Question about Seachem Prime

[Aurie]

Originally Posted by Kevron56

I think I have some blue green algae in my tank, I have a question re the smell.... What does it smell like? AND how close does the noggin' have to be to get a whiff of it?

It smells swampy and my whole living room stank ... it is when you go "hey I have algae" and when you go to scrape it off that it just instantly releases from what it was on and floats around in a sheet..

Get some Ethromyacin (sp?) at petsmart or your local fish store.. $15 and follow the directions on the back. I used a whole box for my 10 gallon and now it's gone.

Prime has a rotten egg smell... quite strong due to sulfur, but BGA smells like a decaying swamp with rotten leaves and .. well it smelled like the Bog of Eternal Stench and I didn't even have a bad case of it.

[pittipuppylove]

Ugh, the dreaded cyanobacteria. I've got a horrid outbreak of it in my 10 gallon and am trying to get it under control without medications. It's a pain in the rear.

[Aurie]

Well try having BGA and cracking a new bottle of prime.. one VERY unhappy corner of the living room.. My dog actually went into the other room immediately LOL

[pittipuppylove]

Originally Posted by Aurie

Well try having BGA and cracking a new bottle of prime.. one VERY unhappy corner of the living room.. My dog actually went into the other room immediately LOL

lol All my tanks are in my dorm room and I use Prime. It is pretty darned nasty - about enough to crack a window in the dead of winter.

[finnfinnfriend]

LOL! I can only smell it if I put my nose up to the open bottle XD

[sunstar93]

This is not really a question of smell...but will Prime lower the ammonia levels in the water? The water where I live has 0.5 ppm coming out of the tap and I am worried that it will harm my fish down the road (I actually think the ammonia is the reason I lost my second rescue this week). Doing water changes alone is not enough as the new water has the same levels as the water I am taking out.

[pittipuppylove]

Prime doesn't remove ammonia, but it does bind it into a non-toxic form (ammonium, I believe) for 24-48 hours. I have a similar problem with my tap water - the way I get around it is to use Prime and have lots of live plants. The theory is that Prime makes the ammonia harmless for long enough that the plants can pick all of it up.
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[sunstar93]

What if I don't have live plants? Or should I get a couple to soak up the ammonium?

[paloverde]

If your tank is cycled, the bb should be able to process it to nitrate before the prime magic wears off. If you don't want to use a ammonia binder, run a fully cycled sponge or what ever filter in the bucket of replacement water. The ammonia will be processed to nitrate in a day or so.

[sunstar93]

(couldn't find the thread lol)
The 10 gallon I have has been established for...a month now? So I should have some BB growing in there by now lol. Just worried that I will spend $7 on a whole big thing of the Prime and it not end up working (I know it is also a conditioner but I already have a whole bottle of API...lol)
Thanks!