anyone ever use "Prime"
- Thread starter 805puffer
- Start date
805puffer
Member
thanks for the reply but im not cycling my tank, i have high nitrates and i have been doing about 10% water changes every 3 weeks and i still can't get them down. the tank has been set up for about 3 years now. my lfs said that this "prime" stuff will make the nitrates not toxic so i can add sps corals.
ophiura
Active Member
Nope, However if you provide more specifics about your tank, let's see if we can come up with a REAL solution.
Specific parameters
Tank age
Tank size
inhabitants
how much/how often you feed
substrate
how much of a water change
type of filtration
RO water or tap water
BTW, a 10% water change ever 3 weeks is NOTHING I am afraid. You should do a minimum, IMO, of 30% a month.
Specific parameters
Tank age
Tank size
inhabitants
how much/how often you feed
substrate
how much of a water change
type of filtration
RO water or tap water
BTW, a 10% water change ever 3 weeks is NOTHING I am afraid. You should do a minimum, IMO, of 30% a month.
scsinet
Active Member
Prime works for some things, but I'm not sure about this particular claim. Prime does work well for neutralizing ammonia, etc, so it's useful when running a QT or transporting fish, but I doubt it will work well for this at all.
Even assuming it did work, what is the "long term plan?" You can't use prime forever, at least you SHOULDN'T, because that's attacking the symptom and not the cause. We gotta find out why your nitrates are what they are and fix that... What does your feeding and water change schedule look like?
Even assuming it did work, what is the "long term plan?" You can't use prime forever, at least you SHOULDN'T, because that's attacking the symptom and not the cause. We gotta find out why your nitrates are what they are and fix that... What does your feeding and water change schedule look like?
805puffer
Member
ok,
nitrates 80-100ppm, ya its is preetty high
nitrites 0
alk 0
ph 8.4
thats the only tests i have for my kit
tank is about 3 years old
110 gallon
yellow eyed tang, 2 maroon clowns, 2 gobies, lawnmower blenny, cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star, & 2 chromis.
i feed 2 pinches of food a day and skip sunday
i have live sand
i usually change 15 gallons a month, but i sounds like i have to up that.
80 gallon sump as filtration, with calurpa and purigen
i use ro water
thanks
nitrates 80-100ppm, ya its is preetty high
nitrites 0
alk 0
ph 8.4
thats the only tests i have for my kit
tank is about 3 years old
110 gallon
yellow eyed tang, 2 maroon clowns, 2 gobies, lawnmower blenny, cleaner shrimp, sand sifting star, & 2 chromis.
i feed 2 pinches of food a day and skip sunday
i have live sand
i usually change 15 gallons a month, but i sounds like i have to up that.
80 gallon sump as filtration, with calurpa and purigen
i use ro water
thanks
maxalmon
Active Member
Those pads can lead to some real problems, I was having the same problem on one of my frag tanks, it was driving me nuts till I realized that I was never cleaning the pad that was in the bottom of the skimmer overflow box, it was full of black gunk. Actually I didn't even know the pad was in there. Salifert makes some of the best test kits (on this site)
bkh_sd
Member
Prime works great to declorinate tap water and also provides a good slime coat for those fish that need it... However it can smell like rotten eggs for awhile in the room it was used in haha... I prefer Amquel Plus which doesn't include the slime coating which can screw up the protein skimmer from working right. However I only recommend using these chemicals when pretreating water. Not as a solution to a problem.
Your nitrates are high because you do not change your water enough. 3 weeks is a really long time especially for only 10%. You should be doing at least 10% a week or 20% every two.. You'll see a drastic difference in your water quality if you do. Also make sure you turn off your sump/refugium when feeding, this way the fish get a chance to eat all the food and there isn't a bunch just getting sucked into the sump/sump pad and decaying.
Your nitrates are high because you do not change your water enough. 3 weeks is a really long time especially for only 10%. You should be doing at least 10% a week or 20% every two.. You'll see a drastic difference in your water quality if you do. Also make sure you turn off your sump/refugium when feeding, this way the fish get a chance to eat all the food and there isn't a bunch just getting sucked into the sump/sump pad and decaying.
ophiura
Active Member
IMO, in a tank with LR, these pads do not have a significant role in the biological filter, and you should be able to clean them frequently....meaning every few days, even in tap water. This will kill the bacteria, yes, but if you have significant live rock (actually...I don't see an amount of Live Rock?), a refugium, or a wet/dry, etc, these pads should be negligible in terms of their contribution.
I think there is a greater benefit, personally, to rinsing them much more frequently, then only doing so at a water change. They do play a significant role in the tank in terms of being a mechanical filter. If you do not use these pads, then the gunk they trap gets carried elsewhere, and may still cause problems.
I think there is a greater benefit, personally, to rinsing them much more frequently, then only doing so at a water change. They do play a significant role in the tank in terms of being a mechanical filter. If you do not use these pads, then the gunk they trap gets carried elsewhere, and may still cause problems.