evo1234

I have 10 one gallon jugs that had water in them. I filled them up with water and put some Prime in them. Can I just put regular water in the tank and then put Prime in? Or is putting Prime in the jugs and waiting 24 hrs better?

Also when my convicts start to breed how do I go about cleaning the tank. I don't want to disturb any eggs or fry.

Lucy

Can't answer your question about convicts, sorry.
Several members have them so they'll be able to help you.
That question would probably be best asked in the breeding fish or convict section of the forum.

Water conditioners work immediately, you don't have to let the water sit for 24 hours. If you do that, you'll have room temp water, which might be too cold to add to your tank. Don't want to shock your fish

I have a 5g bucket. I fill it with water that's close to the same temp as the tank water. I add enough Prime or Stress Coat (which ever bottle I can find at the moment lol) to treat the amount of water in the bucket, then add it to the tank.
I think the directions on Prime say if you add tap water directly to your tank, then add enough to treat the whole tank.

evo1234

oh. i was told by several people to wait for 24 hrs. I never knew why they said that.

Shadowbeam

The water conditioner I use is left to sit in the water for 10-15mins before added, but i'm not sure if it's sold in America or not? Not at home atm so can't quite remember the proper name.
I think it's slightly different for different types.

Lucy

Letting the water sit for 24 hours is old school fish keeping.
Don't ask how I know that. lol

Years ago, this was an aceptable way of letting the chlorine dissapate, making it safe to add to your tank.
However, now a days most water companies also use chlorimines. It can take a month for choramines to dissapate.
Most water conditioners take care of both.

Shadowbeam

Mystery solved ^^

evo1234

that explains it. the people that told me that are "old school"

thanks

aquarist48

Hello Evo. Great information above. I like the idea of treating the water prior to it going into the fish tank. This way none of your fish and biological bacteria are exposed to chlorine and chlorimines.
Ken

bolivianbaby

I have breeding convicts. The only tank cleaning I do is water changes and the occasional substrate stir up to get the bigger waste. If you take your water from the top of the tank, you won't disturb eggs or fry. Once they're free-swimming, you'll be able to see where they are and just take the water from another part of the tank.

When I replace the water, I do it very slowly so they don't get moved around. It also helps if you have a large ornament. If you pour the water onto that, it slows the flow a little bit.

Just take it slow and you'll have no problems.

evo1234

thanks. i will do that.


i like that idea too. i put some prime into my water and waited for about 20 mins and then did a water change. out of curiosity i wanted to see what the ammonia lvl was in the treated water. it was ~1ppm. does that mean i just dumped 10 five gal jugs with high ammonia into my tank?? my Prime must be defective. Either that or I am misunderstanding what it does.

MizRamzi

Little extra info, when doing a WC on my breeder tank, I put a mesh bag, held tightly with a rubber band over the siphon so no bitty babies get sucked up.

fishingman001

put more Prime in the water. the ammonia lvl at my house is 1ppm so i have to add extra Prime to my new water than the standard amount. also from what i have read you can't overdose the water with Prime unless you do about 10x the normal amount.

Elvishswimmer

If you are using the API test kit, The "Ammonia" test actually tests for Ammonia(NH3) AND Ammonium(NH4+).

Prime adds an extra hydrogen on to the ammonia to make it ammonium, which is safe for the fishies.
So even though it is safe, you still will get an ammonia reading on your API test.

If your tank is good and cycled, then the bacteria shouldn't have problems with the extra ammonia I think.

fishingman001

so there SHOULD be an ammonia reading when someone tests the water? I never know that. I always thought that the ammonia was broken down.

bolivianbaby

No, in a cycled tank there should be no ammonia reading. Ammonia is still created through fish waste. In a cycled tank, the ammonia is broken down by the nitrifying bacteria so you don't get an ammonia reading.

Hope that helps clarify everything for ya

fishingman001

But Evo said there was an ammonia reading in the NEW water going into the tank even after treating it with Prime. I know that in an aquarium that has been running for awhile there should be no ammonia but what about the treated water a person will change out?

bolivianbaby

I see where you're question is coming from now.

Usually, there isn't ammonia in tap water. However, on the rare occasions that there is ammonia in the tap water, that would explain why there would be ammonia in the tank. In that case, the Prime would detoxify the ammonia for the fishes well-being, but it would still be present in the tank.

Does that help?

Elvishswimmer

Yes, the bacteria should be eating up all that ammonia from the tap water right away if you have a well established biofilter. So if you are testing the FRESH water that has been treated with prime right before you put it in, it will show readings, because you said your tap water has ammonia.
Once you put it into your tank, the biofilter should eat it up in the next few hours, and by the next day after doing a water change you should have no ammonia.