a european question??

[LFCYNWA]

Hi guys, I live in Spain and I am trying to find a place to buy Seachem products cheaper than what I have to pay here. I have been searching and these products seem to be a lot cheaper in the US and I have contacted US companies with no reply (for you guys in the US, is this your normal customer service, I think not!) I have managed to buy 100% metronidazole powder from Rocky Mountain Discus (CRAP aftersales service but at least I got to purchase my products) but they don't sell some of the products I want to buy this time.
Just one example of price difference, in Spain Seachem prime 500ml is $38 and in the US it is $12, I also want to buy purigen and some other products from Hikari and some meds. Can anyone point me in the right direction as I have tried amazon.com with little success (keep adding too much postage and import costs or don't deliver to Spain!)

[adapted]

Is there an customs fee or import duty if you buy something like a half kilo of Purigen from eBay? I'd be happy to sell it to you on eBay as long as reseaonable shipping could be arranged and I don't have to falsfiy it as gift for customs purposes...

The prices you quoted are out of line with the market... maybe Spain is pursuing a protectionist agenda or something... Anyway, I have two unopened half-kilograms of Purigen sitting on my closet shelf that I'm pretty sure I paid under 20 dollars each for. I don't see why you couldn't buy them on eBay and get them delivered for another twenty bucks or so unless customs is the holdup.


I've shipped dozens of eBay items overseas... it's no big deal at all usually and most of time postage is reasonable

Message me if you want to give it a try.

[100fuegos]

If under 50 USD there is no legal custom charge. Your best choise is ebay or to buy in Germany.

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[LFCYNWA]

If under 50 USD there is no legal custom charge. Your best choise is ebay or to buy in Germany.

Enviado desde mi SM-T2105 mediante Tapatalk

Thanks for input 100 fuegos, but which site in Germany is best, sorry to be lazy!:o

[OC Discus]

Also, SAFE is the condensed powder version of Prime. The same volume will get you many times more usage.

[LFCYNWA]

Also, SAFE is the condensed powder version of Prime. The same volume will get you many times more usage.
I store RO water in 8 liter bottles and when I need to do a WC I empty half the tank and then I fetch the bucket I use for WC and put 8 liters of RO water and fill the container with very warm tap water(to correct temp) and I add 10 drops of prime then mix water in bucket with RO and add to tank and keep repeating until tank is full again. Well, will this be harder for me to accomplish as I am only dosing 8 liters at a time when I thought safe was for dosing large amounts of water like ponds?

[LFCYNWA]

Is there an customs fee or import duty if you buy something like a half kilo of Purigen from eBay? I'd be happy to sell it to you on eBay as long as reseaonable shipping could be arranged and I don't have to falsfiy it as gift for customs purposes...

The prices you quoted are out of line with the market... maybe Spain is pursuing a protectionist agenda or something... Anyway, I have two unopened half-kilograms of Purigen sitting on my closet shelf that I'm pretty sure I paid under 20 dollars each for. I don't see why you couldn't buy them on eBay and get them delivered for another twenty bucks or so unless customs is the holdup.


I've shipped dozens of eBay items overseas... it's no big deal at all usually and most of time postage is reasonable



Message me if you want to give it a try.
Thank you so much for trying to help me and I am sorry for my slow reply but I am also trying to purchase other products and meds, which are also a lot cheaper in the US, in the same package to try and save on the transport as well. Thanks again!

[OC Discus]

I usually dose for the whole tank at water changes. You could measure the amt of safe needed for your tank into the first bucket of new water, mix it really good and pour it in. It will instantly dechlorinate the rest of the new water when it goes in.


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[LFCYNWA]

I usually dose for the whole tank at water changes. You could measure the amt of safe needed for your tank into the first bucket of new water, mix it really good and pour it in. It will instantly dechlorinate the rest of the new water when it goes in.


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I very much appreciate your advice however are you sure that will work?

[OC Discus]

I always premix mine in a 50 gallon container before adding to the tank. I have heard that safe is slower to dissolve than prime, but it works basically the same. If you cant premix the whole amount you could dissolve the whole dose in a cup of hot water then divide it equally into your buckets. Plenty of people pour prime straight into the tank before adding water. Safe should probably be dissolved before adding directly to the tank.

I double dose prime at each water change- I add enough for 100 gallons when changing 50. Many of the premium members on sd double dose prime/Safe in case the municipal water has been spiked with chlorine or chloramine.


