A question about Seachem Purigen

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doreenjoy

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Jun 25, 2007
538
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I've been using Purigen in my 10 gallon planted tank to remove dissolved organics. It's cleared up the white film that used to float on the surface of the tank.

My question is, will it remove ferts and trace elements? I add Fluourish Excell and a bit of nitrogen with each water change to keep my BB algae in check, and I was wondering if the Purigen will filter those additives back out.
 
Purigen is about organics. Some nutrients are chemically bound to organics and could actually be sequestered (removed) from the water by Purigen. But that's not what Purigen was designed for. And Purigen will not remove a significant amount of them from the water.

So Purigen is meant for removal organics which are the cause of a lot of issues in a planted tank. It works if you find a ballance between the amount of Purigen, the flow through it, and the amount of organics that are produced by the tank.

And there is another way of looking at Purigen: It is a crutch. Something extra that really doesn't need to be used if things were normal. It provides help when the tank is not run properly. A properly ran planted tank will have very little organics and no need for anything extra to take care of them. The aquarium filter, substrate, and the bacteria all over the tank should take care of the organics. In a well ballanced planted tank the filter is not even needed - it's only there to provide insurance if something goes terribly wrong. The vast majority of planted aquariums are not setup properly. Even if they look good they need quite a bit of care to look that way. Purigen is one of the ways to provide that extra care.

Other than that - use as much Purigen as you can/afford. And regenerate it properly. The organics removal is a topic that is seldom discussed but of immense importance. Purigen is your very good friend if you don't know a better way to run a planted tank.

--Nikolay
 
Thanks for the detailed reply, but I'm still not clear on whether or not Purigen removes fertilizers from the water.

BTW if I fill up a new tank with water straight from the tap, it has a heavy bio-film floating on the surface, so I'm not convinced that can be blamed on 'not wanting to care for the tank properly.'
 
"Purigen is about organics. Some nutrients are chemically bound to organics and could actually be sequestered (removed) from the water by Purigen. But that's not what Purigen was designed for. And Purigen will not remove a significant amount of them from the water."

In other words - Purigen could remove nutrients from the water but in very small amounts.

I'm not here to blame anybody or to tell them how to run they planted tank according to my "amazing" views. This hobby maintains a lot of misconceptions. One of them is "what is a healthy planted tank". If anything I'd like to start discussions that clear up these notions. Non-confrontational discussions.

The bio-film you see floating on the surface of a new tank develops after a few days. Not immediately. It is a result of a still imperfect ballance of the tank.

The film itself is a very complex structure of proteins that harbour bacteria. There is only one good way to get rid of it - incorporate the film in the body of the water. That is done in 2 ways - either a surface skimmer (Eheim for example) that attaches to your canister filter intake or an ADA (or knock off brand) Lily Pipe that creates a gentle vortex that sucks the surface of the water and all debries, film, or food floating on the surface are incorporated in the water body.

--Nikolay
 
RarePetFish said:
In other words - Purigen could remove nutrients from the water but in very small amounts.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

RarePetFish said:
The bio-film you see floating on the surface of a new tank develops after a few days. Not immediately. It is a result of a still imperfect ballance of the tank.
Click to expand...

You're welcome to come over and watch mine form in under an hour. Seriously.

RarePetFish said:
There is only one good way to get rid of it - incorporate the film in the body of the water. That is done in 2 ways - either a surface skimmer (Eheim for example) that attaches to your canister filter intake or an ADA (or knock off brand) Lily Pipe that creates a gentle vortex that sucks the surface of the water and all debries, film, or food floating on the surface are incorporated in the water body.
Click to expand...
That's a bit excessive for a 10 gallon tank, IMHO. But I do appreciate the info.

Is there any real reason NOT to use Purigen to remove it, other than it being "aquatically incorrect?" That's pretty much my original question.
 
Yes, noone makes Lily Pipes for small tanks. So the option is a big ugly surface skimmer attached to a small powerhead that sucks the surface film and incorporates it in the water. With the hope that in a few weeks there will be no more film and no need to have the ugly contraption in the tank.

I've had an oily white film cover up the entire surface of a 55 gal. tank in about 40 min after I removed it. I was using newspaper laid on top of the film and pulling the sheet sideways. I did that every day, even 2-3 times a day for about a week. Then I tore down the entire tank - my substrate was releasing tons of Calcium and that was the reason for the film. Once again - it felt oily but it was not biofilm.

Sounds to me like you may have Calcium in the water and some kind of flocculation/flotation issues (clumping of tiny particles into a floating film on top of the water). It feels oily to the touch. But it is not a biofilm.

If Purigen removes the film (biofilm or not) you need to somehow get that film to go through your Purigen. If you can't get the film to get in contact with the Purigen that's a good reason to not expect Purigen to help.

--Nikolay
 
It's possible that it's not a biofilm. My water is extremely soft, so the local municipality adds a buffering agent. I've always thought that was part of the problem.

Now that the tank is well established, I'll probably pull the Purigen and see if it still forms. I just wanted to know if the Purigen was harming anything.

Thanks again for taking the time to share all this information. I do appreciate it.
 
You are welcome.

The surface film is very annoying thing indeed.

Please do not take the many words that I type as a "know it all" type of attitude. I type very fast so what I say is often too much for many people. But I wish I could attach a tone to my posts - I'm as far from confrontational as one can be.

But I love to be sarcastic :D

Since you are posting in the Planted tank section please know that a planted tank is a much trickier system than even a marine tank. Any unknown factor will throw this system off. If your water company adds any buffering agents to the water you need to always account for them. Or you will be trying to solve problems that you really have no control over.

Good luck and keep your hobby fun.

--Nikolay
 
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