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Chemical filtration experiment

So after quite a long time as an opponent to chemical filtration and an abundance of threads filled with opinions and questions about products such as purigen and chemipure, I've decided test these for myself. Problem is that this a very very busy season for me and with 10-15 hour work days keeping up with my obsessive and compulsive maintenance schedule is very hard. I have never in many years used these products. They were never really necessary, occasionally I would use carbon but only when I needed to remove meds or chemicals but never long term. Today I bit the bullet and bought the biggest jug of chemipure and 500ml of purigen. I did a 30% wc, cleaned the fx5 and packed the magnum 350 full of these new products. Normally between the 5-7 days I do wc the nitrates creep up to between 60-70. I'm hoping to get even an extra 2-3 days after adding these products. I'm not getting my hopes up but if nothing else I will be able to share some real numbers and experience next time this debate pops up. I will test every night and post the results for anyone interested.

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jonclark96

Past CCA President
I'd be interested in your results. I've never been a proponent of chemical filtration, but would like to see some real life data.
 

frankoq

Members
subscribed.

I decided to try Matrix but that will take a long while before I see results... if any.
 

ezrk

Members
We tried Purigen for a while in our cannisters, it was certainly absorbing something (and is easy to clean with bleach) but it never seemed to absorb enough to really make a difference.

There are three avenues for reducing Nitrate that seem to me to have some vague, though likely long-term, promise in freshwater tanks. Aside from having enough plants to just eat it all, which will take a lot of plants. We had a thriving patch of water wysteria growing in our sumps, probably an 8"x20" area, but that wasn't enough...

- Sulfur de-nitrators
- Fresh water protein skimming, which is possible it is done in the Koi world, but is expensive, big, and noisy so it is limited to ponds...(http://www.koiacres.com/koi-acres-products/clarity.html)
- Bacteria/algae growth medium and or algae scrubbers. Dr tim's and others have carbon "pearls" to act as growth media and algae scrubbers can work as well. These are by and large still niche products and also noisy, large, and somewhat fussy...
 

Becca

Members
I've been keeping a square of polyfil in my betta bowl at work just for "insurance." I don't know if it does much, but it's something.

Even though I swap out a couple of cups of water daily, it has turned light brown over the past month or so. Stanley seems happy and healthy and my water is very clear - no algae on the glass either. I never had clarity problems before using it, but I did have to scrub algae every few weeks.
 

neut

Members
Except for a few month experiment with Chemi-Pure, I've done without chemical filtration for 10+ years (good bit longer in some tanks) and haven't seen it make a difference to my tanks or fish. Nothing against chemical media, imo it has its place and maybe more benefits to some than others (depending on your water source or other variables.) but I've done just as well without it.

IMO filtration is one of those things you can do a lot of different ways and get good results and it's a matter of perfecting your own routine and setup.
 
Day one-
Nitrate identicle to day zero. Either product did nothing or product was successful at keeping levels the same.

Before I added this stuff I was convinced my water couldn't get any clearer didn't even take a pic I was so convinced. I was wrong my water is more clear and tank appears much brighter.

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Water is sparkling clear nitrates have been stable. This says a lot though after my wc nitrates are usually around 20 by day 7 they are between 60-100. Right now they are stable at about 40. Added another product called algone that claims to absorb nitrate last night so I'm curious what tonites result will be.

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