Water Treatments Question

[hogfan]

I was curious what chemicals you view as "must haves" for a FW and or planted aquarium. Their are so many products out there and it is a little daunting when trying to figure out what you really need so I am looking for the essentials. Thanks.

 

[phantomlink]

Must have in a fresh water? SeaChem Prime and maybe a bacterial booster like API's Zyme+

 

[phoenixgsd]

must haves are declorinator, seachem prime is a good one, and a first aid kit on standby containing treatments for ich, finrot ect, anything else is a waste of money in my opinion

 

[Noahs ark6]

A dechlorinator is the only chemical (excluding test kit) you need.
Bacterial boosters are a waste of money and you shouldn't need one if you cycled your tank properly

 

[4seasons]

A liquid based test kit that checks for ammonia and nitrite as well as a dechlorinator are the only must haves. Some medicines are good to have on hand so you are ready when fish get sick but the bacteria boosters are a waste of money just like all the PH adjusting junk.

 

[hogfan]

Well thats a load off my mind because of all the products out there. I do have a de-chlorinator and an API test kit along with some algae treatment(which actually works)and thats it. What about treatments for plants? I dont have much, a couple of swords and some anubias.

 

[raptorrex]

A dechlorinator is the only chemical (excluding test kit) you need.
Bacterial boosters are a waste of money and you shouldn't need one if you cycled your tank properly

+1 here. providing the dechlorinator has heavy metal binding. you need nothing more.

I'd also suggest you put off buying any meds, till you need em.
knee jerk medication, costs and can cause its own problems. (i know I've done it)

 

[Noahs ark6]

Well thats a load off my mind because of all the products out there. I do have a de-chlorinator and an API test kit along with some algae treatment(which actually works)and thats it. What about treatments for plants? I dont have much, a couple of swords and some anubias.

How many watts of lighting is there? do you use CO2? this will determine if you need fertilisers

 

[Alba_Buzz]

For me, API stress-coat is the daddy, but i've not tried seachem prime personaly. For cycling a new tank, only ammonia and maybe stress-zyme (i'm a believer) Thats about it. only treatments i've ever needed was for white-spot Interpet number 6, and a suspected case of fin-rot, which was treated with myxazin by waterlife.

 

[hogfan]

Well thats a load off my mind because of all the products out there. I do have a de-chlorinator and an API test kit along with some algae treatment(which actually works)and thats it. What about treatments for plants? I dont have much, a couple of swords and some anubias.

How many watts of lighting is there? do you use CO2? this will determine if you need fertilisers

The lighting is 216W about 11" above the water. No CO2 yet but hopefully soon.

 

[Noahs ark6]

How big is the tank??
216w is very high lighting, so a fertiliser would make plant growth boom

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with the other members.

Seachem Prime (still on my first bottle, years later), good liquid-reagent based test kits.

Plant nutrients depend on your plant approach. Less than 2 watts per gallon of light (skipping the details of that generalization) and you are usually doing "low-light technique", up in the high range of 2 watts per gallon or a little higher and you are doing "high-tech" and need CO2 and lots of other attention.

In my son's little tank I do "low-light technique" and I use what is loosely known as liquid carbon to help with that. In the USA its pretty easy to find Seachem Flourish Excel for this. Since the carbon is essentially how the plant makes sugar to distribute its energy to all its parts, it is quite important. Often the excess food will suffice to provide the high volume nutrients of Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium (N,P,K) but sometimes plant enthusiasts decide to supplement individually with these. So another 6 bottles that might sit on your shelf might be Excel, N,P,K, Iron and Trace. Together, these can provide all 17 or so elements that plants use.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[gundamcichlid]

A dechlorinator is the only chemical (excluding test kit) you need.
Bacterial boosters are a waste of money and you shouldn't need one if you cycled your tank properly

good advice from Noahs ark6

I use seachem prime as dechlorinator or water conditioner. it is a very safe product, IMO, as potential "OD" could be nil. Plus add some salt to the tank, 1tsp for every 40L. The salt consider as an additional supplement in the tank to make the fish less stressful.
Monitoring the temp of the tank to ensure the water is not to cold for any whitespot attack.
I also keep melafix or pimafix in my medical cabinet.
If you could get your hand on furan2, this is also good to have some ready as I found this is a good antibiotic for fish that has bacteria problem.

But if you did proper routine maintenance like routine water change and cleand and rinse the filter regularly with water from your tank. Any problem should be minimized.

All the best