Chemical Dependancy

[Blackwater]

After long hours reading through the jumble of unintellectual rambling of what others call guidance and help, ive sifted through the muck to find that many people are obsessed with using store bought chemicals in there tanks. There seems to be a bottle for everything! Even the miracle cure-all for high nitrates which comes in flashy packaging and fancy bottles costing more than $10, when all you need is a water change...

I stopped using chemicals in my fish tank a few years ago and i have had considerably less problems than in the past. keep in mind im not talking saltwater here, i know some salties would have my hide for saying " dont use chemicals", So we can leave them out of this conversation.:tongue:

I would like some opinions and examples from people who have succesfully kept fish with and without using chemicals( being store bought, bottled/tabbed or powder, not including medication. ) and also from people who us chemicals when doing maintenance and other things. any information from fellow fish keepers would be wonderful and i hope to learn a little about other peoples tanks in this thread as well.

=)

-Thomas

 

[tjudy]

All depends upon what you want the chemicals to do. I personally use chemicals to reconstitute RO water, remove chlorine/chloramine and occasionally medicate fish and as a fungus preventer for eggs. The key, IMO, is to remember that everything that goes into a tank affects the chemical parameters in some way.. including pure water!

 

[Blackwater]

yup

i understand that everything interacts on a chemical level in one way or another. Dont get me wrong, im not a vegitarian, i eat meat, i eat fast food, im not into organic stuff or anything like that, but when it comes to my fish tanks, i think that there are natural ways to do things. take for instance de chlorinating water. i use tapwater on my 60 gallon community tank. i take it from the bathtub into a few 5 gallon water jugs, put in an airstone and air it out for a day before i add it in. bam, no more chlorine. in my blackwater tank i do the same thing, but i use RO water and peat moss in stockings to lower the ph and hardness. im sure there are lots of other things and i would love to hear from some more people!

thanks again

-Thomas

 

[Mike Wise]

About the only commercially bought chemical that I use is a good dechlorinator (I use SeaChem's Prime). Denver uses chloromines to keep tap water in the water lines bacteria free. It doesn't evaporate like chlorine. If necessary I can change about 10% of the water without anything, but more than that and it wil stress the fish.