Seachem Prime

[Goldenmelondiscus]

Last week I did a water change and lost a good portion of fish due to the ammonia in my city's tap water. :mad: I have managed to get the ammonia in my aquarium under control, however, I am not wanting relive losing most of my fish again. I am wondering if Prime will get rid of the ammonia 100%. I've done daily tap water ammonia tests and I'm getting bad results. I used distilled water today for my weekly water change, but that's going to get expensive quickly. I'm looking for a moderately priced solution. I am wanting to have a solid solution, so I don't lose my discus to the tap water.

[warblad79]

Long term solution is to age your water and treat it with prime

[Len]

I'd suggest Seachem Safe as it's more cost effective than Prime and a bottle will last a long time.

[Las Vegas]

My 2cents is, don't use chemicals. I don't. I use R/O water. If the air you breathe was filled with amonia gas, would you consider it safe to breathe if you sprayed it with "insta clear chemical spray" or would you just want fresh new clean air?

[bamzam]

I use prime with tap water and have had no issues

[DJW]

Eric,

Prime or Safe binds to ammonia, making it non-toxic. But you still get a positive reading for ammonia from the test kit. The biofilter should then remove it. How much ammonia are you reading? Have you always used Prime with new water?

[Filip]

Are you sure its from ammonia in the tap water?
Maybe it was a big pH swing(drop) or a big concentration of microbbubles that killed them.
if they were young discus they might be sensitive to this big WC s with sudden pH changes and microbubbles in tap water.
Ageing water might be a solution if this is the case here.

[Second Hand Pat]

My 2cents is, don't use chemicals. I don't. I use R/O water. If the air you breathe was filled with amonia gas, would you consider it safe to breathe if you sprayed it with "insta clear chemical spray" or would you just want fresh new clean air?

Using Prime or other de-chlorator in city water is a very common practice and way less wasteful then RO water for most hobbyists.
Pat

[Skip]

what size tank do you have.. ?!

what is the dosage you are using for the tank?

Did you test for Ammonia.. what was the level? what test are you using for ammonia. ?

[Goldenmelondiscus]

The ammonia in the tap is about 0.5. I haven't checked the water today. Last week when I was having problems I used Seachem Stability and the ammonia in my aquarium is fine now. I was just wondering about Prime.

[DISCUS STU]

You may get ammonia readings in the water even though the ammonia is bound by the Prime and becomes non toxic.

It was suggested to double dose with some of the water neutralizers in a post I read years ago and I generally do that without any harmful effect. Most of the directions from the various manufacturers state that so called "over dosing" won't have any harmful effect. Municipalities can also vary the amount of chlorine and chloramine depending on the season, rain fall, and other conditions so the minimum amount may not always be as good in fall or the winter when compared to a rainy spring or summer.

[Chicago Discus]

Using Prime or other de-chlorator in city water is a very common practice and way less wasteful then RO water for most hobbyists.
Pat
+1

[warblad79]

My 2cents is, don't use chemicals. I don't. I use R/O water. If the air you breathe was filled with amonia gas, would you consider it safe to breathe if you sprayed it with "insta clear chemical spray" or would you just want fresh new clean air?

RO won't work if you have multiple tanks. You need a very expensive RO to produce at least for me 500 gallon per day because most of my tanks gets 100% WC. That's why we aged the water to stabilize it and treat it with SAFE to neutralize any toxic.

[tvoydan]

I use seachem prime and tap water. It's available locally if I run out and worth the extra cost for the convenience.

[Goldenmelondiscus]

RO water is .25 a gallon at the LFS. I can test the tap to see if the water is dangerous or not. If it is I can go to the pet store get some to do water changes.

[rickztahone]

RO water is .25 a gallon at the LFS. I can test the tap to see if the water is dangerous or not. If it is I can go to the pet store get some to do water changes.

To give you an example, if I bought RO water for a week from an LFS at $0.25/g, I'd spend ~$87.50 for that week. How is that convenient? In less than a month I can buy my own RO unit and make my own water.

[SNap0283]

Use Seachem Safe. Kensfish, a sponsor here sells it for about $30 for 1kilo. Per seachem instruction 1.25g treats 75 gallons for ammonia. That is .005 cents per gallon, or 1 cent treats 20 gallons of water. Much more cost effective imo.

[Jack L]

I'd suggest Seachem Safe as it's more cost effective than Prime and a bottle will last a long time.

This is what I do as well

[rickztahone]

Use Seachem Safe. Kensfish, a sponsor here sells it for about $30 for 1kilo. Per seachem instruction 1.25g treats 75 gallons for ammonia. That is .005 cents per gallon, or 1 cent treats 20 gallons of water. Much more cost effective imo.

Yes indeed. I still have the same 1 kilo bottle that I did years ago. It is still good for probably another year and I do daily water changes.

[Goldenmelondiscus]

Is an RO machine worth it?

[DJW]

I have never had city water, so I am trying to understand this thread. Are you talking about plain old chloramine? I thought most people in the hobby dealt with this kind of ammonia every day as a routine matter.

[SNap0283]

RO is really only needed if you are going to breed or keep wilds. Other than that 99% of people do not need an RO unit to keep domestic discus.

[rickztahone]

I have never had city water, so I am trying to understand this thread. Are you talking about plain old chloramine? I thought most people in the hobby dealt with this kind of ammonia every day as a routine matter.


RO is really only needed if you are going to breed or keep wilds. Other than that 99% of people do not need an RO unit to keep domestic discus.

Agreed. This is known by hobbyists far and wide.