Declorinator

[Spikey1007]

Bit short of money at the moment. Having to buy all the tesco value foods and stuff, just cut off sky and what not...you know the deal...

Is it me or doe declorinator seem a bit steep for what it is..my local fish shop wanted like £8 for a 100ml bottle of safestart which they recommened over any other declorinator...thats only better becuase it apprently has bacteria colonies in it...but im a bit skeptical...on that.

Now is there any cheaper stuff which will get the job done and is real cheap? Its probably cheaper to feed my cat every month than than for 100ml bottle of this stuff!

Now that i remeber its name Sodium Thiosulfate was a very cheap alternative but i wasn't sure if its good for tanks..

 

[pippoodle]

use stuff for ponds , it's cheaper and more concentrated
I use tetrapond aqua safe £8 delivered from ebay and other sites for 500 ml
10 ml for 200 litres so i use 1/2 ml in my 10 litre bucket

I got 7 tanks running at the mo

 

[gaz gun man]

whats your filtration and stocking?

You could probably afford to go down to 1 w/c every 2 weeks if you have good filteration and minimal stocking, just cut right back on the feeding (I only feed about 4 times a week anyway)

Failing that, I have heard that pond conditioner can be used, but I have no direct experience with that.

 

[doresy]

i use Prime. bit dear to buy but you need so little that it last for aaaaaages (and it smells so nice, not!)

 

[wetelbows]

http/www.wilkinsonplus.com/Domestic-Bird...ml/invt/0149229

Works out more expensive than pond dechlorinator in the long run but £2.19 when out shopping is not too much on your bill.

 

[locker]

although quite expensive JBL biotopol plus is good value.

the 500ml bottle would last more than 6 months.

Locker

 

[petertr]

Use pond dechlor & never look back!

 

[Bignose]

Cheapest would be none:
see [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=261519"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=261519[/URL] as one of a few threads about why once you've got a long-running established tank, many people have found it isn't needed anymore.

 

[dave_oddballs]

i use the tetrapond stuff but pay just over a tenner from my lfs have 5 tanks and the 500ml bottle lasts about 6 months!
David

 

[Inchworm]

I've been using API Tap Water Conditioner for years. It's basic stuff, with no fancy but unnecessary ingredients. It does the job and a little goes a long way.

Here's an old picture I posted when they changed the bottle. Does anyone remember the old one?

 

[WhiteDevil]

Sodium Theosulfate is the best stuff to use especially in tanks. More so tanks that have been \bleached but it will work just perfectly for what you need.

 

[7755matt]

I have been told that as long as is chloine used to treat the water then it will gas off overnight, so fill a bucket the day before water change and it should be fine the next day to use without dechorinator. Doesnt work with chloramines though, so you would need to check.

And I'd also check if anyone else knows this is true, I dont doubt my mate, but I'd hate anything to go wrong

 

[oswoldy]

Can you overdose a tank with declor? I ask because my tank is only 125 litres so very little of that pond stuff will do my entire tank also can you dose the tank rather than the buckets or is this way not as effective?

Many thanks
Mike

 

[Bignose]

I have been told that as long as is chloine used to treat the water then it will gas off overnight, so fill a bucket the day before water change and it should be fine the next day to use without dechorinator. Doesnt work with chloramines though, so you would need to check.

Yes it does work with chloramines, too. Read the thread I linked to above (and the threads linked-to in it).

The ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB) can use the amine portion of the chloramine as a food source. The amount of chlorine or chloramine that is added to the water is no where near sufficient to kill the number of bacteria that live in an establish tank's colony. And, the level is low enough that the harm to the fish is minimal -- especially if you only do small percentages of water changes.

In fact, one of the main reasons that our tanks have ammonia oxidizing bacteria in them in the first place is that water companies have a hard time killing them all off in their plants -- the AOBs come in with the tap water. See http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=209757 for citations on this issue.

And it is an issue, because while for the most part the amount of AOB in the water is negligible and harmless, because it is consuming the cloramine, that chloramine is not available to kill off the bacteria and other bugs that is should be -- like E. coli. So it is a growing concern about our water supplies, and I suspect that water companies will be moving away from chlorine-based treatments in the near future. However, nevertheless, there is very good evidence that one can keep a fishtank very healthy and happy without water conditioners.

The old "common knowledge" isn't right anymore -- we have to learn to re-evaluate what we once learned when new information becomes available.

 

[Schmill]

As others have posted, Seachem Prime seems to be good, and is very concentrated. A 10L bucket takes 0.25ml to treat it for which I use a babies medicine syringe.
Best place to buy it I have found is e-bay, and just search about a bit.

Agree on the smell too, lurverly - lol