Instant Ocean Snake Oil ?

wsboyette

Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fish
Has anyone here tried the new IO water conditioner ? I purchased some to use as a temporary measure while awaiting shipment of newer type chloramine-removing prefilters for my RO, and it does NOT remove or neutralize ammonia as its label claims. Ammonia content of the treated water remained high, around 1 mg/l, even after adding additional conditioner, mixing well, and allowing several minutes for it to work. I've always trusted Aquarium Systems products, so this comes as an awful shock (which I least need now as I have been having a nightmare battle with chloramines in the water supply)....
 
Are you sure your test kit isnt bad?

Well, unless both kits are bad - two kits now indicating zero ammonia in the aquarium and about 1 mg/l in the treated fresh tap water. I tested with both the Tetra strips (a few weeks old) and the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals (brand-new) liquid reagent kit, both read the same. I have never experienced a problem in the past with the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals kits. The strips aren't really bad, just more difficult to read than the liquid reagent kits.
 
Im pretty sure its illegal to ammonia at any level in tap water, which is why I doubt your test results. Can you take it to a LFS that tests with salfert kits?
 
I would certainly think it illegal, too. It should be ! But the city utilities here has recently begun using chloramine to treat its water supply, a very dangerous chemical comprised of chlorine and ammonia. Ostensibly not in high enough levels to affect humans, but a water change made up with that water certainly killed off my mandarin, clown and angel fish, and nearly killed the damsel fish. Within three days of the water change all three fish were dead. Shame on stupid me for not testing the new water prior to use ! It has now been a week and my tests of the aquarium water are indicating zero ammonia, and the nitrate level has fallen significantly, so my bacteria colonies have now caught up in the process of nitrification. The remaining damsel is now doing fine. The only LFS in my town is a Petco, but I suppose I could get them to check my RO water and verify my own results or not. The support people at Foster & Smith informed me that the older type carbon block prefilter cartridges such as that with which my unit is equipped will remove the chlorine but not the ammonia, and recommended that a newer type prefilter be used, so I have ordered one. As I understand it, this use of chloramine has just recently been implemented in many water treatment facilities, and my unit was manufactured prior to that. There is also a possibility its membrane may have been damaged by the chloramine. BTW, this photo, taken a day or two before that water change, shows how beautiful and healthy my mandarin was:

Mandarin002S.jpg

 
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Maybe until you get your pre filter in, you just need to use bottled DI water for your water changes. You can get it at the grocery store or Walmart, or fill your own containers at one of those water stations.
 
Maybe until you get your pre filter in, you just need to use bottled DI water for your water changes. You can get it at the grocery store or Walmart, or fill your own containers at one of those water stations.

Good idea, BW; all I really need is top-off water, as my prefilters will be here any day now. I just hope that solves my problem and gives me truly pure RO water. At today's prices, the cost of having to use bottled water for changes would be prohibitive; I incur enough costs from everything else as it is..... I'll break down the setup and put it up for sale on Craigslist before I use bottled water.
 
The jury is in; the LFS test results agree with my own. Since my API test kit agrees with their more expensive one, I can positively conclude that the IO water conditioner did not remove the ammonia and did not make the water safe for use. This also indicates that the far pricier Salifert kits are really no more accurate than the API, at least not the ammonia and nitrate ones anyway - and get this:

(1) With the Salifert ammonia kit, you get 50 tests for over twice the price of
the 130 test API kit.
(2) The Salifert ammonia test reads down to .5 mg/l; and the API test reads
levels as low as .25 mg/l.

While not always true, sometimes pricier is not necessarily better. Just ask the folks whose Ferraris spend more time in the shop than on the road ! I believe I'll just stick with my Honda......
 
Actually the salfert kits kits are waaaaay better, its pretty common for the API test kits to go bad, especially the alk, calcium and magnesium ones. I pretty much only use API for nitrates.
 
Actually the salfert kits kits are waaaaay better, its pretty common for the API test kits to go bad, especially the alk, calcium and magnesium ones. I pretty much only use API for nitrates.

