Prime

[Giant Danio]

S it ok to overdose on prime?

 

[aqua_chem]

I think Seachem says that you can dose up to 5x the recommended amount in certain situations (reducing nitrate toxicity).

 

[Giant Danio]

Ok thanks

 

[Mogurako]

I've always heard you shouldn't overdose it.

 

[aqua_chem]

From the Seachem website:

To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used.

 

[Daxhua]

I've dosed with Prime a little over double what is reccommended for my tank size without any ill effects to fish, plants, bacteria, and water chemistry.

 

[Pton46]

On PWC's I treat the Water going in (bucket) plus an Overall Treatment...which roughly a little less than a double dose....no issues.

 

[Mogurako]

You really shouldn't have to over dose the tank however. Water changes work much better.

 

[Giant Danio]

Ok thanks for the replies

 

[Pton46]

You really shouldn't have to over dose the tank however. Water changes work much better.

How would you condition the water then? (Not all of us have well water, or a budget for Filtering it and have to use tap) I thought the premise of the question he was asking if I used more Prime then recommend during a Water Change is that ok?

Which it is...I use the cap to measure and it leads to using more.

the 5x method is for a 24-48 hr fix until the next WC.

 

[FishN00b83]

You take the amount of what you want to change out of the tank. Then just dose for the entire tank size and fill it back up. Idk why you would ever OD on prime, the directions aren't complicated...

 

[DragonFish71]

You really shouldn't have to over dose the tank however. Water changes work much better.

If you're in an area where there is high run off due to rain or melting snow, it's actually a good idea to add a little more Prime than what is directed to make up for the extra chemicals the water curing plants add.

Out here, during Spring run offs and our "monsoon" season, I would lose everything in my tanks. Started watching my water reports and found out that they added more chlorine, chloramine and other stuff to the water treatments to make up for what's being brought in with the run off. So I started dosing a little extra, haven't had that problem since.

 

[Mogurako]

Prime can be used to condition the water, I said nothing about not using it in this manner. Dose prime during water changes add enough to treat the whole tank then add your water back back in. So there's no need to be snippy.

What I was saying is prime shouldn't be overdosed to detoxify ammo, nitrate, nitrites in place of doing a water change. Some people rely on it as a method of not performing water changes. That's what I took out of the question, sorry if I miss understood the meaning behind the question as it was very vague.

Prime is super concentrated and even if they add extra chemicals to the water supply than normal there shouldn't be any need to add extra prime.

 

[FishN00b83]

Prime can be used to condition the water, I said nothing about not using it in this manner. Dose prime during water changes add enough to treat the whole tank then add your water back back in. So there's no need to be snippy.

What I was saying is prime shouldn't be overdosed to detoxify ammo, nitrate, nitrites in place of doing a water change. Some people rely on it as a method of not performing water changes. That's what I took out of the question, sorry if I miss understood the meaning behind the question as it was very vague.

Prime is super concentrated and even if they add extra chemicals to the water supply than normal there shouldn't be any need to add extra prime.

I wasn't being snippy at all (if you were even talking to me haha)...I didn't know some people think prime could be added to skip water changes, that's insane to me. I feel like if people would just read directions, they would understand what to do 90% of the time. A little research and reading can go a long way...

 

[aqua_chem]

Prime can be used to condition the water, I said nothing about not using it in this manner. Dose prime during water changes add enough to treat the whole tank then add your water back back in. So there's no need to be snippy.

What I was saying is prime shouldn't be overdosed to detoxify ammo, nitrate, nitrites in place of doing a water change. Some people rely on it as a method of not performing water changes. That's what I took out of the question, sorry if I miss understood the meaning behind the question as it was very vague.

Prime is super concentrated and even if they add extra chemicals to the water supply than normal there shouldn't be any need to add extra prime.

And if there's ammonia in your tap water...... what then?

 

[Mogurako]

And if there's ammonia in your tap water...... what then?

If there is ammo in the tap water then it's a very small amount. A standard dose of prime will bind the ammo untill it can be broken down in to nitrates.

You all seem to be missing the point I was trying to make of you should not overdose the prime in order to bind the ammo and nitrates in place of water changes. Prime is super concentrated and I can assure you a standard dose will take care of all chlorine, chloramines and any ammo in your water at the time of your PWC.

 

[aqua_chem]

The point is that it's not a long term strategy, but it's a safe and effective emergency technique. If you for whatever reason don't have time to do a water change but notice that your ammonia is rising, there's nothing wrong with overdosing Prime to detox the ammonia.


Most ammonia I've heard of coming from the tap was 1 ppm, which is significant to say the least.

 

[Mogurako]

There should never be an ammo spike that you can't predict, the reason for spikes is normally always caused by human error, introducing to many fish at once, over feeding ect. So in theory someone should always know when a water change is needed and there shouldn't be a water change emergency, of course that's just my opinion from an experience stand point.

If there's that much ammo from the tap I would find a different water scource.

 

[Pton46]

No Nip here...just getting info....reason I was asking is along the lines of what Dragonfish posted, even though I have tap, it's from the Delaware prone to Floods and they mess with the Chlorine level w/o much warning. Also far as PWC's sometimes the best laid plans get messed up. I got called out of town and my Nitrates spiked , my son overfed and my wife was not in the position to do a 50% water change on a 60 gallon tank. I had her just put in the 5x dose until I got home.

My question was what was the reason to overdose?