Additives

[carlb]

How many chemical additives are nesscessary for water changes. Currently I use an all in one stress reliever / chlorine treatment as well as a water softner. Will it hurt to use a water clarifier to keep the water cleaner longer or ammonia/nitrate treatment on top of everything else? there are so many products out there its mind blowing.

Thanks

[AngelMom]

It depends on your source water (usually what's out of the faucets in the house).

If your water company adds chlorine or chloramines, you need a conditioner to remove those from the water.

If you have a household water softener you may be better off using RO or DI water and would then need to add the missing minerals.

Unless you have live plants, no other additives are needed ... in fact, I personally discourage the use of them.

If you have nitrites present in the tank, the cycle hasn't completed yet or the tank may be overstocked. If you have high nitrates (over 40 ppm) you need to be doing more frequent water changes (weekly changes are usually recommended).

The bottom line is that a weekly water change with a good dechlorinator (as required) should keep the tank healthy.

[carlb]

Thanks for the reply, I use tap water and it is hard water. Thats the reason for the softner other than that and the all in one conditioner I keep it simple. After reading article after article on additives I was led to believe I should be doing more. It seems I'm ok and thanks for the confirmation.

Carl

[AngelMom]

What are you using as a "water softener"? Anything that reduces the GH also has the potential to reduce the KH which can lead to an unstable pH. And out of curiosity, what does "hard water" mean to you? Our tap water GH is between 260 and 300 ppm and I do not add any additive to reduce that. The reality is that most fish will adapt to any water and a lot of fish are being bred in hard waters regardless of what their "ideal hardness in the wild" is (listed on most websites and in Baensch). Altering GH or KH can be dangerous as it may lead to a pH crash.