SeaChem Prime

[shardakar]

This stuff is crazy fantastic, I did some basic tests wit nitrates and this thing will actually bind to nitrate. Which most other chlorine and ammonia removers won't do.

Basically I had a tank that I tested for nitrates with redsea nitrate test. It was at least 160ppm nitrates or higher.
I dosed as according to the instructions and tested the water again 5 minutes later.
The nitrate reading was zero.

As far as I can tell it is some sort of sulfur compound that works in a similar fashion to sodium thiosulfate.

Does anyone know what's the exact compound they are using or if its possible that I send it off to a lab to get it tested? Would it be difficult for a lab to analyse it?
Alternatively are there compounds that will bind to nitrates in a similar fashion?

Thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

So lets back up.

Nitrate has very low toxicity in seawater. Assuming you reacted it with something, you will will produce a new compound. Unless you know what that compound is and have seen extensive testing on it, I would not assume the new compound is more desirable than nitrate. Seachem does not state exactly what is formed and may not exactly know as the chemistry involved (if there is any) is not a standard reaction you can look up in a book. The Prime does not remove nitrate from the system.

Seachem Prime is a very old product that has dithionite (S2O4) as the active ingredient. It breaks down over time in water, so the bottle may have multiple related sulfur containing species in it, and it is not clear which of these is impacting nitrate (if any).

It is known that dithionite will reduce nitrate to nitrite, but ONLY in the presence of trivalent chromium (Cr+++). Neither agent alone can accomplish that reduction.

Seachem Prime is also known to interfere with certain types of test kits, such as ammonia kits. I am not fully convinced that one of the components in Prime is not simply interfering with the nitrate testing by reducing or reacting with some of the species involved.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

FWIW, Boomer reports here that a similar product (Amquel +) that claims to reduce nitrate is just interfering with testing, but I've not seen the actual experiment he is referring to

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10159135&postcount=8

from it:

"I do not think that Prime or Amquel + does anything for nitrites or nitrates, as claimed and just masks the test kit, hiding the real value. Tests have been done on Amquel +, where tests kits show no nitrite or nitrate but ISP shows them is still there. Any of these companies are going to have to show me a reaction that takes place that neutralize either of them"