API Tap Water Conditioner vs. Seachem Prime

[Slaphppy7]

In the nearly 10 years I have kept fish, I have always used Seachem Prime for weekly water changes, with fine results.

After reading several comments here stating that the API TWC works just as well, and is more concentrated ("1 ml treats 20 USG") than the Prime, I was going to switch to the API TWC...until I read the directions for the API...see attached

My tap water contains chloramines, not chlorine, so the dosage I would have to use with the API would be MORE than I am now dosing with the Prime, which is 1 ml/10 USG. (The API dosage for tap water containing chloramine is 5 ml per 30 USG, as noted on the label below).

For those of you who DO use the API TWC, this makes it important to know whether your tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramine, which I did not know until now.

The directions for the Prime do not differentiate between chlorine and chloramine, the dosage remains the same.

There has been some discussion on the forums lately about the effectiveness of Prime, what it purports to do, and what it's effectiveness may actually be or not be; this discussion is merely for dosage amounts, only.

 

[Naughts]

The directions for the Prime do not differentiate between chlorine and chloramine, the dosage remains the same.

They recommend a double dose for exceptionally high chloramine levels. How would people know that they had high levels though?

 

[Slaphppy7]

They recommend a double dose for exceptionally high chloramine levels. How would people know that they had high levels though?

Good question...municipal water district report?

Side note, we recently had some freezing weather, which isn't very common around here...lots of people didn't adequately protect their outdoor water pipes, and many froze and burst...these last few days, the water out of my tap has a VERY strong chlorine smell...I'm thinking these two events correlate

 

[Back in the fold]

And now for something that will really stir up the eggheads. My little one dog town uses chlorine only at the water treatment plant. I stopped using dechlorinator last June. No problems encountered and I don’t have to waste money on chemicals. I do aerate my water in a big container for a week prior to use. There might be problems if I didn’t do that.

 

[Byron]

There is more to consider between these two products that just the amount needed. But before getting to that, if one has only to deal with chlorine (as I do) then API Tap Water Conditioner is without question the best product to be using. It messes the least with water chemistry, you use half as much as Prime recommends, so you also save money as well as help the fish.

The problem with Prime for me is what it does (or doesn't do) beyond just dechlorinate. The "detoxification" of heavy metals for example. Prime does this with a chemical that--according to Seachem--prevents the uptake of heavy metals that are plant nutrients (iron, copper, zinc, manganese). This is why Seachem recommend not using Flourish or other fertilizers for 36+ hours after a water change using Prime. The API TWC does not have this issue, and fertilizers are safe to add following the water change.

Another issue with Prime is that the detoxification of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate also involves yet more chemicals. And Seachem will not really explain how this works, for trade secrecy. If you do not have nitrite or nitrate issues in the source water--note, this is in the tap water, not in the aquarium which is a totally different matter--then there is no logic or benefit whatsoever in using Prime. The less chemicals entering the water the better for the fish. As for ammonia, this is also highly questionable, as the recent thread posted by @TwoTankAmin describes.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Since my tap water contains chloramine, I'll stick with the Prime, in lesser amounts than the API would require.

 

[sparkypenguin]

I was already looking into whether to change to API from Prime primarily due to the lower cost per gallon when I came upon this thread but
I had never even considered Chloramine!
So I have done a little reading and I believe it is created when a small quantity of ammonia is added to chlorine after the disinfection process to form a long-lasting disinfectant called monochloramine.
Chlorine is used up quickly in water systems. Sometimes there is not enough chlorine left to kill germs in the water by the time it reaches the end of the pipes. Chloramine can last longer in the water pipes and produces fewer disinfection by-products.
I'm no chemist so please feel free to correct me if I am wrong!

So I added this to my little spreadsheet and came up with this.....

			Chlorine	Chlorine	Chloramine	Chloramine
Product	Size L	Price	Dose %	£ / 100 US Gallon	Dose %	£ / 100 US Gallon
API Tap Water Conditioner	3.785	£49.99	0.0013%	£0.66	0.0044%	£2.20
Seachem Prime	4	£78.25	0.0026%	£1.96	0.0026%	£1.96
Tetra Aquasafe	5	£26.75	0.0500%	£10.12	n/a	n/a
Fluval Aquaplus	2	£25.62	0.0132%	£6.41	n/a	n/a

This shows that the API is much cheaper for chlorine and not too much more for Chloramines and given Byron's comments about API having less chemicals in it then I think I will be switching to API regardless in the future.
I did not bother looking any further into the Tetra and Fluval as they are obviously not cost effective.
The prices I have used are just quickly found UK website prices so if they are available cheaper then this obviously would change the figures.

They recommend a double dose for exceptionally high chloramine levels. How would people know that they had high levels though?

