I've never been happy really with Prime. It apparently *is* considerably
less stable than Amquel.
Simple solution is to use carbon filtering. Second simplest is to use hypo
to get the chlorine, and then aerate the storage for a day or so to
dissipate the ammonium.
>
> Prime complexes this out but doesn't remove it at a chemcial level ,,,,.
> Maybe warm weather dissociates it back .... (remember no nitro bacteria
> in the drum) .... ammonia spike kills the fish then dissipates overnight
> - broken down by tank bacteria. Also new water raises tank pH over 7.0
> where ammonia becomes toxic...
None of that is likely. The ammonium is dissipated very quickly to the air,
and needs no bacteria to convert it to nitrite. Ammonium stays mostly
ammonium until pH is up above 8 or so, so you would have to have a *lot* to
get such drastic kills. It would still be around, the next day.
>
> Two other comments - how old is the Prime when I get it - what is shelf
> life of the product?
IDK, but I don't care for the change in smell as a bottle of it ages. It is
very concentrated, but anything that stinky is losing *something*.
> Is the Aussie product years old by the time it gets
> here.... Mine is down to the end of the bottle and 6 months old ex the
> LFS. Why not buy the cheaper and as effective Aussie product from
> Aquasonic says the un-named punter who suspects US chemical technology?
A well-founded suspicion according to the guy who invented Amquel. He has
little good to say about the unpatented follow-up products. :-) They *are*
mostly designed to get around that original patent, I suspect.
> A bit of a slag on the great Seachem here so I've emailed them for a
> response. Jennifer may be able to comment as I believe she is a purveyor
> of both.
>
> And maybe the same for chloramine as well - so do neutralisers complex
> up chloramine and ammonia permanently or does the reaction reverse with
> temperature and time.
>
> Of course using the old crude method of adding new water and
> neutralising as you go would have complexed out the toxins until the
> microbes and plants got at them.
>
> Solution if I keep the water tank - neutralise a few hours before adding
> water, or add a small box filter to give the tank it's own N-cycle. ???
A good air stone would do far more good in getting rid of volatiles, like
ammonium.
Basically, remote diagnosis is very tough, but all I hear sounds like a
particularly virulent bacterial infection. I once lost most of my fishroom
to such a plague. It swept through all my tanks in a week or less.
I admit that my water wasn't perfect in those days. In the '50s, we
fervently believed in the "natural" tank with no water changes at all. That
leads me to the thought that it could be one of those "all-of-the-above"
situations, where an unfortunate convergence of problems caused the kill.
Wright
-- Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntleyone at home dot comImportant things we should remember: [and weren't taught in mandatory government propaganda camps]
The Declaration of Independence was written on hemp paper.
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