Wondering if anyone that uses API brand products can help me....I have been told a couple of different things I use when doing water changes. Was told to use quick start & stress zyme; quick start & stress coat; & also just stress zyme. Any suggestions?
Water changes
- Thread starter Jmd
- Start date
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They are all pretty much identical when it comes to dechlorinating your water but some have "extras" in it which a healthy established tank needs none of them. For example stress coat will help build the slime coat on a fish which is helpful during a cycle due to high parameters but that same size bottle if it were just dechlorinator will treat roughly 5x as much water.
Awesome. Thanks so much. I had so much trouble with tank at first & was very paranoid about something going wrong. Lol. I'm MUCH better now just don't want to put anything in it that it doesn't need. Guess I was over doing it still. 
thanks so much.
thanks so much.CrashCourse
Aquarium Advice Activist
I also reccommend seachem prime. I just switched over from a combination of aquasafe plus and stress coat, but I really like the prime so far. It's a little pricey, but you use less, so it kinda evens out.
Ladybug5399
Aquarium Advice Regular
I agree on the Seachem prime. I had been using API stress coat for adding fish and water changes. I still have a full bottle of the stress coat so I will use it for adding fish. The prime does more than the stress coat. It also helps with ammonia, nitrates and nitrites. We have ammonia in our tap water and the prime takes care of it as I add to tank.
Lt.
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I use Prime on water changes (dosing not for new water, but whole tank), Stress Coat for new fish, and Stability with nee tanks. The stability worked great with my 45 long when I set it up last month.
Andrewz00
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I use nothing but prime and ferts for the plants... I dose whole talk during pwc. No other chems at all. Ever.
Lt.
Aquarium Advice FINatic
No chems even if treating illnesses?
Aqualady40
Aquarium Advice Addict
+1 agreed
Chronos313
Aquarium Advice Addict
Same I only use seachem prime for every pwc. Best to buy through amazon.com for you yanks
Andrewz00
Aquarium Advice FINatic
never in my main tank no..... QT tank if needed.
phin
Aquarium Advice FINatic
It more than evens out. A 50ml bottle (the tiny one) costs around $6. It treats 500 gallons. A 250ml bottle can be found for $12. That treats 2,500 gallons. It is much cheaper than the API or Tetra products. In addition to treating chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, it also claims to promote the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat.
CrashCourse
Aquarium Advice Activist
Huh. Where I am, the big bottle was closer to $18, I think. I got it on sale and paid like 12 or 14, which was closer to the equivalent aquasafe plus price by volume. May be time to shop online.
CrashCourse
Aquarium Advice Activist
I've personally only ever used Kordons Ich Attack, which is supposedly all natural and safe for inverts/scaleless, but even that was never the full recommended dosage.
BillD
Aquarium Advice Addict
One thing to note. If adding fresh untreated water to tank, add enough dechlor to treat the entire tank volume, rather than just enough for the water you are adding. The reason is to ensure there is enough dechlor in the tank to make contact with all the new water. The dechlor should be added prior to adding the new water.
Andrewz00
Aquarium Advice FINatic
it is not a problem to dose the entire tank if you adding new water directly to the tank and not treating first.... i do 40% weekly pwcs on a 90 gal tank... there is NO WAY im carrying and dosing 9-10, 5 gallon buckets every week... thats what the Python is for!
