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Water Conditioners


GTR73

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Does everyone in Sydney use Prime? Could be just me, but seems like quite a few mention it in discussion. Up here in Brisbane there's stuff called "Water Ager Cn". I'm sure it'd be in NSW.

It's apparently exactly the same stuff as Prime but is imported in bulk, re-labeled and distributed by a local Aussie company. I buy a 250ml bottle for $15. Removes 3ppm chlorine, 1.5ppm chloramine and 0.1ppm ammonia, as well as detoxifies the metals, at 1ml to 38L.

I started out on Prime, a great product no doubt, but I find it too expensive. I've found Water Ager Cn just as good.

There's also another cheap but quality water conditioner up here called "Aqua Star" which neutralizes 5ppm chlorine, 2ppm chloramine and 1ppm ammonia. I believe it's the same story as Water Ager Cn - local distributor re-badging an OS product. Aqua Star is a couple of bucks more for a 250ml, but it does 1ml to 70L. I don't use it as it's not as readily available, however a fellow enthusiast uses it and I'm envious he doesn't need to use as much water conditioner as me. dry.gif

Just got me that everyone was talking "Prime" and thought I'd mention the pseudo-Aussie alternatives. thumb.gif

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Prime and Aquatan are good IMO. IF you have a lot of tanks why not get a water filter? Cost about the same as buying few months supply of aquatan or prime etc,. You can use it for years and years. LOL

If you keep discus and americans etc get one with an adjustable R/O unit, so u can make softer water. Surely beats dosing the fish with something that looks a bit like cordial LOL zipit.gif

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ACN has worked well for me for the last year or so. I've got a mix of fishlies, including discus. They all seem to be completely unaffacted by my 20% weekly water changes.

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I was using ACN, buying it from Age of Aquariums but they stopped selling it a few months back.

I've since been using Aquastar (also from AOA) and it's also been good.

3ml treats 70L of water so it's very affordable thumb.gif

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safe would have to be close to the most economical water ager around. a kg worth will last you forever and a day. one sccop treats 40 litres for chloramine. 10 scoops to the teaspoon, 2000 sccops to the kg. works out at 80,000 litres of treated water per kg. retail is $100 or so a kg. at 1cent for every 8 litres, its hard to beat in price wink.gif

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I think you are wrong there Gav. 1Kg of Safe treats 150.000 liters according to the information I have from Seachem.

Is that for Chloramine too Nigel?

I remember looking at safe and finding it fairly confusing. At the time they gave one figure for Chlorine, one for Chloramine and another for Ammonia dntknw.gif

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I don't know Glenn its just the volume quoted on the wholesale list from the importer. I use both Safe and Water Ager ACN I guess there both cheap for me as I get them direct from the importers. As for the Safe I do use double the dose if I remember that is the correct dose for chloramine. As long as the water ager you use removes chloramine it does not matter. So go with the cheapest and best you can get.

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I don't know how you go past an aqaurium grade water filter?

its about $340 as a once off and then you end up changing the media once a year or so for around $50. Makes as many litres of pure water as you can be enthusiastic about the water changes. blush.gif

This means you dont need water conditoners ever again thumbup.gif

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I don't know how you go past an aqaurium grade water filter?

its about $340 as a once off and then you end up changing the media once a year or so for around $50. Makes as many litres of pure water as you can be enthusiastic about the water changes.  blush.gif

This means you dont need water conditoners ever again  thumbup.gif

Do you have a picture of yours Mike? I use a tap just outside the fishroom door for all my water changes, I'd need to see how it was connected to work out if it was an option here.

The thing which worries me with one of those filters is I might forget to change the media. At least with ager I have to use it each time I do a water change so I do not forget. But I imagine forgetting to change the media in one of those filters could be bad news for a lot of tanks sad.gif

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http://psifilters.com.au/Reverse%20Osmosis%20Laundry.htm

Mine is the PSI-020A. I was put onto there by quite an expericed breeder of fish. Not changing the media just means that it could clog or the R/O wont work as well as it could. There is a meter showing how many parts per million it is releasing, so if it is working properly, you will know to change the media. As for the two stage filters, I will be changing them every 6 months to ensure optimum peformance. I'm doing small water changes every day at the moment and my peppermints look like spawning very soon. I have a female interested in the males log. She is hanging around there like a bad smell. A couple of low conductivity water changes around 3dH should make her spawn shock.gif

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  Replacement cartridges price with us $38.10 (set) or ($25.00 if a replacement set is ordered with the unit)

RO has to be more expensive. i doubt many people will change more than 500l a week. and with a cost annually of $38.10 as opposed to $30 or so with using one of the high value water agers, how can RO ever be better value?

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Yea RO is more expensive.... of course it is... its another filter cartridge. For African cichlids, you dont need R/O its absolutely pointless, so a cheaper 2-stage filter will be more than sufficient.

  Replacement cartridges price with us $38.10 (set) or ($25.00 if a replacement set is ordered with the unit)

This is what you will pay for replacent cartridges for 2-stage (carbon and sedimant).

Anyways, I'm not trying to flog these off LOL I though it would be beneficial for enthusiasts to be aware of these options. I'm pretty confident its a money saver and arguable better for the fish in the long run.

Hope this helps

Mike.

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The other problem with R/O water is that its to pure for aquariums. It takes out all the trace elements and dissolved solids so you have to add them back into the water before you can use it.

It might be ok for discus and tropicls but you would still have to put some trace elements back but no good for Africans. Sydney tap water has about 90 parts per million total dissolved solids and most Africans need at least 180 - 260 parts per million total dissolved solids. So you have to add some sort of buffer or what ever to raise it.

I think not only is R/O expensive to run but it also will cost you more to bring the water back up for Africans. Just my 2c worth.

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The other problem with R/O water is that its to pure for aquariums. It takes out all the trace elements and dissolved solids so you have to add them back into the water before you can use it.

Nigel I couldnt agree with you more.. Pure R/O water will simply kill your fish.

But...... The unit that I have is abjustable TDS. This means that the unit cuts the pure R/O water with normale filtered water. You can choose how soft you want the water to come out as. I like making mine at about 60-70ppm (pure R/O is around 0ppm). This is about half the softness of normal Sydney water in my area.

As I said before, there is no point making soft water for African cichlids. If anything it is bad for them. IF you have Americans or Catfish or Discus, the unit is perfect, for their requirements IMHO.

For African cichlids, a cheaper two stage filter will do the job. The water will be the same as tap water minus all the nasties

Anyways, I'd make a good sales person for them wouldnt I heheheh. I make about 200L of water a day

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I agree also there is not problem with them I just thought I should explain for those that did not know. I think if you can afford it R/O is the best for getting pure water to start with then you can add what you like to make water ever water conditions you want.

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Hrm, I had been using Wardley Tri-Start - it treats 250l with 5ml, but doesn't do ammonia - just chlorine, chloromine & heavy metals

I might have to switch to this Aquastar stuff, sounds like a good thing

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