# Prime



## Trademark (Dec 31, 2016)

I've been using prime for a couple of years now. It's expensive. Is it really that much better than a product like DeChlor?


----------



## Trademark (Dec 31, 2016)

Never mind just realized the same size DeChlor is just as expensive.


----------



## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Trademark said:


> I've been using prime for a couple of years now. It's expensive. Is it really that much better than a product like DeChlor?


Use Safe. It's the powdered form of Prime and is way cheaper. Also buy it in the largest size bottle that you can. I always bought Prime in 4L jugs.


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

Yes, Safe is much cheaper. But it's only worth it if you have many tanks or large tanks, I think.


----------



## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

> Use Safe. It's the powdered form of Prime and is way cheaper. Also buy it in the largest size bottle that you can. I always bought Prime in 4L jugs.


+1 Seachem Safe. I get the 4kg bucket and it just lasts forever.


----------



## morrismorris (Mar 21, 2017)

noddy said:


> Trademark said:
> 
> 
> > I've been using prime for a couple of years now. It's expensive. Is it really that much better than a product like DeChlor?
> ...


I feel like I read somewhere that while Safe is more economical/cheaper, the one upside to Prime is that it promotes the slime coat on the fish, where Safe does not.

Do you know if this is true? If so, is the promotion of the slime coat that big of a deal?

As of right now, this is the only reason why I use Prime over Safe but always meant to ask this question.


----------



## fish_gazer (Nov 9, 2017)

I saw a tub of Safe and it is just impractical for me to buy that with a single 125 gallon aquarium. A 500 ml bottle of Prime cost 13 bucks and lasts me a year. I am not sure how I could ever beat that or if it would be even worth it to try to.


----------



## Methodical2 (Feb 11, 2019)

Is the powdered form more concentrated than liquid Prime? What is the shelf life? Seacham's doesn't provide the shelf life on it's website, so I assume it's printed on the packaging. Can someone check their jug to see the expiration date compared to the manufactured date?

Thanks...


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

Safe is far more concentrated than Prime and costs about 1/10th as much per volume of water dechlorinated.There is no expiration date on the bottle I most recently purchased. I assume that if you keep it dry it won't lose effectiveness.


----------



## Bobsled (Jan 28, 2019)

I used Safe for the first time on Friday. Why does it smell so bad? It smelled like rotting eggs. I made the mistake of removing the "safety seal/foil" in the house,


----------



## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

Bobsled said:


> I used Safe for the first time on Friday. Why does it smell so bad? It smelled like rotting eggs. I made the mistake of removing the "safety seal/foil" in the house,


Perfectly normal, it's sulfur based.

My bottle of Prime smells the same way.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


----------



## Bobsled (Jan 28, 2019)

^ Good to know. Thanks!


----------



## Methodical2 (Feb 11, 2019)

Bd79 said:


> Safe is far more concentrated than Prime and costs about 1/10th as much per volume of water dechlorinated.There is no expiration date on the bottle I most recently purchased. I assume that if you keep it dry it won't lose effectiveness.


Thanks. I may give it a shot the next time I need some.

Do you add it directly into the tank or premix with water, say for instance, in the canister filter when you fill it up?


----------



## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

Methodical2 said:


> Bd79 said:
> 
> 
> > Safe is far more concentrated than Prime and costs about 1/10th as much per volume of water dechlorinated.There is no expiration date on the bottle I most recently purchased. I assume that if you keep it dry it won't lose effectiveness.
> ...


I usually add it directly, except for small tanks (less than 20 gallons), where dosing small amounts is tricky. For those tanks, I mix in a plastic jar of water and divide the water among the small tanks.


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

ken31cay said:


> I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.


Interesting. Why would there be ammonia in the old water?


----------



## Sub-Mariner (Dec 7, 2011)

Bd79 said:


> ken31cay said:
> 
> 
> > I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
> ...


There is always ammonia, that's what fish expel and rotted food etc. create but the nitrogen cycle consumes it.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk


----------



## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

Bd79 said:


> ken31cay said:
> 
> 
> > I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.
> ...


I find that Safe/Prime also comes in handy in the case where you need to hold you fish in a temporary container for a few hours, like say you're moving your tank to a different spot. Put in a nice dose and you don't have to worry about ammonia building up during that time.


----------



## Bobsled (Jan 28, 2019)

ken31cay said:


> I premix Safe in water then add that directly in tank before I start to fill. When you use Safe (or Prime) make sure and use enough for the entire tank volume not just for the amount of water you are putting back in, since it will also bind to ammonia in the old water and be used up.


I use this technique as well.

All good information here. :thumb:


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

Sub-Mariner said:


> Bd79 said:
> 
> 
> > ken31cay said:
> ...


Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.


----------



## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

> Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.


But assuming you turn your filter off during the water change process then you would have ammonia building up as the fish will continue to excrete it. Since the majority of that nitrogen cycle occurs when the water passes through your filter.


----------



## Bd79 (Apr 11, 2011)

At the risk of belaboring the point, yes, but how long does it take to change water and how much ammonia is created during that window?


----------



## Methodical2 (Feb 11, 2019)

Sounds like a future test for someone.


----------



## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

ken31cay said:


> > Right. But if the ammonia is consumed by microbes in the nitrogen cycle, there isn't much there for the Safe to interact with.
> 
> 
> But assuming you turn your filter off during the water change process then you would have ammonia building up as the fish will continue to excrete it. *Since the majority of that nitrogen cycle occurs when the water passes through your filter*.


I could see this if one is running a bare bottom tank. Other than that...not a very true statement as far as I am concerned.

But....... If there is a fair amount of substrate in the tank, the nitrogen cycle should still be complete inside the tank. We only use our filters for mechanical filtration. When cleaning, I blast everything clean with a water hose and have had no problems for many years.

To the point of the original post. We've been using safe for a few years now with no problems. I add it straight to the tank during water changes, from 10 gal. tanks to 150 gal. tanks.


----------



## ken31cay (Oct 9, 2018)

Bd79 said:


> At the risk of belaboring the point, yes, but how long does it take to change water and how much ammonia is created during that window?


I can't answer both questions. But doing my normal 70% water change maintenance in my 450gal takes 2.5 hours, sometimes longer depending on level of cleaning I do. I suppose with a smaller tank you might get away with only using the dose of Safe/Prime for the water you are replacing but it won't hurt to dose the entire tank volume. That is the recommendation strait from Seachem's dosage instructions. I wouldn't risk it personally.


----------

