Hi, and thanks for the answer again that was really satisfying enugh. Yes you are right I did not explained the nature of the prblem or the symptms. So My light was too high, I did not add NO3, PO4 thinking that fish waste and food waste will be enough. My tank was after DSM so the plant mass was enormous, CO2 wasnt bottlenecking factor as well, so the nutritients was the problem. My HC turn to transperemt within 2-3 days diatom bloom even the tank was established. Hairgrass survived and hydrocotyle two kinds anubias as well. Actually only HC died but I as can see now is still there mixed with hairgrass two months after proper dosing and removed purigen
Obviously most of the issues with diatoms, algae or plant helth are chemical disbalance or lack not light or CO2
I belive that purigen is great product but some people including me dont know how to use it
I will go again for it anyway, I was wondering do I have to increase NO3 in my dosing regime when add purigen?
Hi Nikolas,
Thanks for the additional data. As suspected, the symptoms you describe have nothing to do with Purigen. Part of the problem is that the maker of Purigen does not actually state what chemical product the Purigen is. The only scrap of bone they throw us is to tell us what Purigen is NOT. It is my general observation that when vendors refuse to state the chemical makeup of their products, or when they refuse to list the ingredients, then this is a sure sign that the material is something fairly easy to obtain for cheaper elsewhere. So, according to their website, Purigen is not a ion exchange resin and is not a form of carbon. It is described as "...macro-porous synthetic polymer that removes soluble and insoluble impurities from water..."
The paragraph goes on to dispense more meaningless techno babble, forcing us to deduce just what the heck this product is. What we know is that is is activated, which means it is porous and therefore has a high surface area to enhance it's effectiveness, and we know that it is basically a synthetic polymer. Finally, we know that it works though adsorption of organic molecules in a very similar way to carbon. So this automatically means that the target molecules are polar and that the product should be less effective at removing non-polar molecules.
So, in the same way that Flourish Excel is just an overpriced version of a commonly available disinfectant (gluteraldehyde), we can assume that Purigen is probably a commonly available polymeric adsorbent. There appears to be three general classes of this type of resins:
Styrenic adsorbent resin
Acrylic adsorbent resin
Phenolic adsorbent resin
Each of these classes is good at removing some specific classes of pollutants, so it's entirely possible that Purigen is some combination of these classes. Now, remember this is just a GUESS on my part. I really don't know for sure, but if you read the product sheets for these resins, they sound almost exactly like what the Purigen website talks evasively about. Also, if you notice, all of these resins are produced and probably patented by Dow Chemicals.
OK, so Purigen attracts and holds onto organic chemicals by adsorption, which means it is NOT ABSORBED into the structure of the resin, but is held by contact on the surface of the pores by
INTERMOLECULAR BONDING - VAN DER WAALS FORCES
Also, you really need to understand the difference between organic molecules and inorganic molecules. Organic means that the compound was alive or was produced exclusively by something that was alive. Scientists have learned to synthesize some organic molecules but the basic definition is that the chemical is within the domain of living things.
Plant matter, food and fish waste are all organic material and they are constructed fundamentally from carbon atoms. So think about a Christmas tree where the Carbon forms the branches and the other elements such as Phosphorous, Nitrogen, Oxygen and Hydrogen are the decorations.
Most of these organic materials are composed of proteins, and proteins are an organic construct, like a Pyramid made up of organic blocks called Amino Acids. Without trying to blow your mind, here is a schematic of a generic amino acid architecture:
Can you see on this Christmas tree that there is a central single Carbon skeleton and that the main decoration (COOH) on the right, an unnamed chemical refereed to as "R" in the middle and an "Amino (NH2)" group on the left?
When this organic compound is separated from the plant or animal that it was attached to bacteria immediately attack, because they want to eat the Nitrogen and the Carbon, but they cannot just swallow the whole enchilada. They have to be clever about it, so they have special enzymes that cut the Christmas tree down and break it apart.
This is what the terms "rot" and "decay" actually mean. The bacterial enzymes sever the connection between those groups and then more enzymes either combine the severed parts with different chemicals or they break the severed parts into even smaller molecules. Each bacteria has it's own strategy and it's own arsenal of enzymes which function to either build or destroy. There are some enzymes that convert the NH2 (Amino) into NH3 (Ammonia). Can you see that the words are very similar? It's for a very good reason. They are related and that's why plants will risk the toxicity of NH3, because they can easily, with their arsenal of enzymes, turn it into NH2 and make amino acids, which they then easily turn into proteins.
When plants and animals respire, many of the organic processes involve the consumption of amino acids and the metabolic waste is ammonia. This is the cycle of life. Cells that burn sugar eject CO2. When we exhale we are ridding our bodies of the CO2 produced when our cells have eaten sugar. Plants take this CO2 and turn it into sugar.
So when the Purigen website talks about how the resin removes only the "bad Nitrogen compounds" it's really propaganda because what the product does is to capture organic compounds and prevents the products of decay from entering the water column. Purigen has nothing to do with the NO3 that you add from KNO3 dosing. The product has no affinity for NO3, only an affinity for the organic compounds which are being ejected from the plants and animals in the tank. So really, there is no relationship between your dosing program and the performance of the Purigen. Dose as you would do normally and forget about the effect of Purigen in that regard.
The question that I cannot answer is, once the organic molecule is captured and is adsorbed onto the surface of the resin, does the decay continue as normal or is it modified, and are the constituent components of the original molecules still trapped within the Purigen particles? We know that activated carbon and zeolite adsorb and hold the chemicals, then, if left in the water, bacteria colonize the pores and feed on the nutrients still adsorbed on the surface. I don't know the answer to this because without knowing what polymer it is, it's a difficult thing to study.
Do you know the reason why end of the day my tank water looks thicker than normal, higher viscosity. Is it some not saturated gas issue or what?
Sorry, I have no idea what this means. I do not understand how water can look thicker or have a higher viscosity unless there are pollutants dissolved in the water. You'll have to clarify with photos or with a better description.
Cheers,