When do you use water conditioner? And how much do you use?

I don't have a tank or anything yet, I'm still doing all of the research I can and lurking around the forum. This is just one of the questions I haven't really found an answer to yet.

 

Welcome to FishLore! Glad to hear you're doing all the research ahead of time.

You add water conditioner every time you do a water change. This is to detoxify the chlorine and chloramine that your city puts in the tap water to make it safe for you - unfortunately these things are not at all safe for your fish.

If your water conditioner is Seachem Prime or Kordon NovAqua+ and Amquel+ (which it should be ) and your tank is cycling, or you're in the middle of a mini-cycle (say, you just added a few new fish) then you would add it daily. These products also detoxify ammonia and nitrite, and would keep your fish safe while your bacteria colony grew to compensate the new fish's bioload. However, they're only effective for 24 hours, so you would have to add it each day.

If your research hasn't yet brought you to the nitrogen cycle, feel free to click on the underlined text and read up on it. It will be the most important thing you learn about fishkeeping!


Hope this helps! And don't hesitate to ask if you have any other questions.

 

Welcome to fishlore, scuggs!

You use water conditioner every time you change the water in your tank or top it off. Typically you do partial water changes once a week for good quality fresh water. If your fish are sick or your water parameters are not right, you change water daily, and add conditioner at that time. If water evaporated and it is not time to change water yet, you can also top off the tank, and again you add water conditioner at that time.

How much you use depends on the water conditioner brand, it will say on the bottle to put in x amount for y amount of water. Prime is a very good water conditioner that not only takes care of chlorine and chloramine but also detoxifies ammonia and nitrites for 24 hours. prime is much more concentrated than many other conditioners, so you only need to use a small amount of it.

You can add the conditioner to the water in the bucket before adding it to your tank, and then you only need the amount of conditioner for the bucket. If you use a water changer that attaches to a faucet, then you need to add the right amount of water conditioner for the entire volume of your tank. Also whenever I have measurable ammonia or nitrites, I add the amount of Prime for entire tank because then I know my fish will be protected for 24 hours. ( Note: this last one this only works with a conditioner that detoxifies ammonia and nitrites - not all conditioners do.)

Speaking of ammonia and nitrites, do you know about the nitrogen cycle yet? If not, the words should have a link on them in this message. This is one of the most important things to learn at the beginning because it will help you keep your fish alive in a new tank or if you decide to do a fishless cycle then it will help you prepare the tank to make it habitable for fish.

Best, Joanna

Kinezumi, I type too slowly and am too talkative, and you are a good ninja.

 

I don't have a tank or anything yet, I'm still doing all of the research I can and lurking around the forum. This is just one of the questions I haven't really found an answer to yet.

Welcome to Fishlore!!!

If you are talking about dechlorinator water conditioners then you got excellent advice. There are other water conditioners out there that serves different purposes so be aware when you are buying your water conditioners.

 

Thank you everyone for your quick replies! Looks like when I'm done researching, I'll for sure be buying the Prime conditioner.

I've read up on the nitrogen cycle, but I'll have to keep reading until I get a great understanding of it. I'm still not 100% sure about it, so I'll keeping re-reading the article.

Kinezumi, a fellow Chicagoan! Do you know of any good LFS? I keep hearing about the one located in Uptown.

 

Thank you everyone for your quick replies! Looks like when I'm done researching, I'll for sure be buying the Prime conditioner.

I've read up on the nitrogen cycle, but I'll have to keep reading until I get a great understanding of it. I'm still not 100% sure about it, so I'll keeping re-reading the article.

Kinezumi, a fellow Chicagoan! Do you know of any good LFS? I keep hearing about the one located in Uptown.

You're the first Chicagoan I've met on here! To be honest, I don't buy any of my fish in the city. I've been to a Petsmart in Chinatown a few times, but the puddles of urine by the door are pretty off-putting. I used to live in Naperville, so I go to that area. There are a bunch of Petsmarts and Petcos, so I can travel around until I find the one with the healthiest looking fish.

Plus in Bolingbrook (by the Ikea) there is a store called "Aquarium Adventure," and I do all of my non-fish shopping there. They have a great selection of very healthy plants, plus more tests and goods and such than Petsmart/Petco. They have a great saltwater section too. Their fish always look great (aside from the standard occasional ich, which I think is hard to avoid in a commercial setting where the fish are stressed from being shipped in), but the fact that you only have two days to return them if they don't make it is what makes me not buy fish there. Because very often, it isn't your fault if the fish dies within the week. (Of course, it could be, but if it was already sick and not showing signs, then it could still be their fault.) They also require you to bring in a water sample with the deceased fish. I bought my BN pleco there though, and she's doing great. I would definitely buy fish there if I couldn't find them elsewhere. They have a "fish club" where members get discounted rates on all fish, plants, supplies, food, etc. It's $20 for a year and $50 for a lifetime. I just did the year, and only just last weekend...initially I didn't think I'd make up the $20 in savings. LOL what a joke. I've spent that much on just plants already! Definitely a great store, if you can make it out to the area.

