Purigen

Thought I would share my recent experience with the above product

back ground - tank is 18 months old now and has had, and to a degree still has a relatively low bio load

been running on about 10ppm Nitrates for ages - despite a weekly water change, and very controled feedings

decided to try Purigen to see if the things I had read on here where accurate

3 week prior to my tank swap, I placed 1 bag (100 gallon sized) in my internal filter - result zero nitrates within 2 weeks

after I did the tank swap over I doubled up on the QTY of purigen used due to concerns over a mini cycle ( never arrived )

still maintaining 0 nitrates - and this result has been checked by purchasing a second brand test kit (was hippo and purchased a Tetra test kit to vailidate results I have to go with what I can get, to some degree )

thus I can honestly recomend Purigen to anyone who may be experiencing Nitrate issues

and for anyone who wants to experiment with SPS (As I did) it did help me to acheive improved water conditions and thus give me the cofidence to go out and buy a couple.

secondary benefit - the water is crystal clear nowdays

so thanks for the tip off 3 reefers - awesome product

Steve

 

I recently started using Purigen in a Two Little Fishes PhosBan Reactor. Initially it dropped my nitrates to 0 but now they are back to 10.. I guess I didn't put enough...
Water is very clear though, great product.

 

How often do you re-activate it with bleach?

 

havent had to yet JJK - its still only an off white/ yellow colour and it does not need regenerating until it goes dark brown ( this will vary depending on individual bio loads )

Im using twice as much as I need so all things being equal it should last twice as long between needs to regenerate

Steve

 

Id like to update this thread, hope nobody minds

after 5 months of use, with double recommended QTY in a low stocked set up I was still regsitering 0 nitrates - but the Purigen looked a light brown colour so I decided to go for it

I have a 60 gallon set up that was FOWLR until I moved some GSP and Anthellia into it, to make way for some SPS corals (and to prevent these 2 species taking control of the 70)

so I purchased 2 new bags of Purigen for the 70 ( didnt want to mess with the real tank)
and regenerated the 2 x 5 month old bag and added these into a internal cannister in the 60

result - 5ft naturally still at 0 Nitrate ( I only have 4 fish in there and 2 of them are YTBs)

4ft - down from 20ppm to under 10ppm in under 2 weeks with the packs of regenerated purigen and no ill effects shown from either the fish or the easy corals I have in there
( I posted this because like many other people, bleach and reef tanks did not seem compatible hence my hesitation to place regenerated packs back into full reef)

confidence now established for me ( you can listen to 100 people telling you something is OK, but until you do it yourself and nothing negative results from it, your not always convinced)

Steve

 

Steve, thanks for the post and the update, we dont mind . Sounds like it is a product worth trying. Very helpful info. it is appreciated.

Thanks.

 

So Steve, the Purigen sounds like good stuff. Do you know where your nitrates are coming from in the first place?

 

welcome , thank you Yamaharider

Hi Powerman on the 70 they only ever reached 10 ppm, which I knew was not an issue with the softies I was keeping, but when I wanted to try SPS, I knew that I would have to target 0 - I had nitrates simply because I dont run a sump/ fuge combo, everything is on the rock in the tank and the skimmer , thus having 10ppm on a basic set up, was IMO reasonable
didnt want to do the upgrading to sump/ fuge combo in order to try a couple of SPS , but may do if this addiction does not subside

on my 4ft I have no skimmer, no sump, no fuge but only 3 fish hence the 20ppm nitrates which again in a FOWLR I felt was not an issue, but as its now going to be my refugee camp for softies that concede their territory to SPS I figured Id put purigen into that set up also

Low tech methods for me, my ATO is a 8 year old with a jug of RODI.

Steve

 

Ya, sounds reasonable to me.

 

Purigen is an awesome product. I've used it for years.

One thing that I would remind people of if they buy it is to keep the box it came in when using it. After regenerating it, if you use a chlorine remover to remove the bleach, if you use the wrong type, you will not only PERMANENTLY ruin the Purigen, it will actually put poison into your tank.