Near Miss with Purigen - Toxic Water

[LancsRick]

Well I think I've just written off 100ml of Purigen, but thought I'd make sure first in here.

Just regenerated my Purigen in bleach, and then rinsed in de-chlorinated water thoroughly, and stuck back in my filter. Cue the penny dropping about 10 minutes later and me frantically dismantling my filter and yanking out the Purigen, as well as dosing my tank with de-chlorinator.

Why?

I forgot that you shouldn't use amine based de-chlorinator "slimes" (e.g. API Stress Coat, which I use) with regenerated Purigen since it then becomes a source of chloramines for your tank - very lethal. Having only been in a few minutes, and having dosed the whole tank with Stress Coat, I should be safe for my livestock, but I presume I'm right in thinking that the Purigen itself is now history? Is there any way to recover it?

Off to order myself some Seachem Prime now...

 

[Matt Warner]

I have heard of slime coat dechlorinators doing this! I really wish seachem would tell you this in the instructions rather than on their website. This is another reason I don't like purigen. The other reasons I don't like it is because it makes a mess everywhere and you need such a fine bag to put it in. I don't see any more advantages in it than using activated carbon.

 

[ghostsword]

I rinse my purigen in RO water.. Much safer.


___________________________
Luis
@ghostsword

 

[Antipofish]

I have heard of slime coat dechlorinators doing this! I really wish seachem would tell you this in the instructions rather than on their website. This is another reason I don't like purigen. The other reasons I don't like it is because it makes a mess everywhere and you need such a fine bag to put it in. I don't see any more advantages in it than using activated carbon.

Hi Matty, if you get the proper Seachem Purigen bag you will not have any issues with Purigen escaping and making a mess in your tank (some people even use tights as long as they are 40denier plus. I used to use the D&D media bags which work fine as long as you dont over fill them... in fact I used to double bag mine just in case, but now I have one of the proper bags it really is a non issue). As far as slime coat dechlorinators go, I could not agree more that Seachem do not make it as clear as they should do, but again, if users are aware of it then its a non issue. I believe they do state to use Prime as the dechlorinator of choice.

A lot of people are wary about "recharging" it so they just chuck it and replace. After all, it lasts three to four times as long as carbon so it doesnt really work out any more expensive than if you used that.