Back in the Naperville area there is a new store near 95th street and route 59, "Aquatic Visions" I think? They just opened, and they have a tonnn of saltwater stuff. BIG fish, tons of tanks filled with corals. The freshwater side left a little bit to be desired, though. I think the guy runs it himself, and I'm sure he's pretty busy, but dude you don't open until noon, don't you think you can spend ten minutes to scoop the dead fish out in the morning? That seems like a pretty high priority if you ask me...for the average joe who doesn't know what to look for, dead fish are usually not a good sign. They had tons of really big tanks too, like 210 gallons, with fancy stands and hoods. There were a few freshwater fish there I hadn't seen anywhere else, like balloon rams and some I wasn't familiar with.


I don't know if you ever travel to the suburbs, so sorry if that information is all for naught! My parents live there, so I travel back often enough that I just bring a cooler and buy fish there. Groceries and such are cheaper in the suburbs since the tax is lower, and the actual prices are usually way lower too.

What area do you live in?

 

Thank you everyone for your quick replies! Looks like when I'm done researching, I'll for sure be buying the Prime conditioner.

I've read up on the nitrogen cycle, but I'll have to keep reading until I get a great understanding of it. I'm still not 100% sure about it, so I'll keeping re-reading the article.

Kinezumi, a fellow Chicagoan! Do you know of any good LFS? I keep hearing about the one located in Uptown.

Good place to buy Prime for a cheap price is Amazon

 

I've read up on the nitrogen cycle, but I'll have to keep reading until I get a great understanding of it. I'm still not 100% sure about it, so I'll keeping re-reading the article.

Here's another article on it. I find this article to be more simplier. JMO

https://www.fishlore.com/Articles/TheNitrogenCycle.htm

 

I don't know if you ever travel to the suburbs, so sorry if that information is all for naught! My parents live there, so I travel back often enough that I just bring a cooler and buy fish there. Groceries and such are cheaper in the suburbs since the tax is lower, and the actual prices are usually way lower too.

What area do you live in?

Ewwww, puddles of urine.

Oops, the place that I talked about is actually in Old Town and it's called Old Town Aquarium.

Unfortunately, I never really travel to the burbs (honestly, I wish I lived in the country where my neighbors are 1-2 miles away haha). Thank you for the names though! In case I ever do make it out there, I can check out those places then.

I'm on the northwest side of Chicago near Old Irving Park.

 

I've heard of Old Town Aquarium I think. I looked up a few stores, but never got around to visiting them. Parking is such a hassle, I'd just prefer to go to the burbs where you know there will be parking. I hear you, I'm totally a country girl at heart. I'll live in the middle of nowhere one day. (Well, close enough to all the amenities, of course. )

I live on the near west side, near Jackson and Western. Not the safest area, but our apartment is really nice, and our landlord is agreeable, and we're only a few blocks from the el.

 

I hear you, I'm totally a country girl at heart. I'll live in the middle of nowhere one day. (Well, close enough to all the amenities, of course. )

...going off topic for a bit... But, I'd love love love to live on an area of land where I'm surrounded by trees and have a lake in the backyard with a deck going out over the lake. And like you mentioned, I'd still have to be close to all the amenities.

 

Agreed. I want to live somewhere with looots of trees. Not a lot of trees in the midwest (I've lived here all my life), and when I drove through Pennsylvania on the way to DC, I was amazed at all the trees. I'd like to live in California someday, up in the mountains with lots of trees. My grandparents lived up in the mountains in CA, and it was beautiful. (Not so much with the trees, but I plan to live farther north.)

 

Back again!

Ok, so... in the nitrogen cycle article it says, "Once the cycle has started only add one or two fish at a time."

Does that mean after you get a nitrate reading you can start adding the fish?

And for speeding up the cycle, you can use Bio-spira?

 

The only cycle additive that has been shown to work consistently is Tetra SafeStart. I don't know how far along in the cycle you are, but if you're close to being done you might as well wait because TSS is pretty expensive stuff.