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[LFCYNWA]

I always premix mine in a 50 gallon container before adding to the tank. I have heard that safe is slower to dissolve than prime, but it works basically the same. If you cant premix the whole amount you could dissolve the whole dose in a cup of hot water then divide it equally into your buckets. Plenty of people pour prime straight into the tank before adding water. Safe should probably be dissolved before adding directly to the tank.


I double dose prime at each water change- I add enough for 100 gallons when changing 50. Many of the premium members on sd double dose prime/Safe in case the municipal water has been spiked with chlorine or chloramine.


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Thanks for that, good tip!

[OC Discus]

BTW- How is the weather in Spain? It has been very cold in much of the US for about three months.
A friend was telling me last week that he was taken to a beach in Spain when he worked in England. He said swimsuits were optional on the beach. Have you always lived there or moved there?

[LFCYNWA]

BTW- How is the weather in Spain? It has been very cold in much of the US for about three months.
A friend was telling me last week that he was taken to a beach in Spain when he worked in England. He said swimsuits were optional on the beach. Have you always lived there or moved there?

I am originally from Liverpool and moved to the eastern coast of Spain near Alicante (Torrevieja) about 20 years ago. 1st of March is the start of spring so yes it has started to warm up a bit although it has been very windy the last few days, it reached 23 celcius today which is not too bad, although it has been a cold winter here!
In regards to the swimsuit question, if you are a female then topless is fine but must wear at the least a thong and if you are male then you must keep the snake in a cage! These are the rules on all main beaches but if you want to bare all there are also nudist beaches however I couldn't tell you where they are!

[LFCYNWA]

Ok, I just did it! I ordered Seachem Prime 500ml, Seachem Purigen 100ml (inc Bag), Seachem Purigen 500ml and Seachem Safe 250 g / 8.8 oz from Amazon.com for 82 euros including delivery and taxes!
If I ordered these products here in Spain that would cost me 117 euros without the safe as I can't find any in Spain, I will probably have to wait a little longer for delivery but I am in no rush! I don't know if it would have worked out cheaper buying from Germany as 100fuegos suggested as I was very happy with this price and my finger tips were sore from searching!

[OC Discus]

Have you thought about what to put the 500 ml purigen in? If it is the loose granuals it requires a very fine mesh bag. I think seachem makes a bag for it, but I've never used one.

[Len]

Ok, I just did it! I ordered Seachem Prime 500ml, Seachem Purigen 100ml (inc Bag), Seachem Purigen 500ml and Seachem Safe 250 g / 8.8 oz from Amazon.com for 82 euros including delivery and taxes!
If I ordered these products here in Spain that would cost me 117 euros without the safe as I can't find any in Spain, I will probably have to wait a little longer for delivery but I am in no rush! I don't know if it would have worked out cheaper buying from Germany as 100fuegos suggested as I was very happy with this price and my finger tips were sore from searching!

curious why you would order prime AND safe? They are the same thing just prime is the watered down version.

[treemanone2003]

OC, he did say "(inc bag)".
But I'm not sure Len.

[OC Discus]

The 100 ml comes in a bag. The larger quantities are loose and require a separate bag


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[LFCYNWA]

The 100 ml comes in a bag. The larger quantities are loose and require a separate bag


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Does the 100 ml come with a reusable bag? What I was hoping was when the 100 ml needs to be replaced I can just refill from the big purigen.

[LFCYNWA]

curious why you would order prime AND safe? They are the same thing just prime is the watered down version.

I have never tried Seachem safe before so I thought I would play safe and get the prime as well. Not sure if it will suit the way I do my WC although OC told me what I could do.

[LFCYNWA]

The 100 ml comes in a bag. The larger quantities are loose and require a separate bag


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Are nylon tights any good or should I order Seachem the bag and also how much purigen do I use for 250 liters(66 gallons)? Thanks in advance!

[OC Discus]

Does the 100 ml come with a reusable bag? What I was hoping was when the 100 ml needs to be replaced I can just refill from the big purigen.

The 100 ml can be "re-charged" in a bleach solution and reused multiple times. But the bag is not re-useable. Ladies nylons might work, I'm not really sure. I remember seeing a special bag when ordering purigen that is made for the loose media. Check out the seachem website.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/TheBag.html

http://www.kensfish.com/cgi-kensfish/sb/order.cgi?rd=1&storeid=*14884f2aaab140560cc4d786&sbid=SSMSB68517314327587955.3548&redirect=yes

[LFCYNWA]

Thanks OC, I best order the Bag as well then! Do you know how much purigen I will need to add for 66 gallons?

[OC Discus]

I'm still experimenting with it. 100 ml is all that is called for in the instructions. I'm using 400 ml because I don't have a reactor. I just put the pouches around the micron filter inside my canister.