Couple of Things

[Lucid]

I am looking at some chemical media to use in my dad's nano to help lower nitrates. Looking at Purigen by Seachem. Anyone used this product with sucess? And to regenerate, it says to soak in bleach then in water with dechlorinator. Would I use a dechlorinator if I have no chlorine in my well water? Or is that to remove the bleach?

And was thinking of changing salts in the future. I currently use IO Reef Crystals. It has steadily been going up in price and if I'm going to pay big $$$ for a mix, I want a better mix! Any suggestions for what the 'pros' use? Also looking for that mix to leave as little residue in my mixing barrel as possible. IO leaves a brown muck in the bottom.

Thanx

[gregr]

I would recommend doing water changes and skimming to lower the nitrates as opposed to adding chemicals. Also, do you know why the nitrates are high?

[Lucid]

Hey, yeah I've been doing weekly 20% changes and cannot fit a skimmer in the nano. I got that fission nano skimmer as the nano manufacturer claimed it would fit, but that was the 12g not the larger ones. I would like to not be doing that many water changes, so I figured I'd give a nitrate absorber a try.

2 things I'm sure are contributing to the high nitrates; the pooping clowns and my Dad's feeding habits. Which I'm working on getting to a better place. I feel I also need to move the clowns to a larger tank, but that is near impossible for space considerations.

Any salt brand recommendations?

[skinz78]

2 things I'm sure are contributing to the high nitrates; the pooping clowns and my Dad's feeding habits. Which I'm working on getting to a better place.

LOL hide the food.

I agree do the water changes, I have a 12 g with no skimmer and my trates are zero. I do an easy 2 g water change every few days.

Chemically cleaning your tank is bad and I strongly recommend against it.

[kgross]

Cut back on the food, and do more water changes. You could make a fuge into the back of the tank as well though and grow some macro algae like chaeto in it.

Kim

[metalhead]

I have read where people have used Purigen with great success and it repudately has many benefits over carbon... It is re-usable, does not remove trace elements and supposedly does a better job than carbon in regard to water polishing/clarity.

Though I am not using it yet, I plan to use Purigen instead of carbon when the time comes. I have used seachem products in the past and have always had good luck with them, most notably flourish excel in planted freshwater tanks.

If I were you I'd pick some up and try it out, if it were harmful in any way we would have heard about it by now and I doubt seriously that a company with seachems reputation would market a product without performing extensive testing and research.

[Ninong]

I have read where people have used Purigen with great success and it repudately has many benefits over carbon...

That's like comparing apples and oranges. Purigen doesn't replace carbon, it replaces a protein skimmer.

In an aquarium with a good protein skimmer and a nice deep sand bed, I see no need to run Purigen. Purigen is an organic polymer that binds organics. It doesn't remove nitrite or nitrate directly. What it does is bind some organics so that they don't break down producing nitrite and nitrate -- exactly what a protein skimmer does.

Since this is a small aquarium without a protein skimmer, you might want to try running some Purigen but that doesn't mean you should stop running carbon. Run both with the Purigen ahead of the carbon.

Personally, I think a good protein skimmer would do a much better job.

It is re-usable, does not remove trace elements and supposedly does a better job than carbon...

It binds organics. You can also remove organics with a DSB and with a decent protein skimmer. Purigen and GAC are not the same and they don't do the same job. Purigen is totally unnecessary if you have a protein skimmer (IMO).

Though I am not using it yet, I plan to use Purigen instead of carbon when the time comes.

Why not use both?

If I were you I'd pick some up and try it out, if it were harmful in any way we would have heard about it by now and I doubt seriously that a company with seachems reputation would market a product without performing extensive testing and research.

It's not harmful in any way. I just don't think it's as good at removing organics as a protein skimmer. It does not remove nitrates as claimed. What it does is bind organics and that means there would be less organics available to break down into nitrates. Protein skimmers do the exact same thing.