Seachem prime slowing down, possibly preventing cycle

[chiod1]

I have not had good experiences with prime. I know the world loves it which is why I tried it. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of adding more chemicals to the mix such as whatever it is that reduces nitrates and nitrites. I’d rather have my filtration do that.

At any rate I tried it and it just really slowed down the cycle or completely disrupted it. So I’m back to just dechlorinator and good filtration and water changes. That’s it

What are your thoughts ?

[danotaylor]

Prime does not "reduce" anything, it detoxifies harmful ammonia by converting it into harmless ammonium for 48hrs so that your bio filter can remove it and it doesn't kill your fish. The beneficial bacteria still consume the ammonium and convert that it into nitrite, providing they're presenting the filter media. Your biological filter will then consume the resulting nitrite and turn it into nitrate. Your filter doesn't actually eliminate nitrate it produces it as the final product of the nitrogen cycle. Prime shouldn't stall or slow down the process at all...

[pitdogg2]

Prime does not "reduce" anything, it detoxifies harmful ammonia by converting it into harmless ammonium for 48hrs so that your bio filter can remove it and it doesn't kill your fish. The beneficial bacteria still consume the ammonium and convert that it into nitrite, providing they're presenting the filter media. Your biological filter will then consume the resulting nitrite and turn it into nitrate. Your filter doesn't actually eliminate nitrate it produces it as the final product of the nitrogen cycle. Prime shouldn't stall or slow down the process at all...

Agree 100%

[chiod1]

There is mixed research out there. I’m going by my own experience and intuition. I may be 100 percent wrong ..... also certain media like biohome also house bacteria that eats or converts nitrates and allows it to be bubbled off That’s what I’m going for. Of course there is no substitute for water changes

[14Discus]

Just my thoughts, but the regular filter (aerobic bacteria) does the NH3, NH4, NO2 into NO3 (nitrates). I’d suggest an algae scrubber and or a refugium for the nitrates. My bio load in my largest tank requires the scrubber, refugium, and also anaeraobic bacteria canisters. Together, my nitrates are between 0-10 at the most. The absorbing media like Nitr-zorb can also help, but a refugium growing plants like crazy is an awesome way to fight off nitrates as does, of course, WCs. My refugiums grow water sprite so quickly, that I’m tossing out bunches every week. All that growth used ‘nutrients’ in the water I don’t want. The ‘nutrients’ I’m referring to are wanted by the plants (ammonia and nitrates), but not by me. Also, my algae in the tanks is barely any and the fish seem much less stressed with the lower nitrates. When I got started, I focused on the aerobic end of the spectrum letting my nitrates get way too high. And yes, the tanks also have Cories to clean up the bottom. When I do my WCs, I always vacuum the 1/2 to 3/4 inch coarse sand. Any left over food, feces, dead matter can contribute to an increase of nitrates. I use coarse sand so as to minimize any fine sand getting into my intake impellers and its being so shallow, prevents gas pockets from forming in the substrate and is way easier to clean.

[fljones3]

I have not had good experiences with prime. I know the world loves it which is why I tried it. I wasn’t crazy about the idea of adding more chemicals to the mix such as whatever it is that reduces nitrates and nitrites. I’d rather have my filtration do that.

At any rate I tried it and it just really slowed down the cycle or completely disrupted it. So I’m back to just dechlorinator and good filtration and water changes. That’s it

What are your thoughts ?

So what are you using in the place of Prime?

[bluelagoon]

Prime does not "reduce" anything, it detoxifies harmful ammonia by converting it into harmless ammonium for 48hrs so that your bio filter can remove it and it doesn't kill your fish. The beneficial bacteria still consume the ammonium and convert that it into nitrite, providing they're presenting the filter media. Your biological filter will then consume the resulting nitrite and turn it into nitrate. Your filter doesn't actually eliminate nitrate it produces it as the final product of the nitrogen cycle. Prime shouldn't stall or slow down the process at all...

100% agree too

[bluelagoon]

There is mixed research out there. I’m going by my own experience and intuition. I may be 100 percent wrong ..... also certain media like biohome also house bacteria that eats or converts nitrates and allows it to be bubbled off That’s what I’m going for. Of course there is no substitute for water changes

Nitrate is only an indicator that water needs to be changed.What about all the other stuff in the water column?If you leave all that crap behind,your fish will suffer in the long haul.I would change water instead to be safe.

[FishFanMan]

I used a nitrate reactor on my smaller, fully stocked tank before I got my 75 gallon. It kept the nitrate lower which allowed me to extend my WC schedule to once a week. I use Prime when I add new water but never to lower nitrates after that. I've rarely read people doing that. I could try a simple dechlorinator but I trust Prime. It has saved my saltwater tank actually.

I've always used IO brand reef salt but my LFS had another brand for 50% cheaper so I bought 6 months supply of it. Couple weeks after I started using this salt mixture my soft and LPS corals started receding. It took me a month to figure out the cause. The new salt had trace amounts to iodide in it which is harmful to coral. Yes, I verified it with a test kit. The only quick solution to this was to use a small amount of Prime! And it worked, it converted it to a nontoxic form. For saltwater you never need a dechlorinator since we use RODI to take everything out of tap.

The point is I think Prime does a lot more than just dechlorinate, so I now trust it and use it. I know it's more expensive but it's worth it to me.

[chiod1]

check out this video

https://youtu.be/L5FkSTYkEAE

[chiod1]

apparently prime hurts the anaroebic bacteria

[chiod1]

I use just a straight dechlorinator

[danotaylor]

apparently prime hurts the anaroebic bacteria

The process of building up beneficial anaerobic bacteria is lengthy, like 6 months or more, and most fish keepers don't do it for that reason. Also harmful anaerobic bacteria can accumulate and multiply much faster than the beneficials so in discus keeping that risk is not worth the benefits and a tight large water change schedule seems to be the norm for keeping discus happy...clean water and good parameters is achieved by aging water and changing lots of it frequently. Of course this is just a generalization and I'm sure there's the odd person here in the air that pushes forward for a good beneficial anaerobic colony in their tank but I reckon that is by far the exception and not the norm. Just my two cents worth :-)