Commonly used aquarium chemicals

Maverick Tse

Maverick Tse

— 1 min read

Dechlorination:

  • Sodium thiosulphate (most common and effective)
  • Vitamin C (aka. ascorbic acid)
  • (Or just leave you bucket of tap water for a week)
  • (Or boiling with subsequent aeration)

Water softener:

EDTA (a potent divalent cation chelator. Bind and precipitate calcium ion... and Mg2+, Ni2+ Fe2+, etc...)

Waterweed pre-treatment:

  • lime water, submerge 10min for stem plant, 5min for moss (saturated calcium hydroxide, 「水草その前に」の参考). No need for tissue-cultured speciment.
  • Alum (yes, the same thing for waste water treatment, but may be difficult to establish the right concentration)

Ich/infection medication:

  • Sea salt
  • methylene blue (very common, that's why most fish med are blue. Also used as topical antiseptic for human)
  • malachite green
  • (Preferably just get one from reputable brand such as Sera... as getting the wrong dose can kill you fish)

Read more