Has anyone ever used Chemi-Pure for their aquarium?
Monday, November 9th, 2009 at
8:55 am
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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.