Experience with Purigen?

[Dionysius]

Hey all!

Just wanted to ask the forum, has anyone here used purigen for their discus tanks? Effectiveness? I picked some up the other day at the lfs out of curiosity... and my goodness... my water is so clear, I feel like I could drink out of my fish tank :D thinking of buying more, but I’d love to hear if it makes measurable improvements to the water quality.


Dylan

[danotaylor]

Dylan it has been reported to lower nitrate and phosphate levels in the Marine Aquarium. I'm not too sure if it has the same effect in freshwater. I used it in a heavily stocked tropheus display tank to achieve better water clarity. It does this well. It is also used to remove unwanted tannins which stain the fresh water, particularly when introducing previously unused bogwood etc.
Another plus is it is also easily regenerated using a 1:1 mix of bleach with water. Soak in this mix for 24 hours, drain, rinse thoroughly, and soak for 8 hours with prime or safe to remove the bleach from the product before reusing it in your fish tank.

[discuspaul]

I've used Purigen in my discus tanks for years, and while I'm certainly not scientifically qualified to measure or quantify what other benefits it produces to improve water quality & conditions, it certainly can't hurt IMO, as it is claimed to basically adsorb only undesirable/unwanted dissolved matter within tank water.

[fljones3]

I use it. Very effective and helps with water cleanness. Inexpensive in the scheme of things, even if you regenerate it.

[Dionysius]

Amazing! I think I’ll buy a backup pack as well then! Planning to get my first discus in a couple of weeks! Prepping the tank every way I know how. :D

Thank you!

[pm9ljr]

I am still fairly new but I started using it a couple of months into the adventure and it sue seemed to make a difference in the water clarity. I have already bought a backup so that between recharging I always have some going

[Paul Sabucchi]

I have read somewhere that Purigen acts as a medium strength oxydator, so will increase the redox potential in the tank. Common understanding was that a positive redox potential (about 300-400mV) was thought ideal, and it may still be so for tanks that have lots of organic substances that need to be degraded but maybe unnecessary in a healthy tank. I have no idea whatsoever if these doubts about it's long term use have any factual base, just reporting something I read and anyway I tend to trust more Paul, if he says he's been using it for yonks and he is happy with it that is good enough for me

[pitdogg2]

I've used it for years. It works best as a very slow tumble in a fluidized bed filter. Some of the beads are super lite so i always used panty hose over the exhust.

[Megalodon]

Purigen is just a tannin removal resin used to remove color from drinking water.

[Dionysius]

It has certainly helped remove tannin from my water with the introduction of a few new pieces of driftwood. My purigen has been in for less than a week and is already relatively stained. So it must be working hard.

[discuspaul]

It has certainly helped remove tannin from my water with the introduction of a few new pieces of driftwood. My purigen has been in for less than a week and is already relatively stained. So it must be working hard.

Yes, it is working hard.
Keep in mind though, that it's more effective to re-charge it before it gets too dark, since at the point where it's very dark brown/nearing black, it has lost all of it's ability to adsorb anything more and is ineffective from that point on.
So, re-charge it as soon as it gets light/medium brownish - I find that's generally, as an average, after about 3 weeks or so, more or less - if you leave it for example, 5-6 weeks it'll likely be very dark brown.

[Dionysius]

Wonderful, thank you Paul! Will do

[Paul Sabucchi]

Also just come across a similar-but-different product called Szat Clear Aqua that is a ion exchange resin. In theory more selective than Purigen for absorbing nitrates (some say Purigen is mainly effective for removing organics). This Szat is, as far as I can tell, produced in Germany for a company based in Slovakia. It is recharged in a salt bath rather than chlorine. Don't think it is widely available

[pitdogg2]

Also just come across a similar-but-different product called Szat Clear Aqua that is a ion exchange resin. In theory more selective than Purigen for absorbing nitrates (some say Purigen is mainly effective for removing organics). This Szat is, as far as I can tell, produced in Germany for a company based in Slovakia. It is recharged in a salt bath rather than chlorine. Don't think it is widely available

Well it more than likely is the same as magnavore pura nitrate lock. I used both in my water only tank with great results. The nitrate lock will not remove any organics

http://www.magnavore.com/store/en/nitrate-removal/11-pura-nitratelock-500-ml.html

[Sweetmule]

Well it more than likely is the same as magnavore pura nitrate lock. I used both in my water only tank with great results. The nitrate lock will not remove any organics

http://www.magnavore.com/store/en/nitrate-removal/11-pura-nitratelock-500-ml.html


Well - I just ordered some magnavore. Will see how it works! I have used Purigen, but it doesn't seem to do much on nitrates.

[Sweetmule]

Well it more than likely is the same as magnavore pura nitrate lock. I used both in my water only tank with great results. The nitrate lock will not remove any organics

http://www.magnavore.com/store/en/nitrate-removal/11-pura-nitratelock-500-ml.html

OK - I just ordered some magnavore. I have used Purigen and it does keep water clear but doesn't do much on nitrates.