Difference in shelf life, eh ? Well, as frequently as I test, I'll use up ammonia & nitrate kits in four months or so. To be sure they have a longer shelf life than that, never had a problem with them back in the day & never lost a fish to foul water. Guess I'm just an old shellfish & fish only curmudgeon; never could afford to do much more. If I were operating a full reef and monitoring the alk, calc, & mag then it would be beneficial to me to spend the extra money.
 
It's not shelf life, they are just accurate more often. API ammonia test kits will often read a 1 for ammonia when it's 0. They tend to give false positives. They are not bad test kits -- in fact, for that price range, I think they are the best brand. But the Salifert test kits are just of a higher quality.

For most of my test kits, I had an API and a Salifert test kit. Since API tends to give false positives, if something came up out of whack, I'd double check it with the Salifert test kit.
 
Guess I must have jumped to a hasty conclusion based on circumstances; I just was corresponding with another reefer who also swore by the Salifert brand. Maybe I should spring for the Salifert kits after we finish recovering from Christmas. :mrgreen:
 
You may need to upgrade your water purification system to remove chloramines if your ordered prefilters do not remove enough. See my post chloramines in tap water.
 
You may need to upgrade your water purification system to remove chloramines if your ordered prefilters do not remove enough. See my post chloramines in tap water.

Ahh, thanks so much, Rjordan. That's precisely the info I've been seeking; this ammonia getting into my RO water has had me tearing my hair out. It has cost me my mandarin and two other fish, and driven my nitrates up.
 
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Your Welcome.
If you decide to upgrade from ro to ro/di, then the first thing you should do is try to get a copy of the water quality report from your water company. Then contact the manufacturer's representative of ro/di products and tell him how much chloramine, chlorine, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates is in your water supply. Then he can better recommend a system for you. If your present ro membrane is still fairly new, you might save some money and purchase the parts you need rather then a complete system.
Keep in mind that not all ro membranes are the same according to one manufacturer which I believe I am not allowed to mention by name. But Randy"s article does mention the manufacturer. When I was active in the hobby, that manufacturer/distributor is the one I chose for my ro/di parts. This is not to say that other manufacturer's/distributors should not be considered.
If at present, cost is an issue, then consider using "Amquel or Amquel Plus" to treat your ro water.
One last thing; when using this product and testing for ammonia, the manufacturer recommends using a test kit that uses a salicylate type reagent as the nessler reagents will give positive false readings.
 
Funny thing about my RO unit; I just examined the hose connections closely and noticed that they (output & wastewater) were connected opposite of what the manual shows. How that occurred I'll never know, I must have done it myself when I unboxed the unit. So the water which I made was actually nasty waste water, and not pure RO water. As this water was used for both top-offs and the water change, that explains the fish kill - as it would have contained chloramines, which are even more toxic than ammonia. In the future, I will add an ammonia remover to my RO water just to be safe. Meanwhile, I am replacing the prefilters in the RO unit.
 
Thought about getting another RO/DI unit until I happened to be at Walmart the other day and noticed a water company attendant servicing their fill machine. He informed me that they regularly test and keep all the filters within limits. 5 stage plus 2x UV for $1.85 for a 5 gallon jug. I think I'll pass on buying a unit! Somehow I'm always at Wally anyhow!
 
Thought about getting another RO/DI unit until I happened to be at Walmart the other day and noticed a water company attendant servicing their fill machine. He informed me that they regularly test and keep all the filters within limits. 5 stage plus 2x UV for $1.85 for a 5 gallon jug. I think I'll pass on buying a unit! Somehow I'm always at Wally anyhow!

Sounds like a good deal ! Had I known Walmart had water at only $1.85 for 5 gallons, I might not have elected to get a RO unit. :frustrat: It did not occur to me to check there. But at least my in-home RO saves me from ever having to lift heavy containers of water...... :mrgreen:
 
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