Recent content by letterman7

Quicky update; after a week and one 75% water change early on, we have now attained 0% ammonia and a stable 6.8pH. Even the plants look better. Dunno what happened, damn sure I'm not going to let it happen again!

Not to argue, just for discussion - did any of you actually try an independent test between the two products? I did here - I thought the same thing with the API: takes less product and works better. But it doesn't. API is half as effective at removing chlorine/chloramines as SeaChem, at least in...

I agree. Unfortunately in my area chloramine is used exclusively.

:-) SeaChem is hiding behind their formulas. This is the answer I received: There are two different types of ammonia, Free Ammonia (NH3) and Ammonium (NH4). We are most concerned about Free Ammonia, so when Prime is added to the water, it is converting the existing Free Ammonia into Ammonium...

Yes, I saw that on their site. I have an email and a call into them to see if they can clarify how, exactly, organic compounds can become "unbound" after a certain amount of time. I'll post a reply if I get one. Interesting. I figured the fuzz was organic, just can't place where it's coming...

That's true that the plants will also consume ammonia and likely at a quicker rate than the bacteria (which might explain why my floating plant roots always look "dirty"). And I also belive that there isn't a product that will remove anything that's in liquid form (or dissolved gasses in a...

What I mean by bacteria clearing the tank is, essentially, bacteria are there to convert the ammonia to its non toxic components. This includes bound and free ammonia. With bacteria doing their job, ammonia should be at zero, no matter what. With a fresh water change, there will always be a...

The hardness scale was just from a quick web search in a .pdf format (see attached). I will delve into the detoxification a little more. Something doesn't sound right to me - basic chemistry says that once something is bound into another state, it cannot be "unbound". I'll reach out to SeaChem...

Hmm.. I think I have to disagree with you Byron. Yes, ammonia is not removed, only bound by a water treatment. Once bound, it does not "revert" back to ammonia. Chemically, it's can't do that. Both Prime and API bind ammonia initially upon adding it to a water change or fresh tank; it will not...

SeaChem Prime and API Tap Water Conditioner. Both say they neutralize chlorine and chloramine, which is common to larger municipalities to treat water: Monochloramine, often called simply chloramine, is the chemical compound with the formula NH₂Cl. Together with dichloramine and nitrogen...

Someone had asked for a photo of the tank. Very bright this morning; tank is situated by a window that gets the early morning light. Doesn't affect the algae production :-) Anyway, ran another complete test today sans the water hardness since I have to pick one of those up and some encouraging...

Hi all, I do not have the specific GH and KH numbers - I need to purchase a test kit for that. I'll look into that further tomorrow. We're on tap water, and it is fairly high in chloramine/chlorine, so the conditioners are essential (and, having run separate tests using both API and SeaChem to...

I have both the API and Seachem test kits. API won't find free ammonia, just "all" ammonia. And that is somewhere north of 14 on the chart. The Seachem shows the same thing for all, but zero for free, which tells me that the ammonia is bound up with the combination of the ammo lock and water...

Nitrates and nitrites are at 0. Feedings have been far reduced, but I'll likely pull some of the decorations out to see what, if any, is dead. I think 75% is a bit extreme - then you risk pH shock if you do it every day.