Another Prime and Safe Thread

[RD.]

Again, keep in mind, that most if not all water suppliers vary the amount of chlorine and chloramine they use, and the amount that is in your particular water will vary from what they report at the plant. You will not have the same amount for various reasons (e.g., your physical distance from the plant, how long the water you

Yes and no. For those districts that use chloramine, the disinfectant level that leaves the water treatment plant will often be very close to the residual level of disinfectant coming out of ones tap - unless those taps are quite a distance away, as in many miles away. Our plant supplies water to towns as far away as 35 miles, with a level of 2 ppm chloramine when leaving the water treatment plant. During spring run off some of the remaining organic material reacts with the chlorine in the treated water creating a more noticeable chlorine smell in the spring, but the residual does not vary much if any. (according to the plant superintendent)

With chlorine, treatment amounts can vary greatly during storms, spring run off etc, as chlorine is far less stable than chloramine. This is precisely why some folks on chlorine only systems that are far removed from the treatment location, can sometimes have such minor residual levels at their taps that they can get away using zero water conditioner. With larger water changes, this is not an option with chloramine, ever. In a sealed container chloramine treated water can remain 100% full strength for weeks.

 

[robham777]

This is from the seachem discussion board.

"There is a small spork included in the 10 g and 50 g sizes of Safe. This spork holds 100mg. If you do not have something to measure this small amount please contact us at support@seachem.com and provide your mailing address so we can mail you a spork. Thank you."

It seems to me the best way to go about using the product is to acquire their scoop, get a chlorine/chloramine test kit, and utilize the formula provided on the site. In my case the range for chlorine reported by the supplier is .69 to 1.79 ppm which is not very helpful in determining the correct measure of safe, so testing at the tap on a regular basis would be in order. I will also get some other mg scoops and use the seachem scoop to determine their capacity. I would guess the dumbed down instructions are based on some average of typical water readings, but leave a lot of room for over/underdose of the product.

 

[RD.]

The dumbed down instructions have to do with the average consumer being too dumb or too lazy to check, so in a better safe than sorry scenario, Seachem decided that a little ammonia burn, is better than dead fish from an overdose causing 02 depletion. That's the short & sweet version. One cannot place an average value on the residual disinfectant levels found in North America, let alone the entire world. lol IMHO 2 ppm would have been a safer bet. Whatever .....

For those that don't want to check their tap water on a regular basis (I don't) simply go with your local water supplies value (most show an annual average in their yearly water report), and in times of high rain, spring run off, etc, up the amount of water conditioner by approx. 25-30% to be on the safe side.

 

[robham777]

I contacted Seachem support and they were very quick to respond. They are sending one of their measuring spoons free of charge and also recommended their digital measuring spoon scale which retails for around $20. I am still trying to get accurate information on my chlorine levels since my WQR does not include an average, but only min and max detect levels which is a range of 1.1 ppm. Using the formula provided by Seachem at the low end of the range I would use 196 mg for my 100 gallon tank, but on the high end the dose would be 504 mg. Using an inexpensive pool test kit it appears to be between 1 and 1.5 ppm, but the color variation on the chart is very slight and hard to distinguish between levels. Here is their response.

Seachem Support 102086 (Seachem Laboratories)

Apr 4, 10:26 ADT

Robert,

Thank you for your email. We would be happy to send you a scoop if you will provide your mailing address. That said, you will ned to know how to dose Safe as it is a completely different style conditioner. It cannot be stored in a liquid form for later use like Prime and you will need to know the chlorine and chloramine concentration of your tap water for dosing.

For every 50 gallons you will use 200mg of Safe. This standard dose (100 mg/100 L of water) will remove 1 mg/L (ppm) of chloramine, 1.4 mg/L (ppm) of chlorine and 0.33 mg/L (ppm) of ammonia.

To use this properly in a tank environment, you will want to know the exact level of chlorine and chloramine in your tap water to ensure that you are fully neutralizing the level of your tap water.

You can use the following formula to figure out the appropriate dosage for your tank based on chlorine and chloramine levels:

A general formula that should help to determine the amount to use in mg for a given chloramine level is

x = L*c where x = amount to use in mg, L = volume of water (tank volume if added to tank, or source volume if water change water), c = chloramine level in mg/L (ppm). So a 500 L tank with 2.5 mg/L of chloramine would require 500 * 2.5 = 1,250 mg or 1.25 g of Safe, for gallons the formula is

x = 4*G*c (where G = gallons and 4 is a constant)

for chlorine it would be

x = 0.7*L*n where x = amount to use in mg, L = volume of water (tank volume if added to tank, or source volume if water change water). n = chlorine level in mg/L (ppm). So a 500 L tank with 2.5 mg/L of chlorine would require 500 * 2.5 * 0.7 = 875 mg, for gallons the formula is

x = 2.8*G*n (where G=gallons and 2.8 is a constant)

for ammonia it would be

x = 3*L*a where x = amount to use in mg, L = volume of water (tank volume if added to tank, or source volume if water change water). a = ammonia level in mg/L (ppm). So a 500 L tank with 2.5 mg/L of ammonia would require 500 * 2.5 * 3 = 3750 or 3.75 g for gallons the formula is

x = 12*G*n (where G=gallons and 12 is a constant)

For accurate dosing of Safe, I would recommend using the Digital Spoon Scale:

Digital Spoon Scale

I hope this helps!

Product Support 102086