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I wouldn't.
I would DIY a cheato reactor and slap that on there. Job done.
Prime works by chemically binding ammonia. The bound ammonia is still available for bacteria to consume. I never thought about which bacteria can do this.My fish only has very high nitrates. Could I put Prime on a dosing schedule and use it regularly to help neutralize the nitrate build up?
My fish only has very high nitrates. Could I put Prime on a dosing schedule and use it regularly to help neutralize the nitrate build up?
hmmm.....Question: does binding ammonia with Prime reroute the ammonia to bacteria that turn the bound ammonia into new bacteria cells instead of letting nitrifying bacteria turn ammonia into nitrate.
Both the ammonia and the heavy metal binding functions are said to degrade in a few days, but I haven't seen any data to verify.and does Prime accumulate or degrade.
How do water changes not reduce nitrates?+1 on algae rector or scrubber. Water changes will not take care of it. Chemicals are temp solution for emergency
How do water changes not reduce nitrates?
I'd say its pretty darn effective, a 50% water change removes 50% of the nitrates lol refugiums work great, but they aren't just removing nitrates and aren't a replacement for water changesThey do, it’s just not super effective and is can be expensive depending on size of tank (how much salt mix you have to use).
Most people’s typical water change size and schedule won’t knock it back quicker than it’s being generated.
For what it’s worth, I can drive mine near zero within days with a large (10% volume) refugium growing chaeto and strong lighting, harvesting the chaeto every 2 weeks or so.
I'd say its pretty darn effective, a 50% water change removes 50% of the nitrates lol refugiums work great, but they aren't just removing nitrates and aren't a replacement for water changes
How do water changes not reduce nitrates?
I'm not sure if it's a product of my freshwater backround, but a 30% water change a month is minimal. I do water changes weekly, usually about 20%. These charts are nice, but what does an 80% monthly water change schedule look like? Even a 10% weekly water change would make a whole lot of difference.This is how water changes may not get you to your goal unless they are quite large
Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com
Figure 8. Nitrate concentration as a function of time when performing daily water changes equivalent to 0% (no changes), 7.5%, 15% and 30% of the total volume each month (in other words, 0%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% per day). In this example, nitrate is present at 0 ppm at the start, and is accumulated at a rate of 0.1 ppm per day when no water is changed.
Figure 12. Nitrate concentration as a function of time when performing daily water changes equivalent to 0% (no changes), 7.5%, 15% and 30% of the total volume each month (in other words, 0%, 0.25%, 0.5% and 1% per day). In this example, nitrate is present at 100 ppm at the start, and is accumulated at a rate of 0.1 ppm per day when no water is changed.
I'm not sure if it's a product of my freshwater backround, but a 30% water change a month is minimal. I do water changes weekly, usually about 20%. These charts are nice, but what does an 80% monthly water change schedule look like? Even a 10% weekly water change would make a whole lot of difference.
I guess I just don't consider salt being a high cost item with the cost of everything else in the hobby lol to each their own, as long as fish and coral are happy, I'm happy30% monthly was chosen as typical for reef aquaria. Changing 80% monthly on a reef tank is extremely expensive unless its a teeny tiny tank due to salt costs. Way more expensive than competing ways to reduce nutrients.
The values shift a little lower with 10% weekly, but not that much.
Water changes have lots of uses, but by themselves generally cannot keep nutrients are what most folks consider optimal levels.
$25 a month isn't too bad at all in my mind, that's a Netflix and Disney+ subscription lolTo put numbers on it, Instant Ocean looks to be about $50 for 160g. So for a 100g tank you'd be looking at around $25/month to change out 80g/month.
No judgment either way! Just adding the data.