Seachem Safe vs Prime

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K

khckl

Feeder Fish
Dec 19, 2014
2
0
1
Singapore
Does anyone here use Seachem Safe? It's apparently the more concentrated version of prime (removes chlorine and chloramine) - thus you save a lot of money in the long run, especially if you have larger tanks. I've been using Tetra Aquasafe, until about a week ago when I got a new 75g tank and used 1/4 of my bottle in about 2 days. Thinking of switching over to safe, but am worried about the tiny g measurements. Anyone have experience with Safe? How did you manage to measure so accurately?
 
I have well water so I don't need to dechlorinate my water. However, I do use Safe to neutralize bleach residue after I disinfect my aquarium equipments. In regards to dechlorinating tank water, I've read that people would use something large like a 5 gallon bucket, and make a large batch of dechlorinator that they can store for about a month or so. Essentially, once you mixed the Safe with water, you get Prime. I'm sure someone will chime in and give the correct dosage to making large batches and how long it is viable for.
 
I've been using Safe for several yrs. Unlike Prime there are no stabilizing agents in Safe, so it's best to NOT premix it with water, as it will only remain stable for approx 30 days. Buy some kitchen measuring spoons from the local dollar store, and simply add before/during your tap water addition when performing water changes.


More general info can be found in the following sticky:

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?309623-Cost-Effective-Water-Conditioners
 
I would just have one question - are any risks when overdosing prime? Our local supplier became seachem importer and in compare to other products seachem is really economical..

I dont know the ammount of chloramine and chlorine in tap, so for 30g i would use the amount that is recommended for 60g.. (in compare to others, it is still economical)

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It's ok to over dose with Prime, It's easier for you with prime because a capful of Prime treat 50 gallons, for 30 gallons you can use a bit more than half of a cap (Prime bottle cap).
 
I use prime, I just switched to it a few months ago because prime was more concentrated than what I was previously using (stress coat). I don't need any higher of a concentration than prime because my water is very free of chloramines and I only need half a dosage of prime anyway.
 
It's easier for you with prime because a capful of Prime treat 50 gallons,
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You might want to read the link that I previously posted. 1 capful of Prime per 50 gallons is based on a very specific quantity of disinfectant residual, and without knowing what that quantity of chlorine/chloramine is in D. Wolf's tap water you can't possibly make a statement such as that. From Seachem's website:

Use 1 capful (5 mL) for each 200 L (50 gallons*) of new water. This removes approximately 1 mg/L ammonia, 4 mg/L chloramine, or 5 mg/L chlorine.
Click to expand...

So how again is that easier for D. Wolf? You need a base number to start with, or it's nothing more than by guess or by golly, and potentially a huge waste of $$$. I've been attempting to get this message across to people for years, you need to know how much chlorine/chloramine is in your tap water, before you can calculate how much water conditioner you should be treating with.

And last but not least, just so no one gets the wrong idea, you can indeed overdose with Prime.

I have seen tanks wiped out from an overdose or Prime, but they were extreme cases where very large quantities were spilled into the tank and the person felt that it wouldn't harm the fish. They were wrong. Both Prime & Safe are reducing agents, so when they run out of chlorine compounds (oxidising agents) to reduce, they will begin reducing oxygen in the water. Sometimes that can be just enough to tip the 02 scales in a heavily stocked tank with large fish, and cause serious osmoregulatory stress in ones fish, or worse, even death.
 
I've read that post mr. RD...it was very educational :) well i believe that our water supplier uses different amount of chlorine based on weather conditions..sometimes when its raining for days i can smell it when i fill 30g tank for aging water..dunno how is with cloramine..

I change about 30-50g of water per week (depends of my free time) so if i use a bit of overdose every time, that stuff would build up in main tank or dissolves?

Atm im using Sera blackwater aquatan, 30ml/150l (40g)..works for now but i would like to slowly get rid of black water effect :)

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D.Wolf said:
I would just have one question - are any risks when overdosing prime? Our local supplier became seachem importer and in compare to other products seachem is really economical..

I dont know the ammount of chloramine and chlorine in tap, so for 30g i would use the amount that is recommended for 60g.. (in compare to others, it is still economical)
Click to expand...
I would doubt very much that you need to go above the recommended dosage for prime. with my city water I only need 1/3 of the dosage and it smells very bleachy out of the tap.
however, I have seen mention that parts of the EU are using chlorine dioxide as zebra mussel control, I can find no info that says prime works on that. might be worth an e-mail to seachem if you were to find out they are using it by you.

I'm sure there must be a local water authority by you. most places in the US even have much of their quality test info online that tells you how many ppm of chlorine/amines they water leaves the plant with.
 
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