# how long does your purigen last before it gets exhausted



## brian3676

I know it will vary tank to tank, but how long does yours usually last. Mine turns pretty deep gold/brown after just 2-3 weeks. Seems pretty fast. I have about 450 ml total in the filter system in my 36 gallon tank, 1 bag of 250ml and 2 100ml pouches.


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## huhu89151734

Give them a rough rinse and they should be good. It is normal. I have my 250ml bag in my 40g for the past 2 years. It might need a recharge but my water still clean so I think I'm good for now.


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## jrill

About a month then its recharge time.


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## zerodameaon

5 days with new driftwood .


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## Culprit

Recharge every month if it needs it or not.
I have a 29g tank.


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## brian3676

Well, glad I am not the only one then. On Seachems forum, there rep usually seems to say it will last 3-6 months between regeneration. I ordered another thing of Puregin so that I can just toss the fresh one in, regen the old one and keep it until the one is exhausted, that way I can just keep them in rotation.


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## mattinmd

Rotation is exactly what I do. After I'm done regenerating my purigen I stick it in a sandwich bag, then re-rinse in dechlor water prior to swapping it in. I get about 4-6 weeks out of mine before it looks like coffee grounds.

I think the purigen might last 3-6 months in a low-stock very clean tank.. But in a tank with lots of plants and fish? Not so much.


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## Xiaozhuang

I use a pre-filter, dirt substrate, no wood, light fish load, with a fine grained pre-filter at the filter in-take; purigen lasts about 2 months +. Once I opened the filter at the 1 month mark, and the purigen was still very white. I think having a low bio-load may significantly affect how long it lasts


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## aaronbear

I've found that in a fully stocked heavily planted dirted tank my purigen lasts from 2-6 weeks depending on how new the substrate is and whether there is driftwood in the tank to release extra tannins. In a tank with an inert substrate and fert dosage I've found that purigen can last much longer, on the order of months as others have said.


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## brian3676

Yeah, I have a fully stocked, or even slightly over stocked tank, a fair amount of plants, and 2 pieces of 2 month old driftwood.


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## brian3676

It's insane how well this stuff works. Tank was getting slightly cloudy/tannins. Regenerated puregin, 12 hous later tank is crystal clear.


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## Notorious93

I'm using 250ml on my 12 gallon long running about 121gph when I measured flow. After 4 months its still tan and white with very few brown spots


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## Rainer

Six months for a 100 ml bag on a high tech, moderately populated 29g with old driftwood and eco-complete.


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## schnebbles

should I put this is my new tank?


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## brian3676

After re gen, do you guys let it dry out or keep it wet in a bag or something until its time to swap it out again?


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## COMediSun

brian3676 said:


> After re gen, do you guys let it dry out or keep it wet in a bag or something until its time to swap it out again?


Keep it moist.


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## mattinmd

+1. The directions state to keep it moist. I keep mine in a zip top bag.

edit: correction, it is not the directions, but their tech support folks that advise storing it moist.. allegedly the beads can crack if dried out.

www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=2541

Other threads with these same suggestions:

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=3597

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showthread.php?t=378


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## Rainer

Anyone have mold issues when keeping it in a Ziploc bag?


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## mattinmd

Not so far. However I have only done this a few times, as I haven't been using purigen long enough to have done it dozens of times. 

Regardless, assuming you regen it correctly there should be nothing for mold to feed on in there. A sealed container with water and plastic beads shouldn't grow mold.


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## Rainer

I rinsed it thoroughly before soaking it for a week in distilled water. There was still residue in the water when I removed it, probably from the Prime used in an earlier soak. It's organic, isn't it?


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## mattinmd

Rainer said:


> I rinsed it thoroughly before soaking it for a week in distilled water. There was still residue in the water when I removed it, probably from the Prime used in an earlier soak. It's organic, isn't it?


I'm not sure I understand the question exactly...

Are you asking if prime is organic, or if the residue is, or the purigen itself? 

And do you mean organic as in chemistry (ie: carbon containing)? or organic as in the lay term meaning "from something living"?

Prime itself isn't well described by Seachem for trade secret reasons... It might be organic in chemistry terms, but it almost certainly isn't organic in terms of coming something that was alive.

Regardless, I've never seen any evidence that Prime can act as a food source for fungi... There are plenty of organic compounds (chemistry sense) that are not suitable food for fungi (ie: most plastics).

The Purigen is a polymer, and thus is organic in the chemistry sense, but not the life-form sense... I've also not seen it support fungi.

The residue might be organics in both the chemistry and "from something living" sense, as it might be oxidized bits of fish waste products that were trapped by the purigen and burnt off by the bleach... I suppose if you don't regenerate/rinse well enough fungi could grow on that stuff.


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## Rainer

Thanks for the explanation. I understand Prime is associated with fish slime coats and it bears a certain olfactory similarity to other mucous products when used with purigen, so I was concerned it might act as a food source for mold.


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## mattinmd

The smell of prime is hydrogen sulfide, which is escaping because it contains hydrosulfite salts as a part of its dechlorinating.

As for the slime coat bit... Prime doesn't actually bind to or become a part of the slime coat...

"Prime® also promotes the production and regeneration of the natural slime coat. " 

From what I understand, the more technical explanation that Seachem tech provides is that Prime contains something that acts as a mild slime coat production stimulant. I doubt this stimulant is a food source.

Their Stress guard product, on the other hand, works differently and does have colloids that bind to the slime coat. It *might* be a food source, but the product also contains an antiseptic..

Bear in mind, neither product molds in its own bottle.

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showpost.php?p=969&postcount=8

http://www.seachem.com/support/forums/showpost.php?p=15670&postcount=3


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## Rainer

Thanks for all the information, Matt. It's appreciated.

Next time you regenerate and add the heavy dose of Prime just after removing the bleach, leave it overnight and take a sniff the next day to see what I meant about olfactory similarity to other mucous products.


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