Prime!!

[briemol12]

So, here Is my question/concern.
I've had my tank for over 2 months now, and I've been doing water changes often since my nitrites and nitrates won't settle (and its pissing me off) but that's now what I want to talk about. Every time I do water changes I use a regular plastic trash can, I usually do 70-80% water change every 2-3 days. And on the first bucket I add to the tank I add 2 little caps of prime and every other I add half the the amount of the cap.
I do this because I don't want my fish to die because the water had chlorine that would make me so sad and mad since I've spend lots of money and try to get my tank to cycle for over 2 months.
My question is im I adding too much?
My tank is 20 gallons. I attached some
Picture of how much I take out and the end result.
Thanks.

 

[brennae]

Its one cap full per 55 gallons. I add a little less than half a cap for 20 gallons. If you get a baby medicine dropper you can measure out a little less than 2.5mls (too lazy to do the exact math). Each cap is 5ml

 

[fish wrangler]

Isn't one cap full 1ml? Making 20 gallons .45 ml or around that??

I could be wrong but i cpuld have sworn that one cap was 1 ml
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[Andy Sager]

Seachem states that you can dose PRIME up to 5 times the usual dosage to detoxify nitrites over a 48 hour period. So you need to do the math if you are overdosing. That said, High nitrites can be a PH issue. Low PH ( acidic under 6.5) can deter the BB that converts Nitrites to Nitrates. And with THAT said, since you are having issues with both, have you checked your tap water for nitrates? That could be why you are seeing both and not finishing the cycling process.

Hope this helps

 

[briemol12]

Seachem states that you can dose PRIME up to 5 times the usual dosage to detoxify nitrites over a 48 hour period. So you need to do the math if you are overdosing. That said, High nitrites can be a PH issue. Low PH ( acidic under 6.5) can deter the BB that converts Nitrites to Nitrates. And with THAT said, since you are having issues with both, have you checked your tap water for nitrates? That could be why you are seeing both and not finishing the cycling process.

Hope this helps

I don't have any pH issues, it's at 7.6 where is suppose to be. Check water daily. Should i test the water before or after adding prime.
And if that's the case what water should I add??

 

[brennae]

One cap full is 5ml. It's per 50g of water not 55 so my mistake, but still only 2 ml per 20 gallons

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[NigelK8485]

You don't need to add prime to each bucket. Prime works on contact, so if you just do the total volume of the tank, about half a capful, on the first bucket it will neutralize the rest of the water being added. When I fill my tank I do three capfuls for the total volume as the water is going into the tank and I've had no adverse effects. If you're adding extra prime to make nitrites non-toxic, it only has a 24 hour window to do that. Since you are adding it all after a large water change there won't be much nitrites anyways. If you are doing it to make nitrites nontoxic I'd suggest adding prime the second or third day after your water change when they have had time to accumulate. Are you doing a large gravel vacuuming when doing the water change that may disturb the colonization of bacteria or just taking water from the water column?

Your tank looks nice, by the way. I really like that gravel.

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[briemol12]

One cap full is 5ml. It's per 50g of water not 55 so my mistake, but still only 2 ml per 20 gallons

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Thank you so much I just over use it I guess because I am scare it won't take the chlorine off

 

[brennae]

Thank you so much I just over use it I guess because I am scare it won't take the chlorine off

I have a ton of chlorine and chloramine (sp) in my water and the correct or close to correct dose does the trick. No need to waste your money by over using the Prime, That stuff is expensive!

 

[briemol12]

You don't need to add prime to each bucket. Prime works on contact, so if you just do the total volume of the tank, about half a capful, on the first bucket it will neutralize the rest of the water being added. When I fill my tank I do three capfuls for the total volume as the water is going into the tank and I've had no adverse effects. If you're adding extra prime to make nitrites non-toxic, it only has a 24 hour window to do that. Since you are adding it all after a large water change there won't be much nitrites anyways. If you are doing it to make nitrites nontoxic I'd suggest adding prime the second or third day after your water change when they have had time to accumulate. Are you doing a large gravel vacuuming when doing the water change that may disturb the colonization of bacteria or just taking water from the water column?

Your tank looks nice, by the way. I really like that gravel.

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I don't use it to neutralize the nitrites or the nitrates I just use it to take the chlorine off. I don't do a big gravel vacuum just a tiny one to take out the food and waste that's in the gravel nothing big. And my nitrites and nitrates don't lower after two weeks of doing water change. I feel like my tank will never cycle

Thanks my idea of the gravel and decoration

 

[briemol12]

I have a ton of chlorine and chloramine (sp) in my water and the correct or close to correct dose does the trick. No need to waste your money by over using the Prime, That stuff is expensive!

Okay well I will use less
Thanks for all your welcome

 

[brennae]

Did you try getting some filter media from an established tank to kick start your cycle? That may help you.

 

[Fresh2o]

So the ammonia always stays at zero despite the high nitrites and nitrates? That is very odd! It's like it started the first part of cycling and then stalled.


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[Matt68005]

Yeah it's 1ml per ten gallons. Slight amounts of nitrate won't hurt your fish anything below 40 is non toxic, sounds like your maybe disturbing the BB colonies when your dumping it back in. And you certainly don't need to change 70% of the tank water every 2-3 days my word that's a lot.


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[briemol12]

Did you try getting some filter media from an established tank to kick start your cycle? That may help you.

I've had my tank for 2 months and my understanding of the cycle is that the nitrites will turn into nitrates or vise versa don't know which comes first lol but I am just being patience and doing my water changes.

 

[briemol12]

So the ammonia always stays at zero despite the high nitrites and nitrates? That is very odd! It's like it started the first part of cycling and then stalled.


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Ammonia levels are always 0. I can get my tank to finish cycle. I know high nitrites and nitrates are bad for the fish. But I haven't had any fish die. Maybe because I am keeping up with my water change? I don't know but I can't do water change every 2-3 days for the rest of my life lol

 

[briemol12]

Yeah it's 1ml per ten gallons. Slight amounts of nitrate won't hurt your fish anything below 40 is non toxic, sounds like your maybe disturbing the BB colonies when your dumping it back in. And you certainly don't need to change 70% of the tank water every 2-3 days my word that's a lot.


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What you mean disturbing the bb colonies when I dump it back in? Dump what back in?
And I read that a big water change doesn't affect the fish in the tank.
I just do these water changes to get rid of the high nitrites and nitrates but to be honest I am getting tired of it. >.<

 

[fish wrangler]

One cap full is 5ml. It's per 50g of water not 55 so my mistake, but still only 2 ml per 20 gallons

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I was thinking of the thread number. My bad.

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[Andy Sager]

It's starting to sound like your test kits may be an issue if the water isn't. Have you had your tests verified by an outside source using a different liquid test? ( Some stores use strips which are unreliable) If not, you may want to do that.
Just for reference, Ammonia is turned into nitrITES which is then turned into nitrATES by the BB. Not the other way around. If you were to chart the cycle on a graph paper, the complete cycle would look like a 2 1/2 humped camel. Ammonia rises then at it's peak, nitrites start to rise making the ammonia "hump" fall. When the nitrite hump is at it's peak, nitrates form causing the nitrite hump to fall leaving only a rising nitrate level ( that's the 1/2 hump.) So it's almost impossible to have 0 ammonia and high nitrites and high nitrates at the same time unless they are coming from an outside source and not just the aquarium. And with you doing all that water changing as often as you are, that really points to something outside the tank causing this issue. You need to investigate further. It's not just the amount of time. I have cycled aquariums in a week using a little establish "gunk" from a working filter while I have had tanks take 3 months using nothing but time and an ammonia source and no water changes. Something just doesn't sound right with your situation. You need to become a detective and figure it out.

Hope this helps

 

[Coursair]

Prime for small tanks is 2 drops per Gallon ?

I also dose my jug rather than the tank, but not over dose.

Are you cleaning your filter ? Don't, except to rinse pads in tank water. Don't swap out filter pads unless they are falling apart.

I do 50% water changes once a week rather than big changes every two weeks.

I will change water sooner , if my water tests tell me I need to.




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