I've been using prime for a couple of years now. It's expensive. Is it really that much better than a product like DeChlor?
+1 Seachem Safe. I get the 4kg bucket and it just lasts forever.Use Safe. It's the powdered form of Prime and is way cheaper. Also buy it in the largest size bottle that you can. I always bought Prime in 4L jugs.
I feel like I read somewhere that while Safe is more economical/cheaper, the one upside to Prime is that it promotes the slime coat on the fish, where Safe does not.noddy said:Use Safe. It's the powdered form of Prime and is way cheaper. Also buy it in the largest size bottle that you can. I always bought Prime in 4L jugs.Trademark said:I've been using prime for a couple of years now. It's expensive. Is it really that much better than a product like DeChlor?
Perfectly normal, it's sulfur based.Bobsled said:I used Safe for the first time on Friday. Why does it smell so bad? It smelled like rotting eggs. I made the mistake of removing the "safety seal/foil" in the house,
Thanks. I may give it a shot the next time I need some.Bd79 said:Safe is far more concentrated than Prime and costs about 1/10th as much per volume of water dechlorinated.There is no expiration date on the bottle I most recently purchased. I assume that if you keep it dry it won't lose effectiveness.
I usually add it directly, except for small tanks (less than 20 gallons), where dosing small amounts is tricky. For those tanks, I mix in a plastic jar of water and divide the water among the small tanks.Methodical2 said:Thanks. I may give it a shot the next time I need some.Bd79 said:Safe is far more concentrated than Prime and costs about 1/10th as much per volume of water dechlorinated.There is no expiration date on the bottle I most recently purchased. I assume that if you keep it dry it won't lose effectiveness.
Do you add it directly into the tank or premix with water, say for instance, in the canister filter when you fill it up?
Interesting. Why would there be ammonia in the old water?ken31cay said:I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
There is always ammonia, that's what fish expel and rotted food etc. create but the nitrogen cycle consumes it.Bd79 said:Interesting. Why would there be ammonia in the old water?ken31cay said:I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
I find that Safe/Prime also comes in handy in the case where you need to hold you fish in a temporary container for a few hours, like say you're moving your tank to a different spot. Put in a nice dose and you don't have to worry about ammonia building up during that time.Bd79 said:Interesting. Why would there be ammonia in the old water?ken31cay said:I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
I use this technique as well.ken31cay said:I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.Sub-Mariner said:There is always ammonia, that's what fish expel and rotted food etc. create but the nitrogen cycle consumes it.Bd79 said:Interesting. Why would there be ammonia in the old water?ken31cay said:I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
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But assuming you turn your filter off during the water change process then you would have ammonia building up as the fish will continue to excrete it. Since the majority of that nitrogen cycle occurs when the water passes through your filter.Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.
I could see this if one is running a bare bottom tank. Other than that...not a very true statement as far as I am concerned.ken31cay said:But assuming you turn your filter off during the water change process then you would have ammonia building up as the fish will continue to excrete it. Since the majority of that nitrogen cycle occurs when the water passes through your filter.Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.
I can't answer both questions. But doing my normal 70% water change maintenance in my 450gal takes 2.5 hours, sometimes longer depending on level of cleaning I do. I suppose with a smaller tank you might get away with only using the dose of Safe/Prime for the water you are replacing but it won't hurt to dose the entire tank volume. That is the recommendation strait from Seachem's dosage instructions. I wouldn't risk it personally.Bd79 said:At the risk of belaboring the point, yes, but how long does it take to change water and how much ammonia is created during that window?