I'm curious how water conditioner work and what happens if you use too much. I thought you had to treat the water and then put it in the aquarium so I couldn't figure how you could use a water changer if the water comes straight from the tap. I saw that you could put the conditioner in the preexisting water and then add the new water from the tap so it made me wonder how it works. Thanks.
How does water conditioner work?
- Thread starter aaronb
- Start date
Dechlorinators operate through a chemical process known as reduction. When added into tap water, toxic dissolved chlorine gas is reduced into non-toxic chloride ions. The reduction process also breaks the bonds between chlorine and nitrogen atoms in the chloramine molecule (NH2Cl), freeing the chlorine atoms and replacing them with hydrogen to create ammonia. The ammonia is taken care by the nitrfying bacteria in your tank. Some dechlorinator like Prime have a bonus feature, it converts the toxic ammonia into harmless ammonium while the bacteria takes time to process it.
Common active ingredients in dechlorinators are Sodium thiosulfate, Hydrosulfites, Sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate.
Common active ingredients in dechlorinators are Sodium thiosulfate, Hydrosulfites, Sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate.
Good info, but to go along with the OP, what makes it work if you pour it in your water and then add tap? Does it not have any chlorine to bind to at that rate until the tap is added?
Also, will it bind up to the amount of dechlor that was added and then stop once that amount of tap is added and it is all neutralized or does it not work after a certain period of time?
I'm asking because I like to fill up my tanks this way ... add dechlor (prime) and then add tap ... but it worries me when I do big water changes (ie 50% or so). I normally add the amount for full tank volume to try and avoid this ... would it be okay if I only added what I needed to fill up with?
Also, will it bind up to the amount of dechlor that was added and then stop once that amount of tap is added and it is all neutralized or does it not work after a certain period of time?
I'm asking because I like to fill up my tanks this way ... add dechlor (prime) and then add tap ... but it worries me when I do big water changes (ie 50% or so). I normally add the amount for full tank volume to try and avoid this ... would it be okay if I only added what I needed to fill up with?
It doesn't hurt to Use the total volume, but I have done 80% on my 240 and used a little more or less with no problems.
yes. its fine. you only need to dose for the amount of new water added but the companies want you to use more so they say to dose for the full volume.
when you add dechlor to the existing water, there shouldn't be any free chlorine in it to react (evaporates as it is a gas at standard temp/pressure), nor chloramines (which last longer) because it was all neutralized last time you did a water change (dose for full volume when filling up tank from empy of course).
then, as your new water hits the old water + dechlor, it mixes and reacts as you go.
now, if you have an ammo/nitrite spike and you are using something like Prime that reduces it, then dose for full volume.
but if you are only use a straight dechlor, just add for the volume of new water.
you can overdose, it won't really hurt anything, but sometimes you can get a bit of cloudy water if you add to much (probably a precipitate reaction)
hope this helps
Thanks. Great explanation. Now I don't have to worry about if adding the conditioner and then water out of the tap is going to kill my fish.
Spiritofthesoul;5156024; said:
Nice cut and paste job from the seachem website.. Change more words next time. Trollololol
