Snake Oil???

[elliotulysses]

I was given Acurel Health Guard as a way to keep my aquarium healthy
But now I know that water changes and cleaning the filter are really what needs to be happening.
The product claims it gives electrolytes to those in the aquarium, however it does state on the package "for ornamental fish only"

Is this even worth my time?
Or does anyone have any experience?

[elliotulysses]

IT does claim to pull vitamines & nutrients right into the "fish" and keeps the organs in proper function due to electrolytes. It also is supposed to prevent bicarbonate alkalinity crash and boost/protects the slime coat.

I am mainly hesitant because it says "fish" and doesn't include frogs anywhere on the package.

[mpmistr]

The less you add to the water the better. Just use SeaChem Prime, it's a proven product and provides slime coat. I've used this product myself since day one and it works extremely well.

[Louis Charles Bruckner]

I have been keeping aquariums for the last 20 years and never heard of that stuff.
The only thing I use in my 40G bow front that is some what heavily planted is nourish a plant fertilizer.

The only things you really need is below.
Fresh water master test kit. (one that uses drops of reagents not test strips)
A good net.
Water python for water changes and substrate vacuuming (highly recommend no need for buckets.)
Seachem prime
Digital temp gauge. ( the glass ones that float in the tank can break and the LCD ones that stick to the outside of the tank are not very accurate.)

[mpmistr]

I have been keeping aquariums for the last 20 years and never heard of that stuff.
The only thing I use in my 40G bow front that is some what heavily planted is nourish a plant fertilizer.

The only things you really need is below.
Fresh water master test kit. (one that uses drops of reagents not test strips)
A good net.
Water python for water changes and substrate vacuuming (highly recommend no need for buckets.)
Seachem prime
Digital temp gauge. ( the glass ones that float in the tank can break and the LCD ones that stick to the outside of the tank are not very accurate.)

Man I can attest that glass thermometers suck.

I still use glass ones but a while back I had one break on me when I was adjusting the spray bar on my canister and I wound up cutting my hand, it released a bunch of little metal weights into my tank and of course, broken glass. It took me all night to get all the foreign objects out of my tank. They make those things out of the weakest glass I have ever seen. I think I will replace mine with digital some time this year.

ACF love to mess with them for some reason and it still makes me nervous.

[elliotulysses]

Yeah, I noticed that when I (shortly) had a glass thermometer. It made me nervous because they would NOT leave the damn thing alone, so I got one of the stick on side thermometers. A glass object breaking in the tank sounds like a nightmare!

But yes, the product was given to me after a water testing awhile back. It was actually pretty cheap, but probably not very useful except perhaps for medicine?
I use Seachem Prime and Stability(for water changes) and my tank health has been very good. The nitrates are higher than I'd prefer, but from what I understand planting should take care of that.

It really is amazing how most chain petshops know little/nothing about ACFs