# Can PRIME stall or slow cycle



## [email protected] (Dec 2, 2015)

Can seachem PRIME slow down cycle or stall it?

Can API test kit give false reading after dosing prime


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## Maryland Guppy (Dec 6, 2014)

[email protected] said:


> Can API test kit give false reading after dosing prime


Yes sort of, which API test?

When I do a water change in a cycled tank the break down of chloramines from Prime can provide a .25ppm of ammonia reading.
But this is not really a false reading.


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## [email protected] (Dec 2, 2015)

Ammonia test kit I believe prime has stalled my cycle I have 0.5-1ppm ammonia for over a month now but I always used prime for every water change from the start and top off , and I believe I added more then it says


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## mgeorges (Feb 1, 2017)

[email protected] said:


> Ammonia test kit I believe prime has stalled my cycle I have 0.5-1ppm ammonia for over a month now but I always used prime for every water change from the start and top off , and I believe I added more then it says


Adding excessive amounts of Prime could affect your cycle because it will bind up oxygen after it runs out of ammonia and chlorine to bind. I killed 12 fish last weekend overdosing prime sadly. Did a water change at end of day, checked on tank 8 hours later, dead tank. Drop checker was a yellow I've never seen before. Point being, beneficial bacteria need oxygen to reproduce and thrive. A pH above 7 is also very beneficial. I struggled to get a tank cycled here recently, bumped the temp up to 79, ran an air stone 24/7, and the cycle pretty well wrapped up within a couple weeks. Prime, if used per instructions, should not have any negative affect on your cycle.


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## AbbeysDad (Apr 13, 2016)

Chloramine is chlorine and ammonia. Prime will convert the ammonia to ammonium which is non toxic, but will register as ammonia in test results. As far as I know to be true, Prime should not negatively affect the cycle process.


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