I have just looked at my bottle of Prime and it also states that you can use a half dose if the Chlorine and Ammonia levels are low, but like you said how would you know? And even if you got figures from your water authority would their version of high be the same as Seachems? You would need some PPM readings to know. Plus does it vary throughout the year? I am sure it does as sometimes my water tastes and smell of chlorine whilst other times it has no taste or smell whatsoever, so should we be testing the water chlorine level before treating it?

I have just checked the last 2 years water reports from Northumbrian Water and this is what they state..
"Chlorine – Water is treated with a small amount of chlorine to keep it disinfected and stop any harmful organisms growing in it, as it travels to your tap. In your water supply zone, we do not add a small amount of ammonia during treatment, so the water is not chloraminated."
and
"Small amounts of chlorine are added to our water to kill any harmful bacteria. Its use was responsible for helping eliminate diseases such as typhoid and cholera. Occasionally customers may notice a slight chlorine taste, but this is completely harmless. (World Health Organisation guideline value - 5mg/l)"
It also states that they do not test against any official standard as their is not one.

However they do still test for it and this is what the 2021 report states..

What was tested	Number sampled	Average result	Minimum result	Maximum result	Units
Chloride	33	65.212	13	82	mgCl2/l
Free Chlorine	202	0.638	0.19	0.83	mgCl2/l
Total Chlorine	202	0.789	0.22	1.05	mg/l

I don't even know if Chloride is relevant!

And the 2022 report..

Parameter	Units	No. of samples taken in year	Prescribed Concentration or Value limit	No. samples above PCV	Min	Mean	Max
chlorine (total) (on-site)	mg/l Cl2	60		0	0.12	0.625	1.03
chlorine (free) (on-site)	mg/l Cl2	60		0	0.06	0.494	0.94

I've no idea if any of these figures are high or low so I have contacted both API and Seachem to see if they have dosage v level tables.

I would also add that as the Chlorine is used up quickly in water systems the distance from the treatment plant may well affect the levels of Chlorine in your tap water.

 

[Essjay]

Chloride is not relevant as it's not the same as chlorine

 

[sparkypenguin]

First response from Seachem..

"The standard dose of Prime (2 drops per gallon), will remove about 4ppm of Chlorine/Chloramine. If your chlorine or chloramine levels are below that, I would recommend using the standard dose. If they happen to be higher, you can certainly double (or more) the dose."

As you can see the answer is quite unspecific so I have asked for more detail.

 

[GaryE]

I went to a new store to pick up dechlorinator. LIke @Back in the fold , I just have old school chlorine in my town, and I can get by without dechlor. But I use it. The store had 3 brands, all of which had additives and extras I didn't like using. Aloe, seachem's secret voodoo, etc. It's a competitive market, and even if this entire region does not use chloramines, the stores act like they do. When I say region, I'm talking 10 -15 million people...

Sales people get very earnest about chloramines. When I say (after research, chloramines are extremely dangerous to aquariums!!!) we only have chlorine here, they admit they get only US products and broad areas of that country have scary drinking water.

Looping around - why worry when chorine mostly gasses off if poured through a hose and agitated at the surface? I have observed that a water change stops breeding in my killie tanks for about 3 days if I don't dechlorinate. The fish are fine, the fry are fine, and it's a killie problem. But if I dechlorinate, the fish seem to breed continuously. I can't say that with 100% certainty as it's early days with using the products.

The aquarium industry is into dressing things up and making them look more complex. On one side, they cater to the post-hippy market with aloe, garlic, tea tree oil and secret herbs, and on the other, they want to make claims their products do everything but comb your hair for you.

 

[Rocky998]

API makes stuff specifically for chloromines. "API Aqua Essentials". That's their newest water conditioner for things like chloromines. I've been using it and it works great

 

[Essjay]

API Aqua Essentials contains -
sodium metabisulfite (removes chlorine)
sodium formaldehyde metabisulfite (formaldehyde is known to react with ammonia)
EDTA (binds metals)
inorganic salts, proprietary (inorganic salts but they won't say what. Inorganic salts are usually harmless)

 

[Slaphppy7]

API makes stuff specifically for chloromines. "API Aqua Essentials". That's their newest water conditioner for things like chloromines. I've been using it and it works great

What is the "normal" dosage?

 

[Essjay]

It's not very clear but the website says

add 5 ml. per 50 gallons of aquarium water to treat tap water. Add 5 ml. per 10 gallons of aquarium water to remove ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

API® | AQUA ESSENTIAL™

API AQUA ESSENTIAL water conditioner is a highly concentrated aquarium treatment that works instantly to remove harmful chemicals.

apifishcare.com

Not as concentrated as Tap Water Conditioner as the dose for that is 1 ml per 20 gallons (or 2.5 ml for 50) for chlorine. it's more for chloramine.

 

[Slaphppy7]

API® | AQUA ESSENTIAL™

API AQUA ESSENTIAL water conditioner is a highly concentrated aquarium treatment that works instantly to remove harmful chemicals.

apifishcare.com

For tap water, same amount as Prime, then...now, which is less expensive?