Purigen -vs- Carbon

[masonicman]

Any taker who can tell me which is better to use.

[Gwynhidwy]

I think it depends on what you are looking to remove from your water. As far as I know Purigen primarily scavenges nitrogenous organics. Carbon is much less selective.

[Aquabucket]

If you want you can use both Matrix carbon and the Purigen. I believe carbon does a better job at removing metals than the Purigen. Maybe Randy in the chem forum can tell you more.

[Michael]

carbon is hard to beat, its donkeys years old in this and freshwater aquaria and still gets the thumbs up from most of us

[WLachnit]

So, Purigen can help with keeping Nitrates down, at least indirectly?

[Marklu]

I run carbon constantly, but i think purigen definitely has it's place as well. I remember the first time i used it was in my freshwater days. My trates where probably 80-100 and one bag of purigen brought them down to 20, which is darn good for freshwater. It also made the water extremely clear. I run carbon because its cheaper and i know it will get out toxins and metals. If someone could tell me that purigen also effectively removes these things, then i would use it instead of carbon because its life span and cost effectiveness would be hard to beat. It think 100ml is supposed to treat 100 gallons for 6 months.

[Michael]

Originally posted by Marklu
I run carbon constantly, but i think purigen definitely has it's place as well. I remember the first time i used it was in my freshwater days. My trates where probably 80-100 and one bag of purigen brought them down to 20, which is darn good for freshwater. It also made the water extremely clear. I run carbon because its cheaper and i know it will get out toxins and metals. If someone could tell me that purigen also effectively removes these things, then i would use it instead of carbon because its life span and cost effectiveness would be hard to beat. It think 100ml is supposed to treat 100 gallons for 6 months.

for 6 months? are you sure

[Marklu]

Originally posted by Michael
for 6 months? are you sure

Just quoting the manufacturers website on that one. Never actually used it for 6 months.

[Gwynhidwy]

I think it is "for UP TO six months". Best way to know when the media needs to be changed is to check the color and look for the darkening/browning/yellowing that tells you the media is exhausted. How long it lasts is really dependent on what and how much the Purigen is removing from your water.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...s/Purigen.html

[Marklu]

Well yeah, that makes sense. But i think the real question that needs to be answered is if purigen removes the toxins, heavy metals, etc. that carbon does.

[Gwynhidwy]

You might try posting in the Seachem vendor forum here about that. They should be able to tell you better than anyone else.

[trippkid]

It is the only thing I use for chemical filtration, Purigen that is. Don't know if it takes out metals or all the other stuff you really can't test for. It does a better job and last longer than carbon and doesn't leach back into the system like carbon can, IMO. It is more expensive, but you are supposed to be able to regenerate it( I have only tried this once and was more of a hassle than spending the 12 bucks for a new can(250ml, 2.5 uses for upto 6months ea. on a 100 gal system)), I think you'd be spending more on carbon changing it out every couple of weeks, JMO.
My water is clear, no problems with nitrates(knock wood, and I am not saying that the Purigen is the sole reason, it may help, I can't say for sure, contact Seachem and see what kind of technical data they can give on what it actually removes.
Matt

[masonicman]

I posted this question in the Reef chemistry forum, so maybe Randy Holmes-Farley could shine a little light on this subject.

[Marklu]

Originally posted by masonicman
I posted this question in the Reef chemistry forum, so maybe Randy Holmes-Farley could shine a little light on this subject.

Let us know

[Michael]

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1497206

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I do not believe it is publicly known exactly what the Purigen polymer is. But many of these act in similar ways. These sorts of polymers will bind organic materials, and may bind a slightly different subset of the organics in reef aquarium water than will GAC, so I'd say that to some extent they can be complimentary and using both is a fine plan.

I use GAC for my system, but cannot demonstrate that it is better than Purigen in reef aquarium water.

[JMBoehling]

Not sure what is in Purigen, but it really makes my SPS happy. I have tried many different GAC's (ROX, Black Diamond, etc.) but all seem to cause issues with my SPS (STN). I use 4 Tablespoons of Purigen with 4 Tablespoons of GFO in my Fluidized fliter with VERY little flow. I change mine out every 3 weeks.

A side note, I am not using Purigen to reduce Nitrates, as they have been around 0 for over 4 years (Chaeto takes care of those). I will never use GAC on my reef again.

Jim

[WLachnit]

Purigen is such a fine particulate. How do you keep it in the reactor?

[ErikAnderson]

I run both.
my sump has a microfilter and then carbon sheets that i throw in when my test log starts showing a upward trend, the microfilter stays in all the time.

I have been running purigen for the last 5 years and just a few months ago discovered that you could buy it in jars and add it to filter socks as you see fit. Such a better deal, as i often found i would break the bags of purigen when i was recharging them, the seams seemed to be heat welded and would often pop.

Now i just keep a filter sock filled with the stuff in the bottom of my sump at all times, water flows in and around it but it is not in a forced flow area (like if you were to put it in a canister). It still discolors over time and needs to be recharged, so i guess its doing its job (not to mention my water parameters are good to go).

[masonicman]

I never recharged my purigen. How dow you do it. I heard bleach. I'm just a little cautious with using bleach if that is part of the process to recharge it.

[ErikAnderson]

Originally posted by masonicman
I never recharged my purigen. How dow you do it. I heard bleach. I'm just a little cautious with using bleach if that is part of the process to recharge it.

I have done it about 20 times atleast.
Still i have to read the instructions, pretty much though, once the purigen is dirty looking (i think of it like nasty teeth, you know yellow and funky) you pull it, throw it in a bleach/water solution until it cleans back up to white.

Then you rinse it off and let it sit in a prime heavy water solution for 24 hours, i guess this pulls out the bleach (i honestly have no idea), i then rinse off again and chuck it back in to the water.

There are more exact directions on the box, but that is the basic how to.

The problem with the little heat welded packets again is that they crap out after a few uses and split. I am a much bigger fan of putting the loose stuff in a water sock and letting it go.

[masonicman]

I'll give it a try. I always just said...... just use new stuff and I can't go wrong. But purigen it pretty expensive, so I need to try this.

[JMBoehling]

Originally posted by WLachnit
Purigen is such a fine particulate. How do you keep it in the reactor?

I've got it trickling (Maybe 10 gallons an hour) thru the reactor. I put the GFO in first then the Purigen on top. It dances on top off the GFO.

The big thing to watch is if any bubbles are in the line when you start up, it will cause a snow globe in your reactor ande some can escape. It probably wouldn;t be a bad idea to put a filter sock on the output line just to catch any that escapes.

[ErikAnderson]

Originally posted by masonicman
I'll give it a try. I always just said...... just use new stuff and I can't go wrong. But purigen it pretty expensive, so I need to try this.

Just follow the directions and you will be golden. Make sure you have prime and bleach. Post back with your results please.

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Not sure what is in Purigen, but it really makes my SPS happy. ?

Aside from not suffering the problems you attribute to the GAC, what positive impact on the SPS are you attributing to the Purigen?