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Cultivated Reef

So do you rinse your Chemi-Pure media?


Hexadron

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Hey guys,

 

So a few weeks back I decided to do a good scrubbing of my tank, compartments, and media basket. I decided it was probably a good idea to give a good swoosh to my Chemi-Pure Blue in my 'dirty' water change water.

 

Obviously making sure not to grind anything (although there Blue appears to be carbon + synthetic polymers (not regular GFO) just swaying back and forth; DAAAAAMMMNNN was there a lot of brown gunk gunged up. My 5g bucket went from pretty darn clean water to a brown poopy mess.

 

This makes me wonder if others rinse their Chemi-Pure, Carbon or other chemical media?

 

Some back story on my filtration: I run inTank filter floss (replaced every ~3-4 days) then Chemi-Pure Blue in the inTank media basket. My filter floss is never super gross, but mostly the top blue layer is brownish, while the white bottom remains pretty clean looking.

 

TL;DR - Decided to swoosh my Chemi-Pure blue in my water change water gently to find that it collected a ton of gunge. Do you guys rinse your chemical media? Why or why not? Did you have a similar experience to what I had?

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Yeah, anything that lives in a mesh bag should be rinsed from time to time otherwise like you noted there will be build up that can restrict the water from flowing through it.

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I rinse all of my media including chemipure. I think it is in the directions for most. You don't want the fines getting into the display, they can irritate corals.

 

Edit: +1 to above. Also with every water change I would rinse and stir up the media to remove detritus buildup. and expose other areas of the media to flow.

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Nope

 

How old was the media?

 

If you take a new bag of chemi pure it will swoosh out brown looking water forever. That is why you never originally rinse it for more than 30 seconds you're washing away the good stuff.

 

It supposed to absorb, your filter floss should be mostly protecting the mesh bag.

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Yeah, anything that lives in a mesh bag should be rinsed from time to time otherwise like you noted there will be build up that can restrict the water from flowing through it.

 

Figured as much, I was just surprised at the amount of brown guck.

 

I rinse all of my media including chemipure. I think it is in the directions for most. You don't want the fines getting into the display, they can irritate corals.

 

Edit: +1 to above. Also with every water change I would rinse and stir up the media to remove detritus buildup. and expose other areas of the media to flow.

 

I of course rinse it initially, but my question was more geared towards after it's in your system.

 

Looks like i'm already getting conflicting info :P Some say every water change, some say not at all. I'm looking at you Steve!

 

Nope

 

How old was the media?

 

If you take a new bag of chemi pure it will swoosh out brown looking water forever. That is why you never originally rinse it for more than 30 seconds you're washing away the good stuff.

 

It supposed to absorb, your filter floss should be mostly protecting the mesh bag.

 

The media was less than a month old.

 

I rinsed it for about 30 seconds like you mentioned in tap, and then soaked in RO/DI for about a minute before adding to my display.

 

As for the filter floss protecting the mesh bag, that's why I was so surprised how brown the water was when I swooshed it. I didn't go nuts either just maybe 5 swooshes around the bucket and bam! Brown soup.

 

I did notice the white 'perigean-type' balls were pretty brown before rinsing, then after rinsing were bright white again. I wonder if they were simply coated in a organic slime or something?

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My guess is on the carbon like element that make up chemi pure. I don't think it's gunk from the tank, but the media itself. Or what it is absorbing.

 

Those purigen like balls should age over time and turn from white to brown or red as they absorb.

 

Not a bad idea to rinse, I just have never done so.

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reefernanoman

No rinsing my Chemipure bag until I change it after a few months. Zero problems. I'm thinking about leaving it in there for 3 months instead of 6 like I have been doing.

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Nope

 

How old was the media?

 

If you take a new bag of chemi pure it will swoosh out brown looking water forever. That is why you never originally rinse it for more than 30 seconds you're washing away the good stuff.

 

It supposed to absorb, your filter floss should be mostly protecting the mesh bag.

 

Thanks for the info! You mentioned in a different thread not to run elite and blue in the same tank - can you elaborate on that?

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Thanks for the info! You mentioned in a different thread not to run elite and blue in the same tank - can you elaborate on that?

No Purigen and CP Blue At the same time.

 

This is what I was told by Boyd at the last MACNA after I said you put my idea of elite and purigen together . It was a bunch of fancy talk I didn't understand / listen close enough to. Basically it will make your water super dry then explode.

 

I don't think you need to run elite and blue together tho.

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I rinse it to get detritus off, basically just shake it for a few seconds. I don't think you have to if your filter floss captures everything, probably does not affect anything either way.

 

Maybe Boyd just doesn't want anyone buying purigen?!

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jedimasterben

CP blue basically has Purigen in it.

No, no, and no.

 

Purigen is a synthetic adsorption resin, whatever Boyd puts in is a synthetic ion exchange resin. The two could not be more different in how they work. They take similar compounds of the water (I assume) but CP actually does an exchange and puts something back in the water.

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One thing I have never understood from Boyd is their recommendations for replacement of CP Blue or Elite. They say replace every 3 months, but surely its effectiveness has long since diminished by then just from bacterial population.

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No, no, and no.

 

Purigen is a synthetic adsorption resin, whatever Boyd puts in is a synthetic ion exchange resin. The two could not be more different in how they work. They take similar compounds of the water (I assume) but CP actually does an exchange and puts something back in the water.

 

So would you run both or you do also see a potential for a problem there? These damn proprietary blends!

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jedimasterben

 

So would you run both or you do also see a potential for a problem there? These damn proprietary blends!

I use Purigen (since it can be safely regenerated with bleach or with hydrogen peroxide) and ROX 0.8 carbon.

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No, no, and no.

 

Purigen is a synthetic adsorption resin, whatever Boyd puts in is a synthetic ion exchange resin. The two could not be more different in how they work. They take similar compounds of the water (I assume) but CP actually does an exchange and puts something back in the water.

I wasn't talking about or typed Chemi Pure.
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I use Purigen (since it can be safely regenerated with bleach or with hydrogen peroxide) and ROX 0.8 carbon.

 

Having just started running purigen, may I ask how you can regenerate it with peroxide as I'm a bit weary of bleach? Or do you regen with bleach and then use peroxide to clean the bleach of?

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jedimasterben

I wasn't talking about or typed Chemi Pure.

CP blue basically has Purigen in it.

:huh:

 

Having just started running purigen, may I ask how you can regenerate it with peroxide as I'm a bit weary of bleach? Or do you regen with bleach and then use peroxide to clean the bleach of?

Use it just like you would bleach. It needs to be a brand new bottle or use something stronger than standard 3%. Stronger will work much faster, like bleach does. If you only have 3%, then it will take a few hours to be regenerated. Doing it with bleach is fine, as well, just soak it in some water or let it air dry (Seachem says not to air dry it, but I've regenerated some of the Purigen I have by doing it that way around 15 times now, still works the same as it did when I got it). Give a smell, if it still smells like bleach, soak it in some water again.

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i remember mike paletta saying in one of his interviews that sometimes he lets a small amount of the fine grade media into his system because it tends to help with water quality.

 

personally i still rinse mine with fresh ro/di.

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jedimasterben

i remember mike paletta saying in one of his interviews that sometimes he lets a small amount of the fine grade media into his system because it tends to help with water quality.

 

personally i still rinse mine with fresh ro/di.

Some of the things he says just don't make any sense or are completely false. Makes me facepalm.

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Some of the things he says just don't make any sense or are completely false. Makes me facepalm.

it a way it does make sense as far as cleaning up the water chemically, just at the risk of pissing off coral.

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