Safe Vs Prime

[white specter crayfish]

Seachem has 2 products that I'm interested in, one is prime and one is safe


https://www.amazon.com/Seachem-1160...&qid=1541815175&sr=8-1&keywords=prime+seachem


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002A5WOC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1


I have used prime and it is very good, but what about safe? It sounds so concentrated that I'm worried about overdosing on it and I hear mixing it is different than with prime. Anybody got any experience with these

 

[Pond9]

I used prime for expensive switched to safe a lot cheaper. I just measure the dose for whole tank and drop it in as I fill tank.

 

[white specter crayfish]

I used prime for expensive switched to safe a lot cheaper. I just measure the dose for whole tank and drop it in as I fill tank.

so you just dose the whole tank everytime you do a partial water change?

 

[RD.]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/cost-effective-water-conditioners.309623/

 

[skjl47]

Hello; I asked this sort of question a few years ago. Essentially these are the same product but in different forms. The prime is a liquid and more expensive per unit dose. I bought a container of safe with a much better cost per unit.
Here is some of what I learned. Safe being a powder got me to thinking I could mix up an amount with some water and use it like prime. A problem was pointed out being that once the powder is added to water it has a limited shelf life. Best I recall it starts going bad soon and is no longer effective after somewhere around three weeks.
Prime apparently is stable over time because the factory adds something to extend the shelf life.

My take is to use safe as a powder and find away to get a proper dose.

 

[Pond9]

so you just dose the whole tank everytime you do a partial water change?

Yes, no matter the size of change but for me I do 50% min

 

[tarheel96]

I only use Prime for small amounts of water under 30 gallons. Above that, I use Safe. It's much cheaper.

1 teaspoon Safe per 250 gallons (removes 4 ppm chloramine)

 

[white specter crayfish]

I only use Prime for small amounts of water under 30 gallons. Above that, I use Safe. It's much cheaper.

1 teaspoon Safe per 250 gallons (removes 4 ppm chloramine)

so would I use like a pinch of safe for my 29 gallon then?

 

[RD.]

Hi Mike, it's actually 300 gallons @ 4ppm chloramine. Note I still use the directions from years back, IMO they were more accurate, before Seachem dumbed things down for the masses. In fact the folks at Seachem even rounded down that number, 1250 liters converted to gallons is 330+ change gallons.

Directions for 250 g and larger

To remove…

Chlorine: use 5 g (1 tsp.*) to each 1625 L (450 gallons*) of tap water (removes 4 ppm).
Chloramine: use 5 g (1 tsp.*) to each 1250 L (300 gallons*) of tap water (removes 4 ppm).
Ammonia: use 5 g (1 tsp.*) to each 400 L (100 gallons*) of tap water (removes 4 ppm). Do not overdose!

So @ 2 ppm chloramine (my tap water value year round) I can treat a total of 526,400 gallons ....... with a single 4KG container of Seachem Safe. *

 

[RD.]

Read the link I posted and buy a scale, or use kitchen measuring spoons, whatever is easier. If you can't do those simple things don't bother using Safe, you'll probably get the dosage wrong.