Nitrites high..
- Thread starter cchase85
- Start date
I stated earlier that wouldn’t post on this thread anymore. But I feel obligated to explain to those aquarists that are just getting into the hobby.
Ammonia (NH3) is a by product of decay and fish waste. In an established aquarium, NH3 is oxidized to NO2 by Nitrosomonas bacteria. This is again oxidized to NO3 by Nitrobacter. Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are collectively called beneficial or nitrifying bacteria.
The debate here is whether SeaChem Prime or any other product on the market can convert Nitrites (NO3) into another form. The article that Yahoo Fishkeeper linked is utterly ridiculous. It more of a product endorsement that scientific article explaining the process.
There isn’t a product on the market that can convert NO3 into another form that is harmless to fish, under aquarium condition. This doesn’t mean that it cannot be done … read the research done by PubMed Central Biomedical Journal. But the conditions needed doesn’t exist in your average aquarium and resulting elements can easily kill any fish.
When I stated that, I was being sarcastic. I did not any way state that Prime contain some kind of magical formula that can convert NO3 to another form. The author of article hinted at the possibility of bonding H atom to NO3 form NH3 or NH4. This kind of reactions are called synthesis and endothermic. Thus require a large heat source for the molecular bonding to take place … where do you suppose this energy is derived from in your aquarium …. certainly not from your heater.
Prime, as stated by SeaChem, is able to convert NH3 to ammonium (NH4) (process of ionization H-) which is less harmful to fish. It can also convert NO2 to NO3 since many of these products contain Nitrobacter. But Prime nor any other product (except for BioSpira) is unable to convert NH3 to NO2 due to lack of Nitrosomonas bacteria in large quantities.
SeaChem prime is a great product if you intend to use it detoxify ammonia or convert NO2 to NO3 (also adding Nitrobacter to your bacteria colony). But the product is unable to (repeat cannot) convert or detoxify NO3 to another less harmful form. For that you must do water changes, or built/buy coil denitrator. Even coil denitrator will never completely eliminate the need for WC since even the denitrator is unable to convert all of the nitrates to N2 gas.
Rohn
Ammonia (NH3) is a by product of decay and fish waste. In an established aquarium, NH3 is oxidized to NO2 by Nitrosomonas bacteria. This is again oxidized to NO3 by Nitrobacter. Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter are collectively called beneficial or nitrifying bacteria.
The debate here is whether SeaChem Prime or any other product on the market can convert Nitrites (NO3) into another form. The article that Yahoo Fishkeeper linked is utterly ridiculous. It more of a product endorsement that scientific article explaining the process.
There isn’t a product on the market that can convert NO3 into another form that is harmless to fish, under aquarium condition. This doesn’t mean that it cannot be done … read the research done by PubMed Central Biomedical Journal. But the conditions needed doesn’t exist in your average aquarium and resulting elements can easily kill any fish.
When I stated that, I was being sarcastic. I did not any way state that Prime contain some kind of magical formula that can convert NO3 to another form. The author of article hinted at the possibility of bonding H atom to NO3 form NH3 or NH4. This kind of reactions are called synthesis and endothermic. Thus require a large heat source for the molecular bonding to take place … where do you suppose this energy is derived from in your aquarium …. certainly not from your heater.
Prime, as stated by SeaChem, is able to convert NH3 to ammonium (NH4) (process of ionization H-) which is less harmful to fish. It can also convert NO2 to NO3 since many of these products contain Nitrobacter. But Prime nor any other product (except for BioSpira) is unable to convert NH3 to NO2 due to lack of Nitrosomonas bacteria in large quantities.
SeaChem prime is a great product if you intend to use it detoxify ammonia or convert NO2 to NO3 (also adding Nitrobacter to your bacteria colony). But the product is unable to (repeat cannot) convert or detoxify NO3 to another less harmful form. For that you must do water changes, or built/buy coil denitrator. Even coil denitrator will never completely eliminate the need for WC since even the denitrator is unable to convert all of the nitrates to N2 gas.
Rohn
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