Using Prime Water Conditioner

[kmknits]

Hello, I am 2+ months into my fish-in-cycle and have switched to using Prime water conditioner...is there anything I need to know about how this will affect my testing results? Up to this point, I have been doing daily 60% water changes and testing for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates. Will using the Prime change the readings, since it is said to neutralize the ammonia/nitrites? If so, how will I know when I can start to back off on the water changes and where I am in my tank cycle? Thanks in advance for any help you more experienced tropical fish keepers can give me!

 

[Bugdozer]

It depends on whether your ammonia test uses the salicylate test or the other type whose name I can't remember. If there is "neutralised" ammonia in the water they give slightly different results.

 

[Electric Warrior]

I don't think it will affect your test results, as it doesn't rid your water of ammonia, it just locks it into a different form that will be removed by your filter. I have used it in a tank that I am fish less cycling right now, and haven't noticed any changes in my tests. If you are doing a fish in cycle, where you re changing water everyday (and therefore adding Prime every time) I would probably wait 10 hours or so to test the water, just to be on the safe side.

 

[Mauigirl]

Hello, I am 2+ months into my fish-in-cycle and have switched to using Prime water conditioner...is there anything I need to know about how this will affect my testing results? Up to this point, I have been doing daily 60% water changes and testing for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates. Will using the Prime change the readings, since it is said to neutralize the ammonia/nitrites? If so, how will I know when I can start to back off on the water changes and where I am in my tank cycle? Thanks in advance for any help you more experienced tropical fish keepers can give me!

It really wont change the results at all, Prime detoxifies the Ammonia but doesn't remove it, It is still present and readable and should be treated as if it were still fully toxic as the effects of the prime are short lived (24 hrs).

Some tap water contains Chloramine which is chlorine and ammonia bonded together, this is also handled by Prime and will read as ammonia as well, so yes wait for a bit after doing a water change b4 retesting for Ammonia so as not to get a false reading from the freshly added water.

 

[Bugdozer]

Also you can keep an eye on the nitrites and nitrates to get an idea of how the cycle is going, and to be honest if you have been doing a fish-in cycle for more than two months you might well have enough bacteria for your current stock level. What are your readings for ammonia and nitrites?

 

[kmknits]

I am using the API Master test kit and Prime is added to the water prior to each water change. I am also waiting a full 24 hrs after the change before re-testing the water. Right now it tells me I have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, with nitrates ranging between 5-20 (hard to read the colors when they are so close!) This time I waited a full 36 hrs before re-testing to see if that made any difference. Maybe I am finally coming out on the other side of this very long cycle process?

 

[Mauigirl]

So you Are not seeing a measurable lvl of Ammonia or Nitrite when you test B4 changing water?
You could test at both 12 and 24 hrs if you are not seeing any then it would be safe to not change water but test every 12 hrs for a few days. If you get 0's on Ammonia and Nitrite every time you test then you are cycled.
If you get a bad result then do the water change.
Nitrate is going to show a bit always just don't let it get too high, most people say below 20-40ppm, lower the better.

 

[Bugdozer]

The API test is salicylate for the ammonia so it's not skewed by using Prime or similar conditioners. If you are getting 0 for ammonia and nitrites and seeing more nitrates than you would see in a sample of your tap water, then it sounds like a safe bet that you have the cycle going by now. Bear in mind that if you add more fish the ammonia and nitirite readings will climb a little because of the increased load.

 

[kmknits]

Whew...it's been 36+ hrs since the last water change and the readings are still 0 for both ammonia and nitrite. I will skip the water change again this afternoon and continue to retest every 12 hrs for the rest of the week. Looks like if I can safely make it to Saturday with no changes in the readings I can then start my weekly 40% water change routine -right? I hope this is the end in sight, because we are leaving on vacation in 2 weeks and I would like to not have to worry too much about my fishie friends ) I feel fortunate to have only lost one fish during this process, but lugging all those gallons of water each day was getting old! Never again will I make that naive mistake of adding fish in the first week of having set up my tank!

 

[Mauigirl]

Whew...it's been 36+ hrs since the last water change and the readings are still 0 for both ammonia and nitrite. I will skip the water change again this afternoon and continue to retest every 12 hrs for the rest of the week. Looks like if I can safely make it to Saturday with no changes in the readings I can then start my weekly 40% water change routine -right? I hope this is the end in sight, because we are leaving on vacation in 2 weeks and I would like to not have to worry too much about my fishie friends ) I feel fortunate to have only lost one fish during this process, but lugging all those gallons of water each day was getting old! Never again will I make that naive mistake of adding fish in the first week of having set up my tank!

I think you are likely there.
Just keep an eye on it till Saturday like you said and then conciser yourself the victor and collect your spoils .

Allot of hard work, but worth it in the end. And great job getting there with such low losses, shows you took it serious and kept with it.

 

[Bugdozer]

As they say on this forum, if you haven't used up the entire contents of the API bottles in a week, you aren't testing enough.

 

[kmknits]

Thanks, Mauigirl...it does feel good to be seeing some light from the end of the tunnel. So if all goes well, do you think it would be safe to also start feeding them 2 times a day come Saturday? (I'd only been feeding small amounts once daily to try to cut down on their waste) Or the once daily just fine to continue with?

 

[Mauigirl]

Thanks, Mauigirl...it does feel good to be seeing some light from the end of the tunnel. So if all goes well, do you think it would be safe to also start feeding them 2 times a day come Saturday? (I'd only been feeding small amounts once daily to try to cut down on their waste) Or the once daily just fine to continue with?

Well, I am of the opinion that my fish should always seem hungry,
They are great actors and deserve the academy award for the "Oh I'm starving, no one ever feeds me" routine they put on
If you want to feed em twice a day then just make sure that they finish everything in under 1-2 minutes. A few mouthful's of food a day is plenty for em.
Always better to under feed than over feed.Unless your not giving them anything at all underfeeding is hard to do.

 

[OldMan47]

Prime will not affect your tests.
If you use the salicylate test you will only be getting total ammonia/ammonium results and Prime will not affect that. It will convert some of the harmful form into the less harmful form but that means nothing since we try to control total ammonia to less than 0.25 ppm in a fish-in situation and the bacteria process both forms equally well in a fishless cycle. Technically, you could let the levels rise a bit above our standard "safe" level after using Prime but none of us will recommend that you do that as anything but an emergency measure. An emergency in this case might be when you are leaving for work and there is no time for a water change until you get home. The Prime will make things safer until you can get home for that water change, nothing more.
Dechlorinators, including Prime, should not be added at more than double the indicated dose as it has been shown to slow the cycle at very high doses. Otherwise it is harmless and far too many people just give a squirt instead of measuring it.