• You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up

Is Purigen safe?

Sorry, I just want to clarify regarding the lowering statement (as I made it)...in hard water it will remove some nasties from the water, and lower tds slightly. What I meant to say was it helps to keep you tds in check due to removing the organic wastes which would normally add to tds.

Two hundred grams is enough IMO opinion to act as carbon does, if you want to see a difference you'll need more than 200g in a 300ltr tank. IMO.
 
As I Ian said I'd be looking to add more. IMO is double what your are using.

Remember you can regenerate this stuff. So why not use what you buy? You can always regenerate and rebag if you want to set up another tank.

I'm waiting on 100ml to add to a 30l!
 
OK. Thanks. So even the 100ml on a 100litre tank is too little to make a change? I was just following the manufacturers instructions. I have it for some couple of months now and when I was cleaning the filter the last time the Purigen is still rather white, not even beige besides the bag itself which needed a bit of shaking but nothing major.
I'll dose up one of the tanks I guess. What am I looking for improvement wise if it's doing whatever it does?
I am using Prime as dechlorinator so nothing should be affecting it hopefully.
 
Hi all,
Is it bad in a shrimp tank then? Someone mentioned it could prevent the copper from being detoxified?
It isn't the purigen itself, it is the humic acids and tannins from peat, Indian Almond leaves, bark, alder cones etc, (described as DOC (dissolved organic carbon or DHS (dissolved humic substances))) that the purigen removes. This DOC may chelate heavy metals in water below pH7

What pH does effect is the availability of metal ions, in water with a low pH and very few solutes, all metals are likely to go into solution and become available. This could mean that iron, aluminium, lead, zinc or copper etc. that had been bound as insoluble compounds (carbonates, phosphates etc) comes into solution, possibly at levels which are toxic to sensitive fry/shrimp. This might be a problem particularly for species that have evolved in a rainforest environment rich in iron and aluminium, but almost entirely deficient in other metals.

I think this is also where the CEC and DOC from humic compounds come in, these will complex the metals and make them less available. It still isn't fully understood how it works in the fish, and why NOM ("natural organic matter") works and synthetic analogues don't appear to.

If you want to search for some scientific papers: <http://scholar.google.co.uk/scholar?cites=17539073771122810882&as_sdt=2005&sciodt=1,5&hl=en>

cheers Darrel
 
Sorry to rake over old ground but saves me starting another thread I guess with most of the information already here. Since getting my Purigen probably about 8month ago I have recharged my Purigen about three times. I do a 1:1 solution bleach for a day, give this a rinse and then another 1:1 for 24 hours. I find the first go the Purigen seems to re-absorb some of the staining in the water but after the second it comes out pretty white. I then soak in clean, boiled/cooled water with a couple of drops of dechlorinater in for a few hours followed by rinsing with fresh clean, boiled/cooled water for a few days before putting it back in the filter.

I have used various de-chlo over that period usually whatever was in the LFS I was in at the time, I know for sure Aqua-safe was amongst them, I think King British and possibly API Stress coat although the latter was maybe before I had the Purigen. Being the skin flint I am feels wrong to be binning it if I have had no problems. Is there a way of telling if the Purigen has been damaged in some way? I have ordered another 100ml and some Prime from AE in anticipation of worst case scenario but if I don't need to replace it I can just stock it for future use.

Is it a done deal that I will have damaged it? Any way of telling?

I also have a 5gall tank with some RCS in but I note it may cause problems binding metals. Maybe not a good idea to put the old stuff in there and the new in my main tank!
 
Back
Top