Once your tank is cycled (IE ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm and you have measurable nitrate) it's best to wait at least a few days before adding fish, just to give your bacteria a bit more time to grow and stabilize. Once you start to add fish, you should add them slowly. "One or two at a time" is too general, because two tetras and two goldfish are very different things. But once your tank is cycled, the bacteria is only capable of processing as much ammonia as you've been adding (however you've been cycling your tank). If the waste output of your fish is greater than the ammonia you've been adding, then you won't have enough bacteria to process it all and you may go through a small mini-cycle - that is, measurable ammonia while the bacteria colony grows to compensate for the higher waste production (and thus ammonia production).

If you aren't very far in the cycle, and you're doing fishless and are getting impatient (which trust me, I can understand) you may wish to switch to TSS. TSS (Tetra SafeStart) is a bottle of the bacteria you're trying to grow. You buy a few fish (enough to sustain the bacteria, but not so many that the waste production overwhelms them), acclimate and add them to the tank, and within two hours add the entire bottle of TSS. (When you prepare the tank, you must use Tetra's own conditioner, Tetra AquaSafe. Other brands may cause TSS to fail.) Then for two weeks, nothing! Feed the fish as normal of course, but NO water changes and NO testing the water. Once the two weeks are up, test the water, and with luck you'll be cycled.

Hope this helps!

 

Have you decided on the size of the tank yet? Bigger the better.

 

Have you decided on the size of the tank yet? Bigger the better.

Nope, not yet.

Originally I was thinking 5g, then I read that bigger is indeed better so then I thought 10g. But I'm still not sure.

 

Heck, if you can do a 10 gallon, why not go for a 20? A 20 tall doesn't have too much of a larger foot print than a 10 gallon.

 

The only cycle additive that has been shown to work consistently is Tetra SafeStart. I don't know how far along in the cycle you are, but if you're close to being done you might as well wait because TSS is pretty expensive stuff.

Once your tank is cycled (IE ammonia and nitrite are 0ppm and you have measurable nitrate) it's best to wait at least a few days before adding fish, just to give your bacteria a bit more time to grow and stabilize. Once you start to add fish, you should add them slowly. "One or two at a time" is too general, because two tetras and two goldfish are very different things. But once your tank is cycled, the bacteria is only capable of processing as much ammonia as you've been adding (however you've been cycling your tank). If the waste output of your fish is greater than the ammonia you've been adding, then you won't have enough bacteria to process it all and you may go through a small mini-cycle - that is, measurable ammonia while the bacteria colony grows to compensate for the higher waste production (and thus ammonia production).

If you aren't very far in the cycle, and you're doing fishless and are getting impatient (which trust me, I can understand) you may wish to switch to TSS. TSS (Tetra SafeStart) is a bottle of the bacteria you're trying to grow. You buy a few fish (enough to sustain the bacteria, but not so many that the waste production overwhelms them), acclimate and add them to the tank, and within two hours add the entire bottle of TSS. (When you prepare the tank, you must use Tetra's own conditioner, Tetra AquaSafe. Other brands may cause TSS to fail.) Then for two weeks, nothing! Feed the fish as normal of course, but NO water changes and NO testing the water. Once the two weeks are up, test the water, and with luck you'll be cycled.

Hope this helps!

I don't even have a tank yet, so I'm just all about learning right now.

Now, what exactly is a mini-cycle (I think I read someone's post once that said a mini-cycle is not so minI at all) and would I do the same things as I would with a regular cycle?

Also, I know it's based on opinion, but do you prefer fishless or fish for cycling? Once I do get all the info together I was thinking fishless and then getting the pure ammonia to add in

Heck, if you can do a 10 gallon, why not go for a 20? A 20 tall doesn't have too much of a larger foot print than a 10 gallon.

Another newbie question. Is there a 20...short?

 

20 tall would be shorter than a 20 long, so I guess, yes

 

Now that you mention the 20g, I was actually looking at this last week. Not sure if it's good or not?

 

Yeah, that's not bad. It comes with a heater, that's good. There are a bunch of kits that don't have heaters. The only thing I would probably add to that is an air pump with sponge filter. Or a larger HOB.

 

You can get a bigger tank then a 20 gallon then I would suggest it as well....You can try looking at the CLs as well, I've gotten two tanks from CLs in the past for a very cheap price (whole set up).

My progression in tanks is that I kept upgrading to a bigger tank every year that is why I suggest bigger is better.

 

I'm trying to sell a couple 55 gallon tanks for super cheap. Nobody even wants them around here. lol

 

I'm trying to sell a couple 55 gallon tanks for super cheap. Nobody even wants them around here. lol

I might be moving to CO, will let you know if it happens. I would be interested...lol.