I don't think you understood it correctly. Yes, you can use up to 5x the recommended dose in an emergency. But it does not detoxify levels that insanely high (5ppm)
The exact words in the Q&A on their website says:
"If your ammonia or nitrite levels are above 2 ppm, you can safely use up to 5 x the recommended amount."
Nowhere does in indicate that you could possibly detoxify 5ppm of ammonia or nitrite simply using prime.
In the product description it simply states:
To detoxify nitrite in an emergency, up to 5 times normal dose may be used.
Again, this doesn't imply that 5 times the dose would detoxify 5ppm of ammonia. Its just telling you that you can safely dose up to 5x the recommended amount.
I do not think there is any product that can protect fish from nitrite or ammonia levels of 5ppm. (other than some very large water changes) But if I am wrong, please correct me!
I think I have a pretty good grasp on it, here are some details.
If Prime only worked to detoxify 1ppm of ammonia/nitrite and it wasn't possible for it to neutralize anything higher than that it would be a bit of a silly product. In none of their posts do they state anything about requiring a water change because the ammonia is say 2ppm and Prime can only detoxify a max of 1ppm no matter how much you dose.
Also, that would negate the need for the wording of it being safe to use in 5 x dosages. If it had a cap on the amount of ammonia it could detoxify set at 1ppm, there would never be a reason to do a 5 x "emergency" dose as it would do nothing.
Here is a response from a Seachem employee on a similar topic:
" You can continue to add Prime every other day (or more frequently if needed) to keep the ammonia detoxified and protect your fish. Each dose of Prime (5ml per 50gal) will treat 1 ppm of ammonia. You can safely dose up to 5 times the regular dose. If ammonia goes about 5 ppm, do a water change to lower it to a safer level. I usually aI'm to keep it no higher than 3 ppm while cycling a tank. I would hold off on adding any new fish until the tank finishes cycling." link
I also asked something similar about the combination of ammonia and nitrite. In my example I asked what the dosage would be if someone read 1ppm of ammonia and 1ppm nitrite for a combined 2ppm of the bad stuff. Here is the response:
"Thanks for the post! If your ammonia and nitrite are 2ppm and above, you can safely dose up to 5x the recommended amount. Typically, I do a dose per ppm of ammonia or nitrite. So in your case of 1ppm of ammonia and 1ppm of nitrite, I would do a double dose of Prime." link
Hope that helps, I think that Prime will neutralize up to a combined 5ppm of ammonia and/or nitrite but if it's something you want to do, that's a different story.
Yeah, I've added more than the normal dosage. It was well is between 1-3 last night, so I added a little more...checked again today and it was the same.
Remember, when you neutralize ammonia or nitrite with Prime, it stays neutralized for 24-48 hours max. Also, test kits, such as the API Freshwater Test Kit ignores the fact that you have Prime in the water. So your fish may be protected with the bind that Prime gives you, but the test kit still shows the high numbers.
The test kits show "total ammonia" both free ammonia (NH3, the toxic kind) and ionic ammonia (NH4, the kind that isn't harmful to fish but can still be used by bacteria).
You can use something like a
Seachem Ammonia Alert which goes in your tank to let you know how much "free" or toxic ammonia you have in your tank. There are also test kits that allow you to test for both forms of ammonia not just "total" ammonia.
Make sense?
I tested my
tap water and the ammonia in that is pretty high too. I'm not sure what to do there. I'm doing daily water changes. About 25% and adding prime to it. But is it really going to make a difference when my tap water is just as bad?...the
ph level is pretty high too, but I read that
guppies like a kinda high ph. Found a fish dead when I came back from getting more tests...honestly I think he or ahe might have already been doing bad when I got it...there was a bunch of dead fish In the tank at the fish store.
So what's "pretty high?" If you tested your tap water, how much ammonia did it show?
To compare, how much ammonia is your tank showing when you test that water?
In regards to pH, most of the time the fish will adjust unless you have some really picky breed but guppies are pretty common.
Eventually you will have bacteria built up in your tank that eats ammonia for food. So even if your tap water has some ammonia in it (say 0.25ppm for instance), and you use Prime as a water conditioner, that Prime will neutralize the ammonia in your tap water for 24-48 hours which should be enough time for the
beneficial bacteria in your tank to eat it. But remember, this is only once your tank is cycled and all that bacteria has built a nice home in your tank.
Prime is used for two things.
1 - As a water conditioner when you do water changes.
2 - To help protect your fish while cycling a tank with fish in there.
So lets say you wanted to do a 3 gallon water change. You remove the water, discard it. Then you fill up a bucket with 3 gallons of water and add Prime to that bucket to condition it (4 drops per gallon seems standard for this process). Then you add it to your tank and your water change is done.
Now, you may be cycling right now so you know your ammonia or nitrite may be higher and you need to protect your fish. You just did this water change, and you gave your tank a bit of time to allow the new water to mix (I do about an hour). Then you use your test kit and you test your water for ammonia and nitrite. Based on those readings you dose your tank with additional Prime to neutralize the ppm numbers that showed up on your test kit. Each standard dosage of Prime will neutralize 1ppm of ammonia or nitrite for 24-48 hours. So if you read 1ppm ammonia, that's a regular full dosage. If you read 2ppm, that's a double dose. Read 1ppm ammonia and 0.5ppm nitrite, that's a 1.5x dosage. You get the idea.
You continue to do this every 24-48 hours until the cycle completes. You have to keep taking readings and dosing Prime at the correct levels to protect your fish. If you did a test and it showed 2ppm of ammonia but you only did a 1x dosage of Prime, you're going to have 1ppm of toxic "free" ammonia floating around in your tank still.
That is ONE way to do it.
The other is by not using Prime to neutralize the ammonia or nitrite and just doing water changes to keep the ppm of ammonia or nitrite <=0.25 ppm, a safe(ish) level until your tank completes the cycle. This will take longer because you are keeping the levels lower so it's less food for the bacteria to feed off of but it still gets you there. You can read more about that process here:
The Fish-In Cycle | Adventures in Aquaria
