added to a commercial product, no matter the brand name, it's cost effective value drops significantly. With dry powders, where ammonia from Chloramine is an issue, Seachem Safe still rules. For those that are simply on Chlorine, bulk sodium thiosulfate is by far the most cost effective manner to pretreat tap water.

The water is added because most aquarists don't have the desire or means to weigh small quantities of powders. It's even discussed in the ClorAm-X patent (first dechlorinator to detoxify ammonia).

I will be comparing liquid and powder dechlorinators separately. I ordered Amquel, Amquel Plus, and Aquasafe Plus today.

I'm not sure Safe would be the most cost effective. ClorAm-X is $86 shipped for 10 lbs or $0.019/g. Four kg of Safe is $123 on Amazon or $0.031/g. If it's only ~20% more effective, like Prime, then that's still $0.026/g.

 

[RD.]

Read my initial post in this discussion, I was going by both manufacturers recommended dosage rates (Chloram-X and Safe), and I used (and tested) both products for years. Safe was far more cost effective.

And while I understand why water is added, this isn't little kiddie fish keeping, it's Monster Fish Keeping, where I would hope the vast majority reading discussions such as this understand the logic in saving costs where one can. The vast majority of tanks can be easily treated using kitchen measuring spoons from the $1 store, no need for scales.

BTW - the true value of any product is of course also determined by sticker price. My last 4 KG of Safe was purchased for approx. $75 (on sale) , plus shipping. This was so many years ago that at that time no one in Canada sold it, and only one vendor in the USA would ship to Canada. I'm still a long ways away from emptying that pail. lol

 

[SN4RE]

Quick question. Is is possible to use too much store brought water conditioner?

 

[RD.]

Yes. Water conditioners are reducing agents, so once there is no longer chlorine left to reduce, they can start reducing oxygen.

 

[Jayc]

Hi, I use the evolution aqua detox dechlorinator. I started using this for my koi pond and found it was more cost effective to use it on my tank as well. There are 2 size models 12” and 30”. The 12” model filters tap water upto 225,000 litres. This must be used with a max flow of 4 litres per minute to get full effect. A very worth while investment over bottled products.

Jay

 

[JoeNut]

Well hopefuly somebody read this & found the info worthwhile.

This is a useful thread, thank you.
As i am upgrading significantly soon, the costs incurred for simply treating the water is something i need to appreciate, so this is really helpful. i hadn't considered that each country/county has a different amount of Chlorine/Chloramine etc.