Water Chemistry

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 1, 2023

This is the thread with the evidence that Prime does not detoxify ammonia.

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

This started when @Dan_P was looking at measuring NH3 with seneye and was curious about performance near zero NH3. I suggested trying Prime to artificially zero out the NH3 sensor, and the results were weird... so I checked with my seachem kit. Prime by Seachem is commonly used to treat tap...

www.reef2reef.com

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Oct 1, 2023

GiannisK said:
As far as I know, prime works by protonating ammonia to ammonium,

No. It. Does. Not!

GiannisK · Oct 1, 2023

Ok, sheesh. I don’t think I insulted anyone and I’m not trying to argue. I said as far as I know, guess I was wrong. Seems a bit rude to mock me for earnestly asking questions and trying to learn more.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Oct 1, 2023

we don’t intend to mock.

Unfortunately, it’s a sad reality that there are many products by big name companies that simply do not do what they claim, and some of them even claim chemically impossible things because that is what buyers want.

Back to your original issue, a dechlorinator may work ok because most of the problems with tsp water impact corals but not fish. Keeping ammonia low by not doing big water changes may preclude any ammonia issues.

Silicate and diatoms is the other possibility using meta water.