I answer a lot of questions from beginning hobbyist over at Reefcentral about cycling tanks, sumps, algae and other reef tank related issues (for those of you not familiar with Reefcentral it is a huge marine reef aquarium forum).  It is generally an easy task and I almost always give the same answers as the other seasoned reefers on the above topics with one exception, nitrates.   Nitrates in a reef aquarium can wreck havoc on a tank if they are not kept in check.  So when someone asks what they can do to lower there seemingly impossible nitrate problem. I will tell them the usual run of the mill nitrate fixes then I will tell them to throw a bag of Purigen in there sump or in there filter.                                  

 So know you’re probably thinking, what is Purigen? Well I am glad you asked. Purigen according to the manufacturer (Seachem) is a “premium synthetic adsorbent that controls ammonia, nitrites and nitrates by removing nitrogenous organic waste”.  Now if you go Seachem’s website their summary of the product is much bigger than mine but I cut out all the marketing B.S. for yeah. No need to thank me.  

   The truth is I like to use Purigen, I recommend it not because it is new or fancy version of carbon, but because have a lot of “go” time with it.  Since I have been using Purigen I haven’t seen a detectible level of ammonia or nitrates, my tank water is considerably clearer and I have stopped dosing ozone because my tank’s redox is so good I don’t need to anymore.  Furthermore this stuff is cheap and it lasts a long time, plus you can recharge it with bleach.  I