Anybody using Purigen? I know Greggz does, already told him about this. Here's what happened a couple weeks ago
The 120 has two canisters, each one has about 250 ml of Purigen inside. The bags are swapped out for fresh ones whenever I take one apart for cleaning.
So a couple of weeks ago, all of a sudden one day pantanal tops had gone pale with bright cherry red centers, clear sign it wasnt happy. Also mini limno, and something else too I dont remember.
Well nothing had changed in a few weeks (except for adding nickel which I'll get to later) and everything was crusing along very well with daily dosing of a .2 Fe blend.
Checked CO2, all good, racking my brain at this point, the only thing that's changed recently is I cleaned the Hydor two days ago and that certainly didnt do anyth......wait, the new bag of Purigen??
Ive always read it wasnt supposed to affect micros. Searched the Seachem forum, their official stance is "should have minimal impact"
Found some discussion on other boards with mixed opinions. A few folks were emphatic their plants did better without, the majority seem to dismiss the notion.
So anyway I removed the Purigen from every single filter, they all had it.
And lo and behold 2-3 days later the Pantanal and everything else was looking fine again. So...I believe it does have at least some impact, maybe on just a thing or two, and maybe unchelated makes a difference. IDK, just reporting what happened.
Update on the nickel. I'd started adding it to the micros about a week earlier. Couldnt really tell a significant difference but everything was growing really well.
Current recipe in ppb, dosing daily
Fe DTPA - 200
Mn - 90
B - 32
Zn -75
Mo - 1.3
Cu - zero
Ni - .5
Since removing the Purigen these last couple of weeks everything has really kicked up a notch. No issues to speak of with anything.
So either the Ni is soaking in making a big difference, or the Purigen, at least when brand new, was having a negative effect.
tifwiw