Purigen?

[Cathy G]

Has anyone had experience using Seachem's Purigen in their fry tanks? The stuff works in the filter - it supposedly takes out all ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and other stuff. Seems like a reasonable alternative to frequent water changes especially when dealing with nitrate sensitive fry.

If anyone has used it on their CYCLED tanks, did it effect the existing bacterial colonies to such an extent that you had to re-cycle?

Cathy G

 

[tjudy]

I have not used it, or any product like it. My experience has been that there are no fool proof chemical products. I would question the longevity of the product and would want to know what happens when the product's effectiveness is maxed out. Will the metabolic wastes jump? How will reducing the levels chemically affect the biological filtration? Will the bacteria population be below what can accomodate the number of fry if the chemical media needs to be removed or stops working?

I like water changes.

 

[Cathy G]

Interesting questions. I understand that the stuff is totally rechargeable, and that it turns darker and darker as it is used up. SO, if one had say 2 of them, one could rotate the packets to keep things up and running.
I am tempted to try it in a grow out tank - one that gets put up and taken down as fry comes and goes. It really never would be cycled - but then keeping water parameters at 0 for everything would be the goal in a grow out tank.
Anyway, thanks for writing.
Cathy G

 

[Fatts]

What about hormones in the water though? We all know that discus adults release hormones the slow the growth of juv discus, but what about dwarfs? Do they also release hormones? I know I have a lot more growth outta dwarfs in low stocked tanks (could be because of better water quality, but maybe not). I doubt that purigen would remove those (if there are any).

 

[Cathy G]

Grow out tanks

In many cases, the eggs are removed from the breeding tank and artificially hatched - there may be some hormones the older/larger fry excrete to inhibit the growth of their competition, but this is pure conjecture on my part. They say that the purigen doesn't remove anything the plants need - but as to the truth of the matter who knows.

What if the stuff works. You pull the eggs, hatch them and when the fry are freeswiming, instead of the sponge filter you set up an external one - protecting the fry from the intake valve. You check the color of the purigen, and replace it before it gets used up. You of course could still siphon off the grundgy bottom as needed, and do some partial water changes, but I would think it would lighten one's load considerably. Now all I need is a spawn... and another tank... and time... and microworms!

Seems like it should work. Hmm.
Cathy

 

[fishgeek]

most chemical absorbtant resins will under some conditions release what they absorb
ie ph/temp/maximum capacity for holding
as ted has suggested they should not be relied upon though you may well find they help lighten your work load

andrew

 

[Mike Wise]

I have never used Purigen, but looking at it & at the information on it, it appears to be a highly porous material for housing bacteria that break down nitrogenous waste. It is no different than having an extra large biological filter in your tank. The dark color might be bacteria living on the surface. Once it clogs with bacteria, the surface area is reduced, reducing the efficiency of the biological filtration. It can be cleaned up by bleaching the bacteria off the pellets & opening up the pores for more bacteria. Similar products are used in the oil & gas, and environmental remediation industries. Think of it as super biological filter. It removes the nitrogenous waste, but none of the other organics produced by the fish. Nothing has ever been found that replaces regular partial water changes.