Found a product

AmQuel+
amquel+ supposed to remove ammonia, nitrite, nitrate gives examples on the back

1 dose is supposed to remove
1.2ppm ammonia
2ppm nitrite
13ppm nitrates

so if this is correct then should be a helpful product it is suitable for marine,ponds,coldwater and tropical

right the bottle states it removes them so i am doing a test here i have a glass of water with arround 1ppm of ammonia in it i have tested at 7pm added the amquel+ and in 1 hr should read 0 ppm so we will se if it lives upto their claim

it also seems cheaper than prime and is roughly the same sort of doseage

5ml to 40 10 gallons

thought i would test 15 mins in to see what was happening and here is the result

one of the others more wiser than me will be along soon k
to answer you as I wouldn't put any chemicals in my tanks
only the tap safe in E's

its just a declorinator which removes the other nasties its been compaired to prime

i have noticed alot of americans have been using this for a while

afer 1hr

but found an adverse affect in such a small quantity the ph rose fom 7.2 to 7.6

http://aquabaz.tripod.com/amquel.htm

Being a bit dim here but why would you need something like this in a dechlorinator?

Ok, I know that there is a chance we can all have an emergency with the tank - maybe a filter breakdown when we are on holiday etc - when we alll of a sudden find that there is a high ammonia etc there and it has to be dealt with.

Can't you just do a water change though and add ordinary dechlorinator?

I think there is a danger that people will rely on stuff that comes out of a bottle rather than do decent tank maintenaince.

i think this is aimed at the mini cycle like i had or new members doing a fish in cycle

ok yu can do water changes but this does leave them with water that still is affecting them and this stuff stops this i have to admit i was very skeptical about it when i bought it

at least i know i have something in my box that works unlike the rest of the snake oils like cycle

Well - if I could get it - id possibly use it instead of my current water change regeime of King British Safe Guard (Dechlorinator) and Safe Water (much like this product)

No the pH change maybe due to some of the ammonia being locked up/converted to ammonium - what dosage did you use on the glass of water? I ask as if you used more than the exact amount for the glass size - the dechlorinator probably affects the pH in its own right.

Anyway - at the end of the day - if it works for you and you are happy with the price etc then that sall that matters.

I like the KN safewater as I dont have to use it if I dont need too - ie its a seperate thing to the dechlorinator - however - im not really into these 'stress coat' aloe vera type addititves pewrsonally - as many experineced people would say - 'paying for an unnecessary unnatural additive' but what part of fish keeping is natural?

well even though i would recomend fishless cycling.
i was never aware of b4 i got onto these forums........ and many lfs dont even know what you are talking about, so in there eyes in an effort to stop new fish keepers comming back with sick dying fish these products do serve some kind of purpose.

i admit i use "prime" as declor and a back up

yes rich depends what you pay for king british in the 2 forms

i paid £12.99 at bow aquatics they dont do prime as they do this instead

richard id go over the stated dose for the glass due to not knowing what was in the glass so i out a couple of drops of it in so that could be the reason for the ph change

i have to admit it has confused me to where the ammonia has gone to

also was suprised to see it gone

it seems that it is a good product and has also removed the nitrate but because i dont have nitrite i couldnt check this one

it seems to work instantly also

it is supposed to be used a declorinator but as it binds with the ammonia all the time it makes it safe and allows the cycle to carry on

For 2x 250ml bottles of KB (one bottle of each) I pay £9 at P@H - these last me about 2 months normally (unless like now I have a fry tank to run too)

You wont see nitrite in tapwater (if you do - dont drink it) you wont see it in this experiment if the ammonia is converted instantly ie no intermediary microbiological processes

anyway - if it works and your happy with it - then who is anyone else to criticise - but id be inclined to agree with the theory that its designed for newbies to have instant habitable tanks - again - is this ia bad thing if fewer fish suffer?

another debate me thinks

lol rich debate debate

but yes i think it is amoungst the helful product rather than the needed products side

if you have an ammonia problem then this will help to an extent but otherwise leave it on the shelf lol

but if you are doing a fish in cycle then this is the product i would recomend over prime (which i noticed is getting pushed about lol)

but i have one other query for your superior brain power tho


take prime and all the other ammo converters

they turn ammonia into the non/less toxic form ammonium which already happens @ a ph lower than 7

now if you are doing a normal fishless cycle the and the ph drops to below 7 (only if it was higher) then it stalls the cycle

this is because the bacteria is a different strain at this level and use ammonium as its food source

so how would these products work if the cycle is stalled due to the ammonium ?

Im guessing that this goes on to a degree anyway - ie that dependinat upon your pH - different species of bacteria do the same job - dont for get that we tend to group bacteria together ie one bunch for ammoniaanother for nitrite etc - yet there are millions of different species of bacteria.

This is also one of the many arguments against bottled bugs as frankly - scientists dont really know exactly which bugs to what and to which degree.

This is why in my mind - a slow and steady fishless cycle (ie a month or so) is preferable to a bang method - ie a week or less to cycle a tank.

But yes - for a quick fix - it is good to knnow there are thangs that work - so as well as bactinettes and King British safte Water - looks like this is another one.

So your last question - ie how do they work - perhaps this is theoretically why many argue that cant and dont work - but it poses another possiblility - ie they do work - depending on the pH of your water

If you keep species that require you to mess withthe pH - perhaps these products then hit the dead end.

Anyway - I think the old 'the solution to pollution is dilution' system is good enough - I have found that you can change about 75% of the water in a 24hr period (but no more than 50% in 12hourss) without too much stress on the fish - but lets face it - if tyour water has got that bad to need it - you have serious problems anyway and frankly - life cant get more stressful for the fish anyway.

As long as the water temp isnt too different (or the ph - but there poses another issue)

If the ammount of ammonia etc affects pH - then surely - drastic reductions in ammonia also produce rapid ph changes - therefore another shock for the fish to deal with.

Now you know why i dropped chemistry (well - ok - it was mainly to do with the maths in chemistry )

Orbital forcing anyone