Safe/prime experiment

[esoxlucius]

I'm using prime at the moment but I have a tub of safe which I want to eventually replace the prime with. I used the safe once and, due to it being ridiculously concentrated, I must have overdosed because my fish were gasping as I was filling the tank back up. It scared me a little so I haven't touched the safe since.

However, I was messing around with my TDS meter earlier and I wondered what the TDS value of prime was, so I poured some out in a jug and tested it. It had a TDS reading of about 3800ppm.

So....I started thinking about adding safe to a jug of tap water and keep stirring it until I reached about 3900ppm (my tap water is about TDS 100ppm). I did it and unsurprisingly it didn't take much safe before I was nudging the 4000ppm mark, which is around where I need to be to replicate the prime.

The water in that jug now smells like prime, it looks like prime, but the big question to any boffins out there, is it going to act like prime? In theory it should.

My concern is that the prime may have stabilisers added, whereas my mix hasn't, or has the safe powder already got stabilisers in? If I pour my mix into my prime bottle when it's empty, will I be able to use my "new" prime just like I used my old stuff?

 

[TheWolfman]

I was thinking the same thing the other day. Just like the old ice t mix or gatorade from back in the day.

 

[FESHMAN]

I'm using prime at the moment but I have a tub of safe which I want to eventually replace the prime with. I used the safe once and, due to it being ridiculously concentrated, I must have overdosed because my fish were gasping as I was filling the tank back up. It scared me a little so I haven't touched the safe since.

However, I was messing around with my TDS meter earlier and I wondered what the TDS value of prime was, so I poured some out in a jug and tested it. It had a TDS reading of about 3800ppm.

So....I started thinking about adding safe to a jug of tap water and keep stirring it until I reached about 3900ppm (my tap water is about TDS 100ppm). I did it and unsurprisingly it didn't take much safe before I was nudging the 4000ppm mark, which is around where I need to be to replicate the prime.

The water in that jug now smells like prime, it looks like prime, but the big question to any boffins out there, is it going to act like prime? In theory it should.

My concern is that the prime may have stabilisers added, whereas my mix hasn't, or has the safe powder already got stabilisers in? If I pour my mix into my prime bottle when it's empty, will I be able to use my "new" prime just like I used my old stuff?

I do make my own "prime" by diluting safe in a water bottle, I forgot what was the ratio but it wasn't much powder to reach prime strength. I've always wondered if they're the exact same thing or prime has more stuff in it. Because prime claims to "remove" ammonia where I don't think safe does. But I've been using diluted safe for a few years especially for my small tanks and I haven't seen any ill effects. I do have central filtration with carbon just to be clear.

 

[deeda]

Safe does not have stabilizers like Prime does so it's not recommended by Seachem to make a batch and store it for future use according to their FAQ section.

 

[esoxlucius]

Safe does not have stabilizers like Prime does so it's not recommended by Seachem to make a batch and store it for future use according to their FAQ section.

Yeah, i've dug a bit deeper into it. Although the mix i've made is good to go, safe DOES NOT contain the stabilisers which prime does. So my mix only has an active shelf life of about a month. Trusting it to do its job after this period is a bit of a lottery.

FESHMAN , do your "mixes" get used up within a month or are you using mixes that are older than that? You must be doing something right if you haven't experienced any ill effects.

 

[FESHMAN]

Yeah, i've dug a bit deeper into it. Although the mix i've made is good to go, safe DOES NOT contain the stabilisers which prime does. So my mix only has an active shelf life of about a month. Trusting it to do its job after this period is a bit of a lottery.

FESHMAN , do your "mixes" get used up within a month or are you using mixes that are older than that? You must be doing something right if you haven't experienced any ill effects.

No it lasts way more than a month, more like 6-8 months. I use it on my smaller tanks because I can't figure out the dry dose for safe on these tanks. I used to steal distilled water from the university's labs but now labs are closed. Haven't done it with tap water. I think I don't have much chlorine to start with, we are on desalinated water so no need for high concentrations of chlorine. Also as I added previously I have central filtration with 2 large carbon blocks. I haven't measured the chlorine out of the tap but I'd imagine it'll be minuscule, people that are on city water are the ones that need to be more cautious for chlorine/chloramine.

 

[TheWolfman]

I use a 1/4 teaspoon and mix the safe in tap water as I’m draining. I also use 3x dosage because the recommended dosage is not enough. Never any issues doing it this way. I’d give it another shot. I’ll never by prime again.

 

[FESHMAN]

There's a cool trick I learned from Cory for mixing your dechlorinator. You can calibrate the dose for your needs, got small tanks: dilute it, got large tanks: make it stronger. Saves you from measuring with a spoon or cap or whatever you use to measure with.

 

[Rocksor]

So I asked Seachem how long after adding Safe to a tank can i wait to add additional tap water with chloramne. The rep told me to do it within 3 hours

 

[Rocksor]

I use a 1/4 teaspoon and mix the safe in tap water as I’m draining. I also use 3x dosage because the recommended dosage is not enough. Never any issues doing it this way. I’d give it another shot. I’ll never by prime again.

the old instructions pre 2014 of Safe, had 1 teaspoon per 200 gallons to treat 4ppm chloramine/5ppm chlorine. No change in formula, just the instructions