Sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate, see the SULFONATE ?, that´s why it has sulfur odor. Amquel per se won´t have any effect on the PH, it will increase the general hardness but it won´t affect the carbonate hardness. Buffers on the other hand will affect the carbonate hardness maintaining a high pH, in this case it was the bufferes the ones to blame.

thank you, raul. this is why i looked it up and did see the symbol for sulfur. but, am i supposed to smell it??? what if my water smells like sulfur? is this an indicator of another problem?

"Prime" is a better product, IMO, I rarely use it now, only to ensure dechlorination of Hospital a hospital tank that was sterilized with bleach. It also cost alot less because it is concentrated, so it treats more water using less. To check out specs. check the "Seachem" home page and search Prime or water conditioners.

You will smell the sulphur with prime. I agree with woeisme adding though....it ends up costing less if you look at how many gallons it treats.

I don't need it for dechlor now (well water) I use it for the ammonia binder if I have to move my fish...

Ok I didn´t get it. The water smells to sulphur, which water ? the one you added the product to or the water of the tank smells like sulphur ?

The water that you added the product to will have a slight smell to sulphur because of the sulphur in the dechlorinator, but that smell goes away quickly.

If you smell suplhur in the water of the tank then it´s bad news, it means that anaerobic decomposition is taking place in the tank or in the filters, it´s indicating that there´s too much organic matter in the tank and that there are patches of poor water flow.

i am sorry raul. i thought my water smelled like it, until i double checked today. i must have spilled the amquel somewhere! yes, that was my worry.

i seem to pass up seachem b/c i thought they were mostly marine products. maybe b/c i have never seen their full line. i will check it out. thanks woe and adrea (and for the heads up).

Gee I read real careful there. I though you were talking out of the bottle lol. I hate the sulphur smell so I guess I just thought it would annoy someone else as much as me...

Yep you must have spilled some ;)

Adrea

yes, adrea...it does annoy me out of the bottle as well! especially since the dry didn't have that odor. then, my bathroom will smell like it for a day, etc etc etc.

have you ever noticed crystal formation along the cap? sometimes this has made my think that a chemical change has occured, therefore changing the actual product. i thought that could be why i smelled it so much. also, i brought some home from my grandmothers. it was pretty old and smelled 10 x's stronger than a new one- it could take your breath away. this concerns me...so i bought a new bottle.