using PURIGEN while Cycling your tank

[audio77]

i started my fishelss cycle using 3 JUMBO shrimp on march 7th. it wook over a week to get my ammonia spike, then azbout a week later it went to 0 and my nitrites went thru the roof. my nitrates then went up 20ppm. the water was still kinda cloudy, and i looked at my bottle of purigen and tossed it in a mesh bag and added it to my sump. (because i was told it will make your water crystal clear) since then Nothing has changed with my nitrate or nitrite. I'm wondering if that is just the timing, or if the purigen screwed somehting up. its been over a week that my nitrites and nitrates havent changed a bit. just wondering if this sounds normal or not. thanks for your help. I sent an e-mail to Seachem and asked them too, but have yet to get a response.

[JSchmidt]

Is there a reason you're using Purigen while fishlessly cycling? I don't know if it will affect the cycle, but if nothing else, why have it in there absorbing whatever it does from the water when that water will almost entirely be replaced when you end the cycle? Why not let the tank cycle and THEN start modifying the water?

I don't understand how Purigen works well enough to know if it would interfere with the nitrogen cycle or the development of a biofilter.

Jim

[audio77]

i only used it to try and clear up my water. probably shouldnt have, but i did. just getting anxtious and wondering if i screwed up my cycle, since i havent seen any changes in nitrites or nitrates in over a week.

[JSchmidt]

Well, my bias towards fishkeeping more and more is to keep it simple. If you don't have a specific need, why use something, especially when others things are going awry?

Ditch the Purigen (or at least remove it for now) and focus on the fishless cycle. It doesn't matter during the cycle if your water is cloudy. Cloudiness is a normal, usually brief, occurrence in many new tanks. There are many microorganisms seeking balance in their populations, and as one population grows faster than those that consume it (or as extra food is temporarily available), the water gets cloudy. It almost always resolves without intervention, and it represents a normal and healthy evolution of the tank. Since you're using rotting shrimp as a source of ammonia, a bit of cloudiness seems pretty likely, no?

Even with removal of the Purigen, it could be a while before you see any action with the nitrites. This phase is often the one that seems to last forever, partly because it does seem to take longer than the ammonia-spike phase, but also because most of us are sick of waiting by this point.

Here's what I would do: (1) pull the Purigen; (2) test every 48 hours; (3) repeat for about 3-4 days; (4) come back and tell us what your readings are. During that time, don't add anything to the tank, and make sure you have a continuing source of ammonia. I prefer adding liquid ammonia over decaying organic material for cases just like this: it's very hard to know what level of ammonia your system can handle when you don't know what's going into the system.

HTH,
Jim

[somefinnfishy]

same question why? Any substance absorbing resin will harm your cycle.

[superstein61]

From someone who uses Purigen, and likes the results - I have to say you really should NOT use it during your fishless cycle.

Given what Purigen does, it will slow your cycle. Do not worry about the cloudy water - you will replace most of it anyway at the end of your cycle.

Don't use the Purigen until after you have added your fish

[audio77]

thanks all, right after i posted the first message i went in there and tested my nitrite, it was EVER SO SLIGHTLY shifting reading about 2ppm. so i yanked the purigen. this morning i got up and tested it again, and now its dropped all the way to .25ppm! oh baby. so not sure yanking the purigen helped, cause it started to barely change before i pulled it, but it didnt hurt to yank it thats for sure.

the only reason i added it was to see if it would clear the water like i heard it would. i'm still new to all this. wasnt the smartest thing ive done. but looks like all is good now. shouldnt take long to lose that last .25

thanks for all your input

mike

[audio77]

this is the response i got from Sechem's Tech Support

"The only thing that Purigen does is remove organics. Your tank should still cycle, with no problem but the end nitrate levels may be a little lower. Are seeing any nitrates at all, yet? When did you set up your tank? Did you add live rock? Are you doing water changes?"

in any case,.. my tank did cycle. was it timing that the nitrites fell from 2ppm to zero in one day. one day after i pulled the purigen? not sure. sechem thinks it wont effect it. i'm a newbie, and i thought i'd see what it wold do tomy water clarity. i think next time i'll keep it in the bottle till the cycle is done.

if we're not learing we're not livin right?


:D