Recharging purigen

[KTpoopenstein]

I just put my baggie of purigen in a bleach solution to recharge and within a few minutes its back to its original color. The directions say to soak for 24 hours so I guess I expected it to take longer to lighten back up...

What have other folks experienced? Can I move on to the dechlorinator soak sooner rather than later?

 

[MartyMA]

The outside granules are the first to change back to the original color since they are exposed directly to the water/bleach solution. You should stir the bag around a bit with a wooden spoon or chopstick just to be sure that you are getting most of the purigen clean. 24 hours is enough time in the solution but make sure that you soak the bag in treated water for at least double the time. Move the bag around in the solution frequently. When you cannot smell any bleach smell, you will be done.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

The outside granules are the first to change back to the original color since they are exposed directly to the water/bleach solution. You should stir the bag around a bit with a wooden spoon or chopstick just to be sure that you are getting most of the purigen clean. 24 hours is enough time in the solution but make sure that you soak the bag in treated water for at least double the time. Move the bag around in the solution frequently. When you cannot smell any bleach smell, you will be done.

I've been mixing things up and there is nothing brown left anymore. What I'm wondering is, is it done? Can I move it to the dechlorinator bath now or do I need to wait?

 

[MartyMA]

If it cleaned up completely in a few minutes, it couldn't have been too dirty. If you feel like it is finished, start the soaking process. You will definitely have to be patient during this phase. No sense going through the trouble of recharging and then poisoning your fish with residual bleach.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

If it cleaned up completely in a few minutes, it couldn't have been too dirty. If you feel like it is finished, start the soaking process. You will definitely have to be patient during this phase. No sense going through the trouble of recharging and then poisoning your fish with residual bleach.

No, definitely not something to rush! I'm wondering if its because my bleach is "concentrated"...I noticed after I did a 1:1 mix, that the Clorox we have is their concentrated version that supposedly double strength. Anyway, I've moved things around a bunch and I don't see any dark beads anymore so I'm thinking its time to move onto a good rinse and then dechlorinator.

 

[Ian086]

No, definitely not something to rush! I'm wondering if its because my bleach is "concentrated"...I noticed after I did a 1:1 mix, that the Clorox we have is their concentrated version that supposedly double strength. Anyway, I've moved things around a bunch and I don't see any dark beads anymore so I'm thinking its time to move onto a good rinse and then dechlorinator.

I would seriously recommend you follow the directions for the WHOLE process. Mine goes like that too but I still soak it for the full 24hrs, rinse it well and then soak for 8hrs. They is no point in rushing it....

 

[Fishfur]

That concentrated bleach is usually not double strength. Even pool bleach is not double the usual concentration.

Though US labels may be different from Canadian ones, most of the 'Ultra' strength bleach I see is no more than 6% sodium hypochlorite. Regular, standard bleach used to be 5.25%, and cheap bargain bleach is typically around 3%., if they bother to list the percentage on the label at all. Many brands do not list this figure now, which is really criminal, I think.

Fabric safe bleach is often around 4%, and that's why is is safer for fabric, because it is weaker. I'd just follow the directions, and be safe, not sorry. But if it was concentrated bleach and you used the same amount as you would of regular strength it may explain why the purigen cleared up faster.

But if you can find it, look for the percentage on the label, as purigen does not specify the strength of the bleach to be used. I would assume they mean standard bleach, 5.25%, so using 6% would give you a slightly stronger solution.

 

[KTpoopenstein]

That concentrated bleach is usually not double strength. Even pool bleach is not double the usual concentration.

Though US labels may be different from Canadian ones, most of the 'Ultra' strength bleach I see is no more than 6% sodium hypochlorite. Regular, standard bleach used to be 5.25%, and cheap bargain bleach is typically around 3%., if they bother to list the percentage on the label at all. Many brands do not list this figure now, which is really criminal, I think.

Fabric safe bleach is often around 4%, and that's why is is safer for fabric, because it is weaker. I'd just follow the directions, and be safe, not sorry. But if it was concentrated bleach and you used the same amount as you would of regular strength it may explain why the purigen cleared up faster.

But if you can find it, look for the percentage on the label, as purigen does not specify the strength of the bleach to be used. I would assume they mean standard bleach, 5.25%, so using 6% would give you a slightly stronger solution.

It's not listed on the bottle, and Clorox's website is equally vague. They list the ingredients, but not the concentration, and the only MSDS sheet I can find is for the regular basic bleach, not the formula I have...and that says "1-5%"...so who knows!

 

[Ian086]

It's not listed on the bottle, and Clorox's website is equally vague. They list the ingredients, but not the concentration, and the only MSDS sheet I can find is for the regular basic bleach, not the formula I have...and that says "1-5%"...so who knows!

On the Seachem site it say's to use household bleach but no strengths. They are excellent at giving out advice on their products and i'm sure have been asked about this before. No change to their instructions, so I guess, what you have is good enough. They did change their instructions a while back about using a PH buffer after soaking, so they do continue to research their products. I would just go with the bleach you have and follow their instruction. That way you can't go wrong really!!

 

[Fishfur]

That is the problem. Bleach used to always have the percentage of sodium hypochlorite listed. But when they started marketing it, for safer bleach or for concentrated bleach, they learned some of us read labels and can figure out when we are being scammed.

I often buy pool bleach. Big bottle, often on sale this time of year, most are a bit over 10%. I can cut it by half and still get good results and often save money too.

But the values I listed are pretty consistent for most brands that are available here and I suspect the same is true of the US ones. Most of what we get here in Canada comes from US manufacturers anyway. If it's dirt cheap, it's going to be 3% or even less. If it's expensive, it might still be weaker too.. that fabric safe stuff costs a bit more than the regular stuff does. Total rip off. If I can't get pool bleach I wait for sales and buy the concentrated stuff, which does go a bit farther.

Standard Clorox and Javex both used to be 5.25%, until the marketing folks got their hands on them. Now it's all over the place. You can even buy tablets of pure sodium hypochlorite and mix your own, which is how it was done for a long time before liquid bleach became popular.

I listed the percentages because I think a great many people simply don't know there are differences at all. When you are following directions for something like Purigen, not only do you not know what they are using in their tests, you don't know what YOU are using more often than not. So if takes longer to work, or takes less time than expected, it might very well be the bleach that is the reason for this.