How long does prime effect water testing

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ashleynicole

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Ok, so when I set my29G tank up I used prime for the water conditioner. Prime detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but leaves it in a form that is still utilized by the biological filter. I set up my tank with the bioactive sand and active seeded sponges in the filter. I stocked with 8 cherry barbs, 6 cory cats, and 4 oto's. I have been testing my water daily for the last 4 days and just now today I have nitrAtes at 5ppm. Ammonia and nitrates have remained at zero. I also have a few live plants and more coming in the mail from aquariumplants.com so I am sure that is helping with the biological filtration as well. Now my question is, how long does prime continue to effect the test results? I am prepared to do daily water changes if I detect any ammonia or nitrites, and adding prime with a daily water change will help too, but so far the active sponges and sand seem to be doing their job. When I do my weekly partial water change I will be adding prime again and just not sure what to expect from the test results.
 
The prime makes the nitrite and ammonia harmless to the fish for 24 hours, but it will show up on the test as the above poster said.
 
Take some water from your tank and put it in a bowl. then test it... add prime, and then re-test it. ;)

btw, i really like your signature. (y)

What does prime change in the water tests? I've tested both and never seen a difference, but I can't say I've done it recently, heck I probably can't even find my test kit if I had to look for it.

This is the way I understand it:
The API ammonia test is a Salicylate test which measures TAN (total ammonia nitrogen, i.e. the combination of ammonia+ammonium). Prime temporarily turns ammonia (NH3) into ammonium (NH+4), so the ammonia level should register the same whether it has been bound with Prime or not.

As far as the other nitrogenous waste and tests I haven't the slightest.
 
I have tested the same water after treating with prime when high nitrAtes were detected. The test of the water after the prime treatment always shows lower levels, even though I know the levels are still present but in a detoxified form. I have not attempted this test with ammonia and nitrItes, so you may be right about that. I hope to not detect any ammonia or nitrites in this tank, but if i do i will preform another experiment.
 
I *think* that Prime actually removes nitrates. I remember looking around on their forum for an exact explanation of how this works, but it is almost like they don't even know, or at least can't explain it simply anyhow. Here's one thing that I brought up but more digging around the seachem forum will yield you more results.

Prime Dosage for Nitrate Removal - Seachem Support Forums


edit* found something in their FAQ
Taken from http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html
seachem FAQ said:
Q: How does Prime make a difference in reducing Nitrates?

A: The detoxification of nitrite and nitrate by Prime (when used at elevated levels) is not well understood from a mechanistic standpoint. The most likely explanation is that the nitrite and nitrate is removed in a manner similar to the way ammonia is removed; i.e. it is bound and held in a inert state until such time that bacteria in the biological filter are able to take a hold of it, break it apart and use it. Two other possible scenarios are reduction to nitrogen (N2) gas or conversion into a benign organic nitrogen compound.
I wish we had some more "concrete" explanation, but the end result is the same, it does actually detoxify nitrite and nitrate. This was unexpected chemically and thus initially we were not even aware of this, however we received numerous reports from customers stating that when they overdosed with Prime they were able to reduce or eliminate the high death rates they experienced when their nitrite and nitrate levels were high. We have received enough reports to date to ensure that this is no fluke and is in fact a verifiable function of the product.
 
I *think* that Prime actually removes nitrates. I remember looking around on their forum for an exact explanation of how this works, but it is almost like they don't even know, or at least can't explain it simply anyhow. Here's one thing that I brought up but more digging around the seachem forum will yield you more results.

Prime Dosage for Nitrate Removal - Seachem Support Forums


edit* found something in their FAQ
Taken from Seachem. Prime FAQ

Wow, great job researching! That most certainly makes sense, and would explain why I notice a difference when testing for NitrAtes. It also puts my mind at ease that I would detect ammonia if it were present. Today my current readings are Ammonia - 0, NitrIte- 0, and NitrAte- 5 ppm
Thanks for taking the time to look into it (y)
 
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