Seachem Prime problems?

[jar]

I started using Seachem prime a few weeks ago (the shop reccommend it). All of my well established tanks have had their ammonia levels shoot up and stay up for one week now, am doing 1 or 2 water changes daily on some of them to keep it in check and its not helping? Has anyone else had problems using seachem prime? Should I stop using it?

Everything on the web seems to recommend it, however I am starting to dislike it very much. Who wants to do water changes every day!

[andywoolloo]

what test kit are you using? Is it the salicyte (cant spell it) based? cause remember some read wrong with some things? Salicyte or regent something like that? I am not at home or I could read the test kit book. Does anyone else remember that?

I use API freshwater master kit and I use Prime. No problems.

[jar]

Good sugestion but the test kit seems to be working fine. (Im using the API test kit.)

[andywoolloo]

strange. maybe buy another API just ammonia test kit and see what you get? I have had a bad NA API test kit before. It showed incredibly insane NA readings and I did water change after water change till I wanted to cry, and it was a brand new single NA API test kit I had recently purchased and that's whe nthe wierd NA s readings occurred, then someone suggested get another NA kit see if yours is expired or faulty, and sure enough, readings what I expected from a heavily planted cycled tank. Strange things happen?

[bronzefry]

Greetings jar,
I went to Drs' Foster and Smith catalog web site. In the "more info" area of the Prime product was the following:

"Q. I am using Prime to control ammonia but my test kit says it is not doing anything; in fact, it looks like I added ammonia, what is going on? A. To avoid false readings of ammonia, use Seachem's MultiTest Ammonia kit (item #901231). It uses a gas exchange sensor system that is not affected by the presence of Prime or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)."

(of course they want you to use the more expensive Seachem Ammonia test) I hope this helps.
Amanda

[andywoolloo]

I don't think you're suppossed to use it to control ammonia,like the question person stated, that's called doing partial water changes.

What an odd question on that site?

And I have never heard of that special kit being needed? Wierd.

Let us know.

[apistomaster]

Prime can make a difference between which ammonia test method is best. Some kits give spurious readings when the test water contains Prime.

Prime and other chemicals are not really meant to control ammonia. Good aquarium management will control ammonia levels.

Prime is my preferred water conditioner. It is predictable and cost effective.
I couldn't care less about artificial slimes and Aloe vera extracts.

[joe.juice13]

Jar,
I use prime, and have experience with it giving false readings on the API test kits, if you want to be sure you shoud get the seachem test kit. I know my tap water has ammonia in it though so if anything test your tap too, first before you add prime and then after, see if the prime is causing a false reading. Also, if your tap water (or whatever source water you use) is showing higher ammonia levels than the tank youre doing the daily water changes in I would stop doing them (obviously you would just be adding more ammonia to the tank if that were the case) and let your biologial filter lower the ammonia.
Juice

[apistomaster]

Hi Jar,
If Joe's suggestion that your tap water is high in ammonia is proven true by your test results, then I would ask for a copy of EPA mandated water quality test reports from the water supply agency responsible for your drinking water quality. It will provide you a lot of useful information about your water and can be an invaluable reference. I recommend all serious fish keepers ask for at least one copy annually.
If it proves that your potable water is at the high end of the EPA maximum allowable limits you may need to take some steps to either store it and use biological filtration in the storage reservoir or consider getting a reverse osmosis system and setting up a treated water storage system.

[joe.juice13]

Very true, and just interesting to read, you'd be suprised some of the "safe" levels of certian substances that those reports show. Not just water coming out of that tap!
Juice

[bronzefry]

Yep. It was a bit of an eye-opener the first time I read that report. Mine comes in the mail to "resident" as a color glossy fold-over report. One could easily mistake it for a food drive notice. "greetings, you have higher than expected levels of lead, copper, ammonia, e-coli.....but it's nothing to worry about....may we interest you in a low-flow toilet?" Then I bought an RO unit.
Amanda

[jar]

Thanks for all your feedback, the ammonia problem is not the tap water. My main problem was that the nitrites and nitrates are not showing up on any tests at all!

I have since stopped using prime on most of my tanks my nitrites and then nitrates started building up again like normal.

Interestingly, I have recently found this thread which talks about not using prime during cycling with bio-spira:
http://www.fishlore.com/fishforum/aquar ... spira.html

Surely there has to be some similarities?

[bronzefry]

It sounds like Prime kills everything. It smells bad, too. I don't use things like that often. Only during power outages, etc.
Amanda

[apistomaster]

Prime smells bad but I still haven't found a better product in it's class. None cost less per unit of water treated except Sodium thiosulfate based chlorine neutralizers. Prime neutralizes chloramines and dissolved chlorine.
There are plenty of other good products out there if you don't like Prime, but some will have the same problem when testing if you don't use Seachem's ammonia test kit or another brand using the same reagents/method.

[jar]

If you have to use seachems test kits for nitrites and nitrates with prime, doesn't that imply that the seachem test kits are testing for a different chemical than the other test kits?

[MatsP]

If you have to use seachems test kits for nitrites and nitrates with prime, doesn't that imply that the seachem test kits are testing for a different chemical than the other test kits?

Either that, or they are using a different set of reagents that do not react with the prime contents - many reagents are slightly "wider" than ideal, meaning that they change colour not ONLY with the stuff you are looking for, but also when introduced with OTHER compounds, particularly if they are close relatives or reacts with the chemical(s) you are looking for.

--
Mats

[Chrysichthys]

Seachem Prime actually detoxifies nitrite, and in so doing, converts it into a compound which the API nitrite kit doesn't detect. It also detoxifies ammonia, but it messes up the API ammonia test (as discussed in the posts above). With the hard water here, at least, you actually get a precipitate.

I have used it for several years and never had any problems with it that I know of, except the trouble with ammonia testing.