I just picked up some API this morning. $6.50 out the door for 4fl oz. Which should last a good while. Pretty cheap product to clean up the water. Guess, I'll see how well this stuff works. Just like Jimmy posted. 3 drops to clear up the chloramine bond.

Thanks for all the info everyone. Your all great. Merry Christmas to everyone.
Take care,
BG

I've been using the API stuff since the 16th and my girls arr just loving the added micro life!

I potted up from beer cups into 3 gal pots of FFOF and I haven't added any food since transplant.

One more week of veg on a couple Katsu and a couple P98 Bubbas.

LOVING IT!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
_______
-Phate

RockPhosphate said:

I've been using the API stuff since the 16th and my girls arr just loving the added micro life!

I potted up from beer cups into 3 gal pots of FFOF and I haven't added any food since transplant.

One more week of veg on a couple Katsu and a couple P98 Bubbas.

LOVING IT!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!!
_______
-Phate

Click to expand...

Plants look nice and healthy. A little darker then I personally like, but very healthy. Glad to hear the API works well. For having your plants in just FFOF and plain water. They are loving it. I've always thought FFOF was a little hot. You can see they are feeding well from the soil.

Glad to hear and see from your picture. That this stuff works. I'm going to run some test and see here shortly. I'm going to be doing a side by side grow with some Roots Organic and some Canna Coco. Ive got a couple of new bags in the shed and I'm going to mix some need medium up and do everything the same. Minus the RO water and use the API in place.

Thanks for the pictures and info. Have a Merry Christmas.
Take care,
BG

Carbon and 5 micron filtration here. happy healthy plants...minus the f'ing root aphids.

Here is the filter industries answer for chloramines now, KDF85.



I've never heard of these until now. Any farmers out there have experience or knowledge on these?

It would be nice to have a stealth or small boy filter outfitted with one of these for everyday watering. And when the time calls for teas, use the Sodium Thiosulfate to get it all out...

_______
-Phate

So tap water hinders growth? I let my water stand for 24 hrs or more before using it.
Does that help?

Fat Freddy said:

So tap water hinders growth? I let my water stand for 24 hrs or more before using it.
Does that help?

Click to expand...

It helps with chlorine, but not chloramine.

MediMary said:

So looking at the API, would it be better to get the one that binds metals, or the other one?
http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/rev-cond.htm

Click to expand...

I would be worried it would bind Fertilizer metals later...?

Did you see what it said about sodium thiosulfate:
* Note: Products where the second "Y" is in brackets are those which state that they remove chloramine, but in most cases contain only sodium thiosulfate (the same as standard dechlorinators for chlorine only). Usually, a higher dose is recommended for chloramines - this is to make sure the chlorine part is split from the chloramine and neutralised - however, this releases the ammonia part, so the chloramine is not fully dealt with. An example of the manufacturers' awareness of this, is shown by the fact that API recommend Ammo-Lock in conjunction with Stress Coat, if you need to deal with ammonia.

Thats weird because the only other product that is listed by API that will effect chloramine is just changing the ammonia, so u still have to deal with it.
Ammo-Lock is hydromethane sulfinate, it converts ammonia to ammonium. Ammonium is harmless to fish at levels found in an aquarium, but is used the same as ammonia by your nitrifying bacteria. It is also seen the same as ammonia with test strips, which give horribly inaccurate results, and single reagent Nessler tests. A two reagent Salicylate test will discriminate ammonia from ammonium.

As stated, you need to find where the ammonia is coming from, and why. Even if you do use Ammo-Lock to convert ammonia to ammonium the next thing you are bound to see is nitrite. There is no "Nitrite-Lock" for dealing with this, and nitrite in high enough concentrations can be just as deadly as ammonia.

If you look at Billygoats picture of API Tap Water Conditioner it says works on Chlorine and Chloramine. On that page it only says Chlorine. Wtf??

LOL...im saying you had me go through some shit on this side too...
Seamaiden likes it, but uhh i never read what that site said above about it jus letting the ammonia part go either. But no Im sure it doesnt bind metals.

Sodium thiosulfate is used for many, many things, I can't say if it will bind heavy metals but I know it's used in photographic processing as well as for making colloidal silver, and this is my limited knowledge of its use beyond that for aquatics.

dextr0 said:

I would be worried it would bind Fertilizer metals later...?

Did you see what it said about sodium thiosulfate:
* Note: Products where the second "Y" is in brackets are those which state that they remove chloramine, but in most cases contain only sodium thiosulfate (the same as standard dechlorinators for chlorine only). Usually, a higher dose is recommended for chloramines - this is to make sure the chlorine part is split from the chloramine and neutralised - however, this releases the ammonia part, so the chloramine is not fully dealt with. An example of the manufacturers' awareness of this, is shown by the fact that API recommend Ammo-Lock in conjunction with Stress Coat, if you need to deal with ammonia.

Click to expand...

Correct, because in newly established tanks NH3 is the biggest problem to deal with and that could kill animals, after that it's NO2 (nitrite). It's got to be oxidized into NO3, and even that can reach deadly levels.

dextr0 said:

Thats weird because the only other product that is listed by API that will effect chloramine is just changing the ammonia, so u still have to deal with it.
Ammo-Lock is hydromethane sulfinate, it converts ammonia to ammonium. Ammonium is harmless to fish at levels found in an aquarium, but is used the same as ammonia by your nitrifying bacteria. It is also seen the same as ammonia with test strips, which give horribly inaccurate results, and single reagent Nessler tests. A two reagent Salicylate test will discriminate ammonia from ammonium.

Click to expand...

Nessler reagents will show NH3 present if certain dechlorinators are used, this is a problem and frankly, I'm surprised Nessler tests are still out there. I'm with you on the test strips, what a waste of time and money! However, I'm not so sure that NH4 is harmless to fish.

Zeolite is another product that's used to lock onto free ammonia, we use(d) (to) use it when shipping really dirty FW fishes such as koi and goldies. A handful in the bag is all it takes!

dextr0 said:

As stated, you need to find where the ammonia is coming from, and why. Even if you do use Ammo-Lock to convert ammonia to ammonium the next thing you are bound to see is nitrite. There is no "Nitrite-Lock" for dealing with this, and nitrite in high enough concentrations can be just as deadly as ammonia.

Click to expand...

Yeah, but that's for aquatic animals, not Mary. I would like the ammonia (a good source of N) to be freed up or, even better, converted to NO3 (nitrate).

dextr0 said:

If you look at Billygoats picture of API Tap Water Conditioner it says works on Chlorine and Chloramine. On that page it only says Chlorine. Wtf??

Click to expand...

Mixed up, whoever is handling their advertising.

A cursory search using this "does sodium thiosulfate bind heavy metals" has given me these results, and it appears that it is indeed used for something that we could loosely say qualifies.

Thanks for the info very helpful

Just picked up some API for my coco hempy bucket..
Thanks for the info!!!!