How long until prime works?

[CaptainsReef]

I'm struggling with keeping ammonia down in my 30-gallon quarantine tank. I've done 50% water changes daily since we got the fish on Sunday. There were four fish, sadly one passed this morning. There is no copper in the tank at this time. I added prime per the directions on the bottle. How soon should I start to see an improvement in ammonia and nitrates?

 

[Hemmdog]

I'm struggling with keeping ammonia down in my 30-gallon quarantine tank. I've done 50% water changes daily since we got the fish on Sunday. There were four fish, sadly one passed this morning. There is no copper in the tank at this time. I added prime per the directions on the bottle. How soon should I start to see an improvement in ammonia and nitrates?

How big of fish? That seems odd

 

[eggplantparrot]

I'm struggling with keeping ammonia down in my 30-gallon quarantine tank. I've done 50% water changes daily since we got the fish on Sunday. There were four fish, sadly one passed this morning. There is no copper in the tank at this time. I added prime per the directions on the bottle. How soon should I start to see an improvement in ammonia and nitrates?

Im pretty sure prime only binds up the ammonia so it is no longer toxic, but your tests will still read that its there.

It will be bound but the bacteria can still break it down.

 

[CaptainsReef]

How big of fish? That seems odd

They're all about 2 inches or so

 

[CaptainsReef]

Im pretty sure prime only binds up the ammonia so it is no longer toxic, but your tests will still read that its there.

It will be bound but the bacteria can still break it down.

So how do I know for sure ammonia is not a problem?

 

[lapin]

Prime binds and works for 48 hours then more will needed. It does not rid your tank of ammonia. As stated above you will see a positive test for ammonia but it should be non toxic for the 48 hour period
A: A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown (incidentally a Nessler kit will not work with any other products similar to Prime®). A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime® complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest™ Ammonia kit; it uses a gas exchange sensor system which 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 (total ammonia is both free ammonia and non-toxic ionized forms of ammonia).

A: Prime® will bind up those compounds for up to 48 hours. If they are still present after that time frame, they are released back into the water, unless Prime® is re-dosed accordingly. Also, if your ammonia or nitrite levels are increasing within a 24-hour period, Prime® can be re-dosed every 24 hours.


I dose it in my black worm tank every 2 days. I can keep worms for a long period of time with only 50% water changes every 2 weeks

 

[eggplantparrot]

So how do I know for sure ammonia is not a problem?

if your fishs' gills are all red and they look irritated then they are in serious distress (ammonia kills quick), but if not then they are ok. i would still do large water changes to get dilute the ammonia, maybe even dose some bacteria in a bottle, maybe that would help a bit

 

[vetteguy53081]

I add mine as I am mixing water and introduce to tank right away. You Need very little as it is Very effective , and as you know, it smells really nice !!

 

[CaptainsReef]

Will Elos Ammonia test kit accurately test for amonia when Prone is present? The dogs at the LFS day it will but they don't seem very knowledgeable

 

[dwest]

I'm struggling with keeping ammonia down in my 30-gallon quarantine tank. I've done 50% water changes daily since we got the fish on Sunday. There were four fish, sadly one passed this morning. There is no copper in the tank at this time. I added prime per the directions on the bottle. How soon should I start to see an improvement in ammonia and nitrates?

Use the sea chem ammonia badge when quarantining. It’s great. Also, some biospira with a sponge filter works well. Also, I use the following procedure:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

 

[vetteguy53081]

Will Elos Ammonia test kit accurately test for amonia when Prone is present? The dogs at the LFS day it will but they don't seem very knowledgeable

I would wait 24 hrs before testing to assure there is a true or significant change and I DO like Elos kits

 

[CaptainsReef]

Use the sea chem ammonia badge when quarantining. It’s great. Also, some biospira with a sponge filter works well. Also, I use the following procedure:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/my-current-qt-process.483371/

I do use the badge but another poster above says tests will still site positive for amonia