Can you O.D. your tank with Purigen?

[dakota9]

I'll be setting up my 30g soon, and thinking about ways to start cultivating more bacteria in the holding tank I have now.

Although not its primary funtion, Purigen, being of small particle size, seems like a great media to culture bacteria upon.

I have two small bags of the stuff (that way, I can keep one clean bag ready to go at all times) that each treats 100 gallons.

Would it be advantagous to culture bacteria on both bags in my holding tank, and later transfer to the new tank? To my understanding, Purigen, being a resin, is less a chemical and more an inert media.

Please feel free stop me at any time.

(I predict the definitive answer to this question will have JennM's name all over it, but please, any interested party sound off on your thoughts)

 

[theplantman]

I asked that question before putting it in my tank and responses came back no.

 

[dakota9]

Thanks Mike,

As i remember, it's just a resin that gunk adheres to readily, I think.....

At times like this, you wish you'd have kept the box an item came in, just to have the instructions....

 

[theplantman]

i believe if you google purigem, you can get the instructions off the manufacturers website.

 

[dakota9]

Yes, Seachem has a wonderful website.

I'll try there, but doubt they will address the use of two bags in a 30g cube. I'll see what I can gleam from the info provided.

Also, am I way off track as far as using it as a media to culture bacteria? Back in the day, I believe AquaClear made a media out of these tiny glass beads that were supposedly excellent for culturing bacteria. They stopped making it (I assume, due to the lack of availability). I thought Purigen might be a sub for such a product.

 

[theplantman]

I just read the remainder of your thread, I do not belive you will need to worry about culturing bacteria on the purigen bags. It will need to be recharged in a bleach solution before you can get any bacterial growth thats worth while.

Also, watch out, purigen is no substitute for water changes, especially in a heavily grown in tank. I added a purigen bag and have still had to increase my water changes from 5gal every 7-10 days to 10 gal every 7-10 days to keep my nitrates where i want them in my 34 solana.

 

[dakota9]

I'm going with a different substrate but will have some live rock. Hopefully, I wont spike a cycle during ste up