Water conditioners are not something that newcomers to fishkeeping really give much consideration to. After all, it’s just water. What in the world would you need to condition it for?
Honestly though, do you spend a lot of time drinking water directly from your tap?
Water conditioners are designed to improve the quality of water for your fish. Most people don’t drink tap water because we now have enough information to understand that it’s generally nasty stuff. The same goes for your fish.
A good water conditioner will get rid of something that’s known as a fish killer—chloramine. If we’re being honest, chlorine is on the menu as well. Neither of them is good for your fish. If you use tap water for your fish, without using a conditioner, there’s a good chance it will kill your fish.
How long does it take for Top Fin water conditioner to work?
Typically, it depends on what kind of water conditioner you are using and it depends on how much chloramine or chlorine the local sewage companies are pumping into your tap water supply. In some places, it’s a lot higher than in others.
On average, however, it should take about 15 minutes for the water conditioner to complete its work. You don’t need to wait for a cycle or two before the water is good and ready for your fish to find their home.
If you just purchased the tank and you haven’t added any fish yet, go ahead and give it a full 24 hours before you add your first fish. You don’t have to do this every time you apply water conditioner, just the first time.
What does Top Fin water conditioner do?
Top Fin water conditioner systematically eliminates all of the chloramine and chlorine in your tap water, making it far more hospitable to the fish. The reason that chloramine and chlorine are in the water, to begin with, is that they both kill harmful bacteria.
The problem is, chlorine and chloramine also kill the good bacteria that fish need to thrive. Because of that, both need to be eliminated from the tap water. The harmful bacteria that bother humans are not dangerous to the fish, however, they need that good bacteria in their water column.
Does Top Fin water conditioner remove ammonia?
Top Fin water conditioner is excellent for conditioning fresh tap water and for use following a cycle. However, it doesn’t do anything whatsoever to ammonia. While it removes heavy metals, chloramine, chlorine, and other harmful metals.
Top Fin water conditioner does actually do something to ammonia by converting it, however, it reverts back to ammonia in less than 24 hours. Not only does it revert back, but it’s also just as strong as it was before.
If you want to get rid of high levels of ammonia in your aquarium, you need to completely cycle it and follow up with something like Fast Filter Start. It has rapid-acting good bacteria that are more than happy to flood your tank and destroy ammonia levels—any that are remaining after a cycle that is.
How long should Top Fin water conditioner sit?
Most people don’t let Top Fin Water Conditioner sit for any amount of time. They simply put it to work as soon as possible. According to the directions, the Top Fin Water Conditioner should be mixed with tap water in a bucket.
Then the bucket full of tap water and Water conditioner go into the aquarium. Unless it’s the first time you’re filling up an aquarium, simply cycle the water, and while it’s filling up, mix in your water conditioner with tap water in the five-gallon bucket.
Can too much water conditioner hurt fish?
Too much water conditioner can definitely hurt or even kill your aquarium fish. It’s pretty hard to do. In fact, you would almost have to deliberately done to add enough water conditioner that it would kill your fish.
It might make them sick adding too much, however, so you do need to be careful to follow the instructions. If you don’t have any idea what kind of water conditioner to use for your aquarium, you should probably stick with general water conditioners, such as “Complete” variations, rather than ones that tackle specifics.
For the most part, you’re just going to cycle your water, which means dumping and replacing about 10% to 15% of it at a time. Cycling your water too much or taking too high a percentage at a time will put your fish in a state of shock or may kill them outright.
Is a water conditioner necessary for aquariums?
Generally speaking, yes it is. It’s not something you should have to use all the time. But you should always keep some on standby in your toolkit, in case the need ever arises. Owning an aquarium is just like anything else that pets need—it requires maintenance.
Your fish require optimal living conditions to survive and remain healthy. You should have a testing kit that will adequately measure the status of your water, including things like ammonia, pH, alkalinity, nitrites, phosphates, and nitrates.
Testing the water isn’t a difficult thing, it’s just a part of the necessary routine and nothing more. If things are starting to get out of control, you should have something on standby to deal with it. Regularly cycling your tank, small portions at a time, is an effective way to keep things balanced.
It may turn out that you don’t end up using a water conditioner very often and you could be one of the lucky ones that live in an area with pretty good tap water, not something that’s completely loaded with Chlorine and chlorates.
Bottom Line
Top Fin Water Conditioner is good to have on hand, even if you don’t have to use it all that often. This is especially true in the beginning if you’re filling your tank using tap water. A water conditioner is another effective tool for keeping your aquarium water clean, healthy for your fish, and well-balanced.
