Has anyone ever used Chemi-Pure for their aquarium?
I was recommended by my local aquatic retailer to try using Chemi-Pure (5oz half unit as my tank is only 20 gallons) because I have been having problems with my water being cloudy and my Ph constantly dropping. I followed all directions given including "rinsing the bag lightly before putting in the filter" and now my water is a charcoal color! My fish seem to be doing alright but is this normal? Will it clear up quickly? I have baby mollies in there and I’m concerned for them now. Please help!
phew! ok good. Thank you. I have never seen it get like that before. I guess I will rinse it a little better next time lol.
Yeah I probably should have explained this issue I’m having a little better. I have had a literally perfect tank for about a year. I do regular water changes and check my levels frequently.I bought 2 mollies about 3 weeks ago and one of them unfortunately was pregnant.(did not want babies as they are so delicate) It seems like ever since then, my water quality has deteriorated. I can’t see it being overpopulated as most of my fish have died. I have never had a spike like this, I have been using PH up for the dropping issues. Currently all I have in the tank are 1 mollie, and 1 small neon danio, and the mollie babies. I am only seeing 5 of them.As far as the product I used, it was actually very inexpensive and I do trust the store I go to as they have tutored me over the past 2 years on my aquarium. They sell nothing but aquarium items. I don;t ever trust anyone at lets say Petco or any of those other chain type pet stores. the staffs are unhelpful and unknowledgable.
Oh and I bought a new canister filter today. the tank I have is a 20 gallon and this one filtrates up to 40 gallons.
Tagged with: aquarium • aquatic retailer • babies • baby mollies • canister filter • charcoal • charcoal color • danio • doing alright • google • mollie • neon • pet stores • petco • script type • spike • staffs • text javascript • water changes • water quality
Filed under: Water Filter System
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First …. anything that removes what this says it removes is not good for the actual bacteria doing the bio-filtration.It’s a "crutch" for other things that should concern you.Like WHY the water was cloudy in the first place,and WHY was the pH dropping. Sort of like putting a band-aide on a broken leg.
"Cloudy" is bacterial blooms,pH drops could be anything from decor choices to water quality issues.
All in all,my guess would be under-filtration,possibly too small percentage water changes.
Carbon dust? … if it’s carbon,why not just buy carbon. There is a reason you rinse carbon dust out before putting carbon in … the effect is similar to smoke inhalation with people.It’ll clear up when removed … and recovery should be fine.
Reading all the "promises" made by this product looked impressive … but wasn’t anything that proper filtration and maintenance don’t do anyway."Fish live 3-5 times longer!"…. OK,fish live as long as their natural lifespan,that’s it… the shorter lifespan that they are multiplying is brought on by bad water quality and care to begin with. They are just "band-aiding" poor maintenance habits.
Not saying you have any of those flaws (bad maintenance,poor husbandry) …. just saying you should look at the "big picture" and figure out what caused the initial problems .Has to be something fixable … everybody else isn’t using Chemi-Pure.
…. but I bet your "local aquatic retailer" wishes they were.
Do water tests …ammonia/nitrite 0 and nitrates <10 ,that’s what you want.
EDIT: Here is what is happening…
ammonia gets tied up as ammonium in acidic water (more acidic,more gets tied up) .Ammonium is less toxic to fish but not as readily available to the filters as pure ammonia … until converted by ANOTHER bacteria (your possible bloom). Now chemistry comes in …. anytime you shift acidic water binding ammonium to more alkaline water (PH -up ?) it almost instantaneously liberates all the ammonium as free ammonia. That’s really not good.
Depending on how far the pH is dropping ,I’d not worry with adjusting it up …. I’d look at the tap water to see if pH has changed there.Run some,dechlorinate,test in 2 hours,then again in 2 more (go up to 8 hours later,then check the next day).It’s possible they maybe using a softening compound that out-gases.If nothing there,any new decor?Plants
I think if you let the filtration play out it will balance the pH problem.
As a last question (food for thought) …. you did check the expiration date on your test kits (especially pH)?
There’s activated carbon inside the bag. Carbon is dusty and you need to rinse it off really well before you put it in your filter. Don’t worry, it’s okay that you didn’t get all the dust first. Your fish will be fine and the water will clear up soon.