Ammonia, Nitrite Detoxifyers (sp?)

[Vipex23]

Has anyone used any of those ammonia or nitrite detoxifyers (sp?) that are sold at the LFS? Do they work? Are they recommended? According to the nitrite detoxifyer (sp?) box, it says that it makes nitrite harmless. What do you think?

 

[Somonas]

I think we should wait for our tank to cycle naturally and you won't need to spend money on detoxifyers. Unless your fish are really stressed out during the cycle, then by all means. but in this case we probably didn't cycle our tank correctly.

the nitrAte detoxifyers (denitrator coils), are interesting...

 

[RedTurquoise]

Seachem Prime, Laguna Pond Treatment are the two that I have used! They work well to detoxifiy ammonia and nitrites.

What happens it that is binds the ammonia or nitrite so that it is harmless to the fish until it will still be 'processed' by the biofilter.

 

[Leopardess]

i've used Nitra-Zorb which removes ammonia/nitrite/nitrate before (at my fiance's parents house on their fish) and it works great. Its rechargeable too, which is nice. Granted, its better not to have ammonia/nitrite/nitrate in elevated amounts, but when things get out of hand, it helps to have something to combat the problem. I haven't done it, and I don't know if it is a good idea or not, but this stuff says it lasts 3-6 months and that you can leave it in the tank all the time, to help act as a "buffer" for any spikes that may occur, for various reasons.

 

[Somonas]

I don't actually think high nitrate is a big problem really, as long as it's not too high (over 30-40) some people actually have tapwater with really high nitrate over 30-40. then they would need denitrators I would imagine.

 

[Leopardess]

no its not that bad, but this stuff just gets rid of everything...its all i could find.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Its recommended actually to use a detoxifier like Seachem Prime as opposed to a absorber because by detoxifing it, the bio filter will still process it and grow. If absorbed, the biofilter does do anything and if its a cycling use, the biofilter must grow to acommadate the increase bio load.