Seachem Prime: Clarification Needed

Quick question, I have been doing water changes DAILY in attempt to eliminate detritus worms. I understand that they aren’t harmful and actually normal. I just don’t want them in my tank... and that’s not what this post is about.

Basically, I dose with seachem prime for the full tank volume (60 gallons) before adding the tap water back into my tank every day. I have been taking about half the water out each time. My concern is that there’s still active prime from the day before and I just keep adding to it. Could I end up with too much Prime?

I usually wait about 20-24 hours before I do the next water change. But I’m starting to worry about the amount of prime going in. Is that dumb? When I first found the worms, I was doing 2 water changes a day.

I’ve also had this concern before… For example, my nephew dumped a whole tub of food in the tank and I had to do 3 water changes back to back to get it all out. It was a nightmare. Lol. I dosed the full tank volume each time, but it still felt like a lot of dechlorinator.

I don’t have the space or the time to dechlorinate water before putting it in. So it comes straight from the tap. Am I being paranoid? Or is it too much prime to be adding since I do so every single day. It’s not like I have any ammonia or nitrite. And my nitrate is always below 5ppm. My tap is VERY hard and my pH is insanely high. But my fish are used to this by now because that’s the way it’s been since I started these tanks years ago.

Anyway, just looking for clarification on how prime works and if I should be concerned about adding too much or maybe I should be using a different product that’s not so strong all together. Thank you!

 

Prime is very concentrated. I have lost a couple fish once because I used too much prime. I would recommend mixing the prime with the tap water outside of the tank, then adding the water in the next day.
Yes, too much prime is harmful due to its concentration. I personally haven’t used any other water conditioners, so I don’t have any recommendations as far as that goes.

 

From my understanding you can dose up to 5X the amount of Prime to the volume of your tank. But if your doing regular daily WC's then you can add the Prime to the amount your adding back into the tank instead of the entire volume. If your doin 50%wc's on a 60 then add just for the 30 gallons your adding back into the tank. But I don't think Prime will cause issues. continuing to dose for the entire amount of the tank. just my .02

 

If my memory serves me correctly, the main danger from overdosing prime comes from oxygen depletion. If you have good cirulation and a bubbler you should be fine most of the time. If you see your fish gasping for air, that is when you definitely would have a problem with it. I’ve read that overdosing is harder to do, because you can overdose it in emergency’s to detoxify ammonia etc, and it is fine for your fish. If you super nervous, just cut back on your water changes for a few days. Hopefully this advice doesn’t go against’s KingJamal2’s. Best of luck!

 

If my memory serves me correctly, the main danger from overdosing prime comes from oxygen depletion. If you have good cirulation and a bubbler you should be fine most of the time. If you see your fish gasping for air, that is when you definitely would have a problem with it. I’ve read that overdosing is harder to do, because you can overdose it in emergency’s to detoxify ammonia etc, and it is fine for your fish. If you super nervous, just cut back on your water changes for a few days. Hopefully this advice doesn’t go against’s KingJamal2’s. Best of luck!

I believe the original reason for the OP's frequent WC's were cause of an excess amount of food dropped into the tank if I read the original post correctly?

 

I believe the original reason for the OP's frequent WC's were cause of an excess amount of food dropped into the tank if I read the original post correctly?

I think it is to eliminate detritus worms currently, the excess food was a past incident I believe.

 

Detritus worms are free food for your fish. Just do your weekly WC's, don't overfeed and they will eventually disappear

 

Thanks for the replies! So if I took out 30 gallons and only dosed the prime for that amount, instead of the full 60 is that for sure safe? I don’t want to have chlorine, heavy metals, etc in my water. That would be worse, right? Or can I only do that if I dechlorinate the water before adding it back?

 

the main danger from overdosing prime comes from oxygen depletion. If you have good cirulation and a bubbler you should be fine most of the time. If you see your fish gasping for air, that is when you definitely would have a problem with it.

I have read this also.

So if I took out 30 gallons and only dosed the prime for that amount, instead of the full 60 is that for sure safe?

I do weekly 50% water changes and dose entire tank volume into the tank and then add untreated water to the tank. Those are the instructions according to Seachem. I would follow the Seachem advice and dose for full tank volume unless you are really confident that you know what you are doing.

Last week, I used API Stress Coat + on the advice of my LFS who stated that there is less risk of over-treating with Stress Coat than Prime. I have found no other source for that advice so I plan to go back to Prime. I just have a better feeling about Prime. I have no reason or evidence to support my better feeling about Prime.