# What size media bags for purigen?



## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

OK, I've decided to try out Purigen, so I bought the 1 litre and several of the Eheim media bags to spread it out in different tanks. 

The problem seems to be that the actual Purigen particles will pass through the eheim media bag. :icon_conf 

Would a 300 micron bag contain the purigen?


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

always ask here BEFORE you buy anything :icon_roll 

it's a shame you didn't buy the 100mg pillow 2-packs.
much more cost effective. but now that you are
stuck with their loose media, know that their bags
are 180 micron, which are very expensive to buy.
the smallest cheap bags are 250 micron, so 300
is definitely NOT going to keep their media in.
250 might if you don't shake it around too much,
(which makes it useless when you recharge them)
but 180 definitely will hold it in no matter what.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

spypet said:


> always ask here BEFORE you buy anything :icon_roll


Yea, sometimes I'm slow to learn. Should have been a no-brainer. extra Media get media bag. LOL
Thanks for the info. I'll be checking for 180 micron or smaller bags.


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## turbosaurus (Nov 19, 2005)

Hey Taz, Why are you using Purigen? Its going to filter out all of your fertilizers no? Your water will be pristine, but plants don't liek pristine water...


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

turbo, carbon removes water borne ferts.
the whole point of using Purigen is that it 
does NOT remove water micro borne ferts.
title search Purigen on PTF as there is like
a hundred threads already on this subject.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

turbosaurus said:


> Hey Taz, Why are you using Purigen? Its going to filter out all of your fertilizers no? Your water will be pristine, but plants don't like pristine water...


Exactly like spypet said. Seems there has been an insurgence of people using Purigen without ill effects. One of the other things is that it seems a certain overseas aquascaping "celebrity" advocates the use of carbon in his tanks. 

I'm going to give it a try in my upcoming 14 gallon cube, and see how it does. 

When I first went planted, I was amazed at how well my tanks looked without any carbon in my filters. I hope I am just as pleased with this move.


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## Anthony (Jan 11, 2005)

I've never had any negative effects to fertilization. Only an overnight change in water clarity. It works great.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I don't see why the 300 micron bags won't work. I use the 250 micron bags for bigalsonline.com and the wholes are a lot smaller than the purigen particles. They are not even close to being able to come out. To me the 250 micron bags seem a little too small. Purigen does remove ammonia but it also does some removal of nitrates. The amount of nitrates removed is not much.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

ianiwane said:


> I don't see why the 300 micron bags won't work. I use the 250 micron bags for bigalsonline.com and the wholes are a lot smaller than the purigen particles.


trust me, they won't. I have 300, 250 and 180 bags and there is a major difference between them, it's just not obvious to the naked eye. purigen are slippery tiny spheres of various sizes that will easily leak through a 300 micron bag, especially when it comes time to recharge it.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

I use the purigen in the 250 micron bags with no problem. Have you tried it before? There is no way it is comming out of the 250 micron bag. I have purigen in 2 of my filters.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

I wish I knew the size of the Eheim media bags. 

The bag hold the purigen, but as you mold\fold\manipulate it, some come out. 
I tried it in an empty (except for water of course) biocube, and started to notice lots of little white spheres traveling through my tank. 

It was actually kind of cool in the dark with the blue moonlight, very black light trippy ish. :icon_mrgr It settled to a little pile in the middle.

So I tried double bagging it, and after smooshing (please ignore the tech term) it around, more came out. If I had any filter floss, or substrate, I might not have noticed this.


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## spypet (Sep 15, 2006)

again, there is a major difference between 300 and 250.
250 has more overlapping netting material than a 300,
which of course may vary from one manufacturer to another.
I said 300 won't work, but 250 might work, as you proved.
if you double bag with 300's, the spheres will leak through
the first bag, then eventually make it through the second.

I had the same problem with PŪRA NitrateLock media.
some spheres leaked out of 300, but not out of 250.
somehow that thicker weave makes all the difference.


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## ianiwane (Sep 7, 2004)

300 microns is .3 of a mm. 250 microns is .25 of a mm. The purigen pieces may be slightly under 1mm (around .75mm).


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## eklikewhoa (Aug 29, 2006)

I bought the 100ml bags and they work great in my cichlid tanks. I'm with the others, the nitrate removal is min and i just have it for the polishing part.


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## tazcrash69 (Sep 27, 2005)

eklikewhoa said:


> I bought the 100ml bags and they work great in my cichlid tanks. I'm with the others, the nitrate removal is min and i just have it for the polishing part.


Where did you get 100 micron bags? Smallest I found was 180 by seachem, and they are pricey.


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## madpiano (Feb 10, 2003)

I bought the prepacked purgigen. But some of it is still leaking out of the bags and they also don't fit into my round filter baskets. Where do I get the lose powder from (in the UK) and bags for it ?


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## Naja002 (Oct 12, 2005)

> Smallest I found was 180 by seachem, and they are pricey.


"The Bags" are Pricey, but Seachem guarantees that they will withstand the Regen process. They are what I use in multiple tanks and I have no issues at all.

Seachem:



> A 300 micron bag will hold the Purigen as long as it does not stretch. You will want to use a bag with 300 micron or less. One option is our The Bag. It has 180 micron holes and is able to withstand the bleach used in the regeneration process.


Also, Purgin's affinity is for "Nitrogenous Waste" (Pre-Nitrate), so its impact on N03 is minimal:

Seachem-Posts 8 & 10



HTH


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## Dangermouse (Jan 21, 2005)

micron schmicron; use pantyhose - works a treat.


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