# Prime



## Ian Holdich (1 Oct 2010)

just a querry really...Seachem Prime, as many of you know it claims to detoxify nitrates. I'm using it as a main dechlor for my main tank, with water changes 2 x a week (20%). Is using it gonna be detrimental when dosing NO3?? 

sorry if it's been asked before.

Ian


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## Luketendo (1 Oct 2010)

ianho said:
			
		

> just a querry really...Seachem Prime, as many of you know it claims to detoxify nitrates. I'm using it as a main dechlor for my main tank, with water changes 2 x a week (20%). Is using it gonna be detrimental when dosing NO3??
> 
> sorry if it's been asked before.
> 
> Ian



I wouldn't have thought so, because I'd be surprised if not that many people on here used it.


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## dw1305 (2 Oct 2010)

Hi all,
It is difficult to know quite what "Prime" does, as Seachem won't tell you what is in it. It is likely that any nitrate (NO3) that is bound, will eventually become available. Planted aquariums have much more ability to process ammonia (via enhanced biological filtration) than non-planted ones.

 If I was doing a 20% water change I wouldn't use a de-chlorinator at all, particularly if your water supply is sterilised with chlorine rather than chloramine? Sodium thiosulphate is the compound that outgasses the chlorine, and will be in all de-chlorinators.  We do know what is in "Amquel" as it has a patent.


> It is a known ammonia binder patented for aquarium use by John F. Kuhns and sold as Amquel by Kordon and ClorAm-X by Reed Mariculture, among others.
> 
> Ammonia's reaction with hydroxymethanesulfonate is mechanistically complicated, possibly involving decomposition to formaldehyde and reformation to the product aminomethanesulfonate (shown below).16 The simplified overall reaction is believed to be:
> 
> ...





> Seachem won't tell you how it works other than it "contains hydrosulfite" (could be either HSO2- or - O2S-SO2-) and "bisulfite" (HSO3-) it is not obvious whether these ingredients actually react with ammonia, or whether some other unnamed ingredients perform that function. Best guess would be that the reaction product is H2NCH2SO3Na, an aminomethanesulfonate salt.


cheers Darrel


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## Ian Holdich (2 Oct 2010)

thanks for that Darrel, i'm from lincoln and anglian water do OD the water with chlorine rather than chloramine (i think). I'm using it on my main tank and shrimp tank as there is some sensitive shrimp in the 15l tank. thanks for you time again.


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## dw1305 (2 Oct 2010)

Hi all,
I'm lucky in that I live in a rural area where it rains a lot so I use rain-water and don't use a de-chlorinator. From looking at other forums, it definitely looks like "Prime" is the de-chlorinator of choice for most experienced fish keepers. 

cheers Darrel


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