# why rely on bacteria to remove ammonia when there's purigen/zeolite?



## jarthel (Dec 8, 2009)

I have been reading about ammonia and how ammonia is bad to plants (due to algae) and fish. bacteria can break down ammonia to nitrate and then to nitrate (which is the safest) of the three.

But why wait when purigen or zeolite (much much cheaper then purigen) can remove/absorb the ammonia?


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## phan10ms (Sep 7, 2009)

Why spend money on that product when you can have it removed for free in a cycled in tank? Don't forget that a healthy plant can also consume some ammonia and nitrate as a source of nutrient.


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## jarthel (Dec 8, 2009)

phan10ms said:


> Why spend money on that product when you can have it removed for free in a cycled in tank? Don't forget that a healthy plant can also consume some ammonia and nitrate as a source of nutrient.


people buy filter media all the time. and as I said, zeolite is much much cheaper than purigen. I recently bought 2 pounds for around $3.50 and zeolite is reusable (just soak in salty water).

in regards to plants absorbing ammonia and nitrate, that is true. But you are already supply nitrate via dry salts or liquid solution.


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

I buy filter media one time and it'll last me until I decide not to have a tank anymore.
Does zeolite/purigen run out eventually? if so, how do you know when? does it remove any other nutrients plants might need?


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## jarthel (Dec 8, 2009)

mistergreen said:


> if so, how do you know when? does it remove any other nutrients plants might need?


with zeolite, you can leave it as is and bacteria will colonize it once it's "full" of ammonia.

I'm assuming you haven't searched the net for zeolite yet? zeolite is a mineral rock.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

True, Purigen and zeolite will help remove ammonia to a certain extent, but what happens if you forget to replace them? I'd rather have a short wait for the bacteria to colonize the filter than the constant fear of the zeolite peetering out and getting a big NH3 spike.

And plants nearly always prefer NH3 over NO3 when it comes to nitrogen. It's just that too much NH3 at one time can kill them, and NO3 isn't nearly as toxic to fish, so we use it as fertilizer.


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## phan10ms (Sep 7, 2009)

jarthel said:


> people buy filter media all the time. and as I said, zeolite is much much cheaper than purigen. I recently bought 2 pounds for around $3.50 and zeolite is reusable (just soak in salty water).
> 
> in regards to plants absorbing ammonia and nitrate, that is true. But you are already supply nitrate via dry salts or liquid solution.


I don't get where you're going with this. People buy filter media a lot less often then using this chemical to rid ammonia in their fish tank. Why would you want to remove ammonia from a tank that is trying to cycle and where plants could use the nitrate? As for as the long run goes, cycle a tank and be done with it. Also, ammonia is not a bad thing when the tank is "broken" in which means no harm to fish and no random algae issues.


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

An even zeolite doesn't last forever. After it absorbs all of those toxins, it'll just leach all of them back into the water column over time as it's absorbing power goes away


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## legomaniac89 (Mar 16, 2008)

Basically, by adding zeolite right at the beginning of a tank's life, all you're doing is delaying the N cycle. It's gonna happen in every tank, no matter what.

Sorry for the multiple post response


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## mistergreen (Dec 9, 2006)

jarthel said:


> with zeolite, you can leave it as is and bacteria will colonize it once it's "full" of ammonia.
> 
> I'm assuming you haven't searched the net for zeolite yet? zeolite is a mineral rock.


sorry, I was just being a smart @ss.

you can use whatever you like if you want to spend the money.


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## lauraleellbp (Feb 3, 2008)

Ammonia isn't "bad for planted tanks." Plants need a nitrogen source to grow, and ammonia is actually favored by some plants over nitrate as it takes less energy for them to metabolize. In an established planted tank, some plants will absorb the ammonia before N-bacteria even get a chance to convert it to nitrite or nitrate.

Ammonia is bad for *fish*, and any ammonia reading in an established tank means that there is a problem with the tank's water chemistry; the cycle has been disrupted/tank is overstocked/something is dead & decomposing/etc- _*something*_ isn't working the way it should be.

I also use Purigen in my tanks, and in the long run it's much cheaper than carbon/zeolite since it can be repeatedly recharged and reused. It's extremely easy to tell when Purigen needs to be recharged b/c it changes color. It's always just guesswork when to replace carbon/zeolite. Purigen will absorb organic ammonia, but will NOT absorb fertilizers- which in a planted tank is a big advantage over carbon/zeolite. IME Purigen also does a better job "polishing" water.

I agree that using any ammonia-absorbing media in a cycling tank is counter-productive.


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## crossbow (Nov 29, 2009)

But....when you're rescaping your aquarium, and all your fish are sitting in one bucket, and all your plants in another...putting some ammonia absorbers in the fish bucket could be helpful in lessening fish stress.


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## Erloas (Dec 14, 2009)

I think that would only make a difference if you take a long time to do a rescape of the aquarium. 
It takes a while for ammonia to build up. If you aren't feeding the fish in the bucket and it has been a while since you did feed them they don't have a lot of waste to secrete, then there should be a very minimal amount of ammonia added to the water.


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