scootfish

Goodmorning all! I wanna do water changes with my tap(well) water. I tested it using my API kit and the parameters are as show;
pH=7.6
NitrAtes=0
NitrItes=0
ammonia=.25
Hardness=very soft

My question is will this be ok w/ the addition of Prime for the following fish;
Convict Cichlid, Albino Cichlid and my betta(in seperate tank of course)??

Any input would be great!

Lucy

Prime or Stress Coat+ should detox the ammonia for 24hrs and in a well cycled tank the bacteria should make short work of the ammonia.

scootfish

Ok. Is there any +/-'s between Prime or stresscoat+?? I have used stresscoat+ before but just curious what others opinions are.

Lucy

Either one is recommended.
The only difference I've found is my hands feel smoother after being in a tank that's been treated with Stress Coat or Stress Coat+ lol

sirdarksol

Prime, StressCoat+, Ultimate... all of these are equivalent products. They all detoxify heavy metals, temporarily detoxify ammonia, and add a bit to help the fish's slime coat. (Ninja'd on this one) Although I should say that the products smell differently to me. Amquel smells like sulfur, while Ultimate doesn't bother me at all.

And yes, that water should be good for water changes. The one thing to watch for is that, if the water is soft, excess nitrates can rapidly drop the pH. Not a problem if you're maintaining your filters properly and keeping up on water changes, but it could pose an issue if you let one, the other, or both slip.

However, the pH and softness are excellent for the cichlids and for the betta, so they'll love the water.

scootfish

Great! Thanks for the help! Off to the LFS i go.

agabr123

the only real difference i've found is that prime is much more concentrated, so you get a lot more mileage out of one bottle of prime than the same sized bottle of stress coat +, which is definitely a deal breaker for me as a college student

scootfish

Ok, i've got the Amquel+ cause that's all the lfs had.

What is the best way to mix w/ water? Do i add it to my 5gal. jugs while im waiting for the temps to match or should i just add to tank when done changing water??

agabr123

go ahead and add it to your 5 gal jugs beforehand so you get detox the chlorine/ammonia/etc before adding it to the tank

scootfish

Thanks for the quick reply agabr123! I was hopin you would say that, just seems easiest.

sirdarksol

Either way works (the amount of chlorine/chloramine in tap water is miniscule and takes awhile to harm fish), but most of us mix it in the bucket (unless we've got a Python water changer, which nixes that idea) out of paranoia and ease of measuring.

Huh... Now that I say that, I realize that you have well water. Do you have a chlorination system anywhere in you water setup? If not, you could probably avoid using the dechlors once your tank is cycled (which, as Lucy said, will take care of the ammonia in your well).
However, if there is any heavy metal in the land, either from pollution or from natural deposits, you'd want to still use one to detoxify them.

scootfish

Just a canister filter for any particles and the softener is the only thing i have. I would like to install a better filtration system in the future, till then that's all i got.

scootfish

You got that righ! Fooey!! lol

agabr123

you're welcome glad i could give you the answer you wanted!