Ammonia Removing Products

Something I have not seen yet (maybe I haven't looked around well) is a thread on "ammonia removing products" such as ammolock.

Most of the aquarium begginers are sold these things to "remove" ammonia from their tank. what they don't know is that these products will only prevent their tank from cycling, making it extremely unstable and prone to dangerous spikes and chemistry fluctuations that are dangerous for the fish.

If you are a beginner and the people at the fish store try to sell you these things DO NOT buy them. The only product that is good for locking ammonia for 24 hours without making it unavailable for the beneficial bacteria is called Prime by Seachem. If you started with a tank not knowing about the nitrogen cycle this is the only product that will help your fish make it through, along with daily 50% water changes. (or biospira, but that's another topic).

So, please aquarium begginer,read this thread https://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm and do not buy these ammonia removing products, in the long run it will save you and your fish more than a headache.


Ps. Hello Mods! is there any way that this can be merged into another thread or stickied? thanks!

 

Great info there alessa!
Shawnie said Stress Coat from API is supposed to be new and improved for ammonia and nitrite neautralizations .

 

If you started with a tank not knowing about the nitrogen cycle this [Prime] is the only product that will help your fish make it through, along with daily 50% water changes. (or biospira, but that's another topic).

As Lucy alluded to, there are actually quite a few products that temporarily lock Ammonia and Nitrite levels for up to 24 hours. AmQuel is another in addition to StressCoat and Prime and there are many others. It is a common thing in today's water conditioners, just have to make sure you look for it!

 

Oh well...

my whole point is just not to use the ammolock kinda thing... I have seen them using those sinking ammo absorbing things at petco!

 

I agree alessa, you've brought up a good point.

 

Oh well...

my whole point is just not to use the ammolock kinda thing... I have seen them using those sinking ammo absorbing things at petco!

Yeah yeah! Sorry, I wasn't trying to be negative! Prime is an awesome product, it just can't be used with BIO-Spira/SafeStart and a lot of people don't know that.

Anyway, about AmmoLock and stuff. For sure. That stuff is junk. So is Cycle. A lot of stuff is. Actually, I find this hobby one of the harder one's to actually buy quality products for if you don't know the right people to ask (Fishlorians, of course!).

Sorry about my post if it came across wrong.

 

No, that's totally fine I was looking forward for people adding valuable info to this thread! ;D

it is just that I have heard a couple of cases of begginers that use that and end up with a horribly unstable tank!

I think I should do a thread or an article on the whole nitrogen cycle issues, products, problems... etc! so that the begginers have a 1 only post to review with the whole info abt biospira, filter changes...

 

That's a darn good idea!

 

prime is best and most appropriate to use when cycleing with fish..as most of us have done because of lack of knowledge about the nitrogen cycle...that was me!!!

 

do you guys think mike would allow me to do an article on that? for the fl website beginner articles or the fl magazine?

 

just pm him ..he loves articles on things

 

I found Prime today....... they have it in my local Petco. I also bought ammo lock to be on the safe side.... now I'm reading its rubbish, so shall I take it back, they agreed to take back the Cycle as I told them I had read that its not that great at doing what its supposed to do...

 

prime is awesome if you have a cycle with fish..or doing water changes in an established tank...the others I didnt care for....

 

I found Primie today....... they have it in my local Petco. I also bought ammo lock to be on the safe side.... now I'm reading its rubbish, so shall I take it back, they agreed to take back the Cycle as I told them I had read that its not that great at doing what its supposed to do...

yes, take it back. It does not help but rather cause more problems as stated above.

Prime is all you want to use if you're cycling with fish. you do the 50% water change and add 5 times the required dose of prime. That will keep ammonia and nitrite under control but not deprive the bacteria from it.

 

5 times? hmm that's new to me

 

my tank has cycled but I'm getting a little stock of all reccommended items... so I guess Ill take back the ammo lock then.

 

5 times? hmm that's new to me

yes shawnie, it says it in the bottle, although it is for very high concentrations of nitrite.

"DIRECTIONS: Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons*) of new water. For smaller doses, please note each cap thread is approx. 1 mL). This removes approximately 0.8 mg/L ammonia, 1.2 mg/L chloramine, or 3.3 mg/L chlorine. May be added to aquarium directly, but better if added to new water first. If adding directly to aquarium, base dose on aquarium volume. Sulfur odor is normal. For exceptionally high chloramine concentrations, a double dose may be used safely. To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used. If temperature is > 30 °C (86 °F) and chlorine or ammonia levels are low, use a half dose."


I just edited the last post... because I forgot to mention nitrites.

 

HI there fishlorians!
I just wanted to share that today, I found, for the first time, Prime! in a LFS in Santo Domingo! I got a bottle for emergencies (like mini-cycles, I just overcome one and had no Prime at hand). I intend to keep using API ChlorXChange for removal of chlorine/chloramines in regular partial water changes since I've found this product easy to use (1 drop per gallon) and effective. I endorse the idea that unfortunately there are too many bad (I can't find another word) products out there, combined with irresponsible sales personnel (I can't find another word).

Pepe
Santo Domingo

 

Grats Pepe! Glad to hear it. I still haven't switched to using it yet. I'll wait until I finish my bottle of AmQuel as it is doing well so far.