Prime versus AquaPlus (Nutrafin)

I get mine from Champion Supply, but I live right down the road. If you don't have a similar supply house around you can get thiosulphate at any place that sells supplies for developing photos. It's known as photographic hypo. It's probably even cheaper if you buy in larger quantities. It's the active ingredient in any neutralizer that doesn't make the ammonia neutralization claim.
 
chefjamesscott said:
Personally compared to a product that makes the water go all soapy looking, I will stick with what is a tried and proven true product that does not make me use 3 different liquids to do the one job.
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I don't use the other 2 products - just the water conditioner (AquaPlus).

So to verify - Prime will not mess with my cycle?

Jamiya
 
Here is my take on the situation.

I use Prime. I started buying Prime and using it before I knew that I should use it - in other words, before I saw it recommended.

The reason for my initial purchase of Prime was the price vs. the amount needed. It is very economical. To be even more economical, you can purchase a 2 liter bottle of pond prime, which is the same product, just even more concentrated (one drop per gallon versus two.)

I have continued to use Prime because IT WORKS. My water has a RIDICULOUS amount of chlorine in it - to the point where if I am standing over my sink doing dishes or running water, it burns my eyes. I treat my water with Prime ten minutes prior to adding it to my tank (to be safe) and I have never seen any symptoms resembling chlorine burn in any of my fish.

Prime does convert ammonia to ammonium. The effects last for about 24-36 hours, and in my experience, do not interfere with cycling. The bacteria are still able to convert the ammonia. I have used Prime in fact to detoxify the dangerous effects of ammonia and nitrite during cycling. It has helped me to cycle tanks faster without any harm to the fish.

So, what would I do? I would go with Prime. But, I have never used the other product. So I will stick with what I know and what works for me and the fish :)

Kristina
 
If you are concerned, like I was, I used a different de chlorintaor while I was doing my cycle. After the cycle was done I started using prime. I trust what everyone says but thats just my 2 cents.
 
SeaChem in general...knows their stuff.

As stated Prime is versatile for an aquarium and is recommended by most.. and i think a majority people who discredit the product might want to do some math..and find out they overdosed. Prime is economical and treats more water than some users realize.
 
How do I measure the tiny amount of Prime that I would need to add to a gallon of water? I think it's 1mL for 10 gallons, so one gallon would be 0.1mL. It makes me nervous to add such a tiny amount! Do you agitate the water at all, or it just acts instantly on the whole bucket?
 
Try an eye dropper and count the drops until it make up 1 ml and then divide by 10. I use API and its 1 drop a gallon. I’m thinking Prime is the same but I don’t know that for sure. I contact API and was told you would have to dump a large amount in to over dose it. He was saying like 20 times more than what it called for.
 
To mix up Prime, or any other dechlorinator, I add it after the bucket starts to fill and let the added water stir the dechlorinator in. By the time the bucket is full, the mixing is done. I use a 5 gallon bucket for water changes so measuring 0.5ml is easy with a pipette. I tend to use about 0.75ml because my local water supplier likes to play surprise party with the chloramine treatments. You find out that they spiked it for some concern they had, a few weeks after it is too late.
 
there's a lot of sense had here... and good info all around. believe it or not everyone's basically saying the same thing.

basically we all agree that for a retail liquid prime is the best on the market. you can get it at regular strength or for ???ponds??? which is 2X's concentrated.

then there's seachem's dry equivalent http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Safe.html

now the active ingredient listed in prime is hydrosulfite salts. that would basically be read sodium hydrosulfite.

[FONT=Century Gothic,Arial]hydro means water. thio means oxygen has been replaced by sulfur.

that's our first clue that prime would be watered down if we didn't know it was liquid already.

sodium thiosulfate and sodium hydrosulfite are basically high in concentrations of sodium dithionite.

so basically subrosa is suggesting buying it in dry form and saving some more money. it's the same thing we do with our ferts.

so basically everyone has been correct thus far.

now these compounds both do the same jobs. they're used in water treatment plants, in photography and (this may help us obtain larger quantities cheaper, idk) to reduce chlorine in pools... as well as ponds and fish tanks.
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