Essential water treatment products

[jazu]

I'm a little confused with all these product varieties. Testers, chemicals, plants treatments.... What would be the essential must have list that I would have to buy starting my 1st aquarium?
thank you

[Brhino]

Most Important:

1. A water conditioning chemical that removes chlorine and chloramine. You use this with every water change to make your tap water safe for fish. Some people try to get by without, either because they have well water, or they let the water sit before they add it, but I wouldn't recommend it for a beginner. Lots of products to chose form here, Seachem Prime is the most popular.

2. A freshwater water testing kit. Especially when you're first starting a tank, you'll want to know what the concentrations of the three core chemicals that make up the nitrogen cycle (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are, as well as pH. This isn't absolutely necessary, but it's hard to successfully monitor and maintain your tank without it. The API Freshwater Master Test Kit is the most popular.

Less Important:

• Medications - Some people maintain fully stocked fish medicine cabinets, but others go out and buy what they need when a disease appears. If you're just starting out, I wouldn't recommend going out and buying $100 worth of medication you may or may not need.
• Plant Nutrients - If you're doing a planted tank, you may chose to add chemicals to help your plants. A plant expert could write about this for pages upon pages, but if you don't have plants you don't have to worry. Even if you do have plants, you don't have to buy a boatload of fertilizers right off the bat... you can learn what you need as you go.
• Other Test Items - in addition to the things you can test with the basic testing kit (see above), there are other things you may want to be able to test for, such as hardness, concentrations of various metal ions, and a host of other things. This tend to come into consideration if you're raising sensitive fish with strict requirements, or if you're trying to do a high-tech planted tank with major growth. When you're just starting out, just the ones I listed above on item #2 should be fine.

[dragoonwoman]

Good quality TEST KITS, with liquid reagents instead of dip strips. These will let you know what's going on with the water you have.

You will need ammonia, nitrite and nitrate kits for cycling the tank, so it might be easier (and cheaper) to get a collection like the API Freshwater Master Kit. I did, and I don't regret it. I added GH, KH, Copper and Phosphorus kits later, when I had other questions. I have well water, so I can't call the town water company to get answers, I have to find them myself.

You also will need a water conditioner to eliminate chloride/chloramide and heavy metals. The favorite around here seems to be Prime, but there are many others. I use API Tap Water Conditioner myself.

Any other "additives" should be based on the results of the test kits, coupled with the fish you are keeping (or intend to keep) and the water conditions they need to thrive.

Remember always - LESS = BETTER. The less you mess with the water, the better it is for your livestock. GOOD LUCK!

[Brhino - ya beat me to it!! ]

[jazu]

Thanks guys for replies. So you mostly talking about testers and water conditioners. If tester will show ammonia or bad PH you just recycle 25% of water or you have to add some other chemicals? If I will recycle once a week 25% of tank, do I still have to do testing?

[Brhino]

it sounds like you're not familiar with cycling. Have you read the free aquarium ebook? Or, check out the stickies on fishless cycling or cycling with fish in the cycling forum. Read those, ask questions if you don't understand, and then decide if you're going to cycle with fish or without. We'll be able to help you more from there.

[jazu]

I think I did confuse you a little. I'm beginner but my question was regarding maintenance after the cycling.

[Brhino]

most people do not test their water weekly once the tank has finished cycling. They only do so occasionally or if something seems wrong. Once your tank is cycled, if you detect any ammonia or nitrite, or if you pH has changed, then something odd and potentially harmful is going on and you need to investigate further.

[Strider199]

About the only maintenance I do to my established tank is vaccum the gravel/substrate and water changes of about 10% weekly. I clean one of my filters (in a bucket of used aquarium water) once every two months. I only clean one filter at a time so if I do mess something up, not all of the benifical bacteria will be gone at once. It's not nescessary to have two filters, it's my preferance.
Now if your fish should get a bacterial or virus infection you'll be reading some more from that section.

[friz]

+1 Declorinator and test kit.