sorry guys havent gotten a chance to post my results, havent been home and been sick 
but still thanks again for all the help
but still thanks again for all the helpTo treat with Chemicals?or...not
- Thread starter Plecos_Ftw
- Start date
Plecos_Ftw;1283844; said:sorry guys havent gotten a chance to post my results, havent been home and been sick
i love prime...........however when checking water that has been treated with prime not all test methods yield accurate results.......see the seachem website for more info
http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime_faq.html
Well thankyou!! (Im home but Im out of strips, and I left my chem test kit in valencia soooooo its gonna be tomorrow when I finally post my param.) so much useful info!!! im happy haa
Alright so Im back finally. I did a 20% water change and used prime in the new water. 4 hours later tested the water but they are still pretty high. my param. are...
nitrate = 80-100 ppm
nitrites= 0
Hardness = about 80 ppm
chlorine= 0
alkalinity=120-130 ppm
ph= 7.5-7.8
Maybe just doing 20-30% waterchanges and using prime may lower them.. grr..
but my fish are eating and looking fine just that bothers me!!!
nitrate = 80-100 ppm
nitrites= 0
Hardness = about 80 ppm
chlorine= 0
alkalinity=120-130 ppm
ph= 7.5-7.8
Maybe just doing 20-30% waterchanges and using prime may lower them.. grr..
but my fish are eating and looking fine just that bothers me!!!
I used test strips I didnt know that there are prime tests. I thought prime was just a conditioner type thing that lowers nitrates? we talking bout the same prime? in the red bottle?
johnptc;1294736; said:did you use the approved test kit for water treated with prime ???
Plecos_Ftw;1294892; said:
I think it's only the Nessler based ammonia test kits that can show false positive when using Seachem Prime.
There are no kits to test for Prime.
Seachem Prime does not reduce nitrates, just reduces their toxicity.
Nitrates of 80-100 are not necessarily going to harm your fish directly although it is desireable to get them lower. The best way to do this is by water changes but it will probably need to be significantly more than 20%/week IMO.
Hope that makes it a bit clearer
Nick660;1295714; said:I think it's only the Nessler based ammonia test kits that can show false positive when using Seachem Prime.
There are no kits to test for Prime.
Seachem Prime does not reduce nitrates, just reduces their toxicity.
Nitrates of 80-100 are not necessarily going to harm your fish directly although it is desireable to get them lower. The best way to do this is by water changes but it will probably need to be significantly more than 20%/week IMO.
Hope that makes it a bit clearer
from seachem.com
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Q: I am using Prime to control ammonia but my test kit says it is not doing anything, in fact it looks like it added ammonia! What is going on?
A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest: Ammonia kit... it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)).[/FONT]
Yep.
I was actually getting false positive readings for ammonia when I started using Prime. I was using an old API liquid test kit (single bottle Nessler type). After reading that info on the Seachem site I went out and bought a new API ammonia test kit which is now a two bottle salicylate based kit! No more false positives!
I was actually getting false positive readings for ammonia when I started using Prime. I was using an old API liquid test kit (single bottle Nessler type). After reading that info on the Seachem site I went out and bought a new API ammonia test kit which is now a two bottle salicylate based kit! No more false positives!
Why are you trying to treat nitrates with chemicals? Wtih your bioload in the 60g tank I would say you need at least 50% weekly changes. Regulations keep nitrates in tap water down, so it's not contributing to your 80-100ppm readings.
If you do a 50% w/c then your nitrates will drop to 40-50%. Then test your water daily and see how much they rise. Once you have established how much your nitrates rise you can taylor your w/c to keep the nitrates at 20-30ppm. although you'll need to do several 50% w/c to get them that low to start.
If you do a 50% w/c then your nitrates will drop to 40-50%. Then test your water daily and see how much they rise. Once you have established how much your nitrates rise you can taylor your w/c to keep the nitrates at 20-30ppm. although you'll need to do several 50% w/c to get them that low to start.
