I'm very impressed with a product called Purigen by Seachem. It claims to be the Ultimate Filtration and I think it is.
As I mentioned and shown with a picture in a previous post, my 35 extra tall aquarium looked terrible with a surge in cloudiness after a large water change. The water looked like diluted milk. Look at picture on left. It almost instantly became very cloudy after the addition of fertilizer. Since the substrate had not been disturbed too much, and since the filter was clean, I didn't think the cloudiness had anything to do with turbulence caused by the water change. Secondly, algae is mi minimal. I wasn't too bent on the idea that an algae bloom was forming. It would have been much more gradual. The only thing that seemed plausible was an organic material of some kind. I suspected that when I added fertilizer, it may have reacted with the water in some way. Could the organic CO2 be the cause? Did it kill off a bunch of algae? Who knows. I decided against adding a water clarifier as those may cause gill problems in fish. Furthermore, they simply "clump" floating debris together to make it less buoyant so that it sinks out of water.
So I added about 2 ounces of Purigen to the Whisper filter pad. Look at the difference it made in two days! See picture on left. From my vantage point, the cloudiness is gone. The tank is equipped with a large hang-on Whisper filter. I even prefer these to cannister filters. I took a clean mini whisper pad and inserted the washed Purigen. Then I added that filter pad to a clean large Whisper filter pad, the kind that actually fits in the tank's filter. A few particles of Purigen escaped into the water as I pressed the pad into the filter, but that stopped. The Purigen stayed put inside the filter. There has always been a bit of cloudiness in this aquarium but not anymore. After two days with Purigen, this tank is sparkling! I'm completely sold.
There are other positive things to say about Purigen. According to the manufacturer, it won't affect trace elements significantly. It also controls Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates and raises redox (whatever that is). It is also re-usable when exhausted. Once the Purigen changes from beige to brown, it is removed from the filter and soaked for 4 hours in a buffer solution. It returns to its beige color and can be put back in use.
I monitored PH with a Pinpoint electronic PH monitor during the installation of this synthetic compound absorbent. The PH did not fluctuate. I will be doing all my regular water tests this morning and see if any other values are affected. I'm expecting Nitrate to be low but I hope things like chelated Iron are still present.
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