Aquarium Pharm Tap Water Conditioner NEW DOSAGES

[dpatte]

I noticed in the USA that Aquarium Pharamaceuticals has changed their famous 'tap water conditioner'.

I have been using this 'one drop per gallon' product for years.

The old packaging was a white bottle with yellow and red label. The new packaging is now yellow & blue! It no longer has a drop per drop bottle lid. It comes with a small cup to measure 5 ML instead.

And they have changed the instructions So I am concerned they may have changed the concentration).

They have different instructions for amount to use for chlorine and chloramine,

I have contacted them and they gave me a half answer suggesting that the product and actual concentration is the same, but the recommended dosage is different. is this just marketing?

I have another email out to them - ill relay what I find out.

I sure hope they havent weakened it - because the price hasnt changed.

[BigDaddy]

I switched from AP Tap Conditioner to Prime about a year ago.  I didn't like the fact that AP didn't have anything to deal with the free ammonia after breaking the chloramine bond.  Can't say as I have much to complain about... the price difference is worth the piece of mind.

[artw]

if your biofilter cant nuke the free ammonia on contact you have something wrong with your aquarium
people would save so much money if they just used sodium thiosulphate in their tanks. everything else is just BS.

[BigDaddy]

No doubt the biofilter should kick in.  And the amounts of ammonia are negligible.

Buying Prime makes me feel better about myself Art.  There, are you happy, I said it.   :lol:

[328iGuy]

I switched from AP Tap Conditioner to Prime about a year ago.  I didn't like the fact that AP didn't have anything to deal with the free ammonia after breaking the chloramine bond.  Can't say as I have much to complain about... the price difference is worth the piece of mind.

I only use Seachem Prime in my tanks as well, I agree with the peice of mind on breaking the bond.  If I am not mistaken Prime is one of the only conditioners that does this?

[dpatte]

ap tap conditioner, i presume, was made of sodium thiosuplphate only which works to break the bond and also works to neutralise the chlorine and heavy metals.

The issue here is that they used to indicate that it was one drop per gallon (for either use) but now their instructions are different depending on the use

[dpatte]

according to feedback from AP, their product formula and concentration are not changed - only their recommended dosages.

If you use this product, I would save the old bottle and cap if you still would like to measure one drop per gallon. The new cap doesnt let you measure by the drop

[328iGuy]

according to feedback from AP, their product formula and concentration are not changed - only their recommended dosages.

If you use this product, I would save the old bottle and cap if you still would like to measure one drop per gallon. The new cap doesnt let you measure by the drop

Now this is odd, if nothing has changed in the formula/concentration, why should the dosage change, either they were misleading the consumer before or they are misleading them now?  :roll:

[darkdep]

It's probably something really dumb, like the manufacturer of the "drop cap" wants more money than one with the new cap/bottle.

Prime and some other conditioners (Chloram-X, etc) contain Sodium Hydroxymethanesulfonate, which neutralizes the Chlorine as well as convert ammonia into a non-ionized form so it's safe, and can be absorbed by your biofilter at it's leisure.

Technically, it shouldn't matter...any ionized ammonia placed into your tank from a water change / sodium thiosulfate break should be absorbed by your biofilter almost immediately.  

I've been trying to find raw sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate but it's been much more difficult than finding raw sodium thiosulfate.

[328iGuy]

It's probably something really dumb, like the manufacturer of the "drop cap" wants more money than one with the new cap/bottle.

Prime and some other conditioners (Chloram-X, etc) contain Sodium Hydroxymethanesulfonate, which neutralizes the Chlorine as well as convert ammonia into a non-ionized form so it's safe, and can be absorbed by your biofilter at it's leisure.

Technically, it shouldn't matter...any ionized ammonia placed into your tank from a water change / sodium thiosulfate break should be absorbed by your biofilter almost immediately.  

I've been trying to find raw sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate but it's been much more difficult than finding raw sodium thiosulfate.

Yah...uh....what he said!  :lol:

I am also partial to using Seachem Prime in all of my tanks....costs more, takes less...works out in the end!  

[darkdep]

It, like so many other things, comes down to comfort.  

[mseguin]

The only explanation I can think of is that cities have changed the concentration of chloramine they are using, so AP has decreased the recommended dosage. Seems unlikely that everyone would ahve decreased chloramine though.

[Mettle]

I just use Laguna pond conditioner that I picked up half price at SP when they had tons of pond stuff at 50% off. Treats something like 1400 US gallons and I paid around $15 for it. Then I premixed some in some water to dilute the solution so I could easily dose my tanks. Problem solved. And super cheap.

[artw]

I remember reading somewhere (david patte, little help here?) that Ottawa uses 1/5th the amount of Chloramine that major US cities do.   I also read somewhere, maybe in the same article (city of ottawa?)  that a regular dose of sodium thiosulphate is all that is needed to break the chloramine bond.

[dpatte]

art - this is close to what i remember as well from discussions with the city of ottawa water filtration plant chemist. He said 1/3 as far as I remember.

Anyway. I will just switch caps when i get the new bottles and continue to use one drop per US gallon.

[luvfishies]

I've been trying to find raw sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate but it's been much more difficult than finding raw sodium thiosulfate.

There were a couple of sellers over at www.pnaquaria.ca that were selling the raw powder a couple of months back.

I've got 2 lbs of it, and it's wonderful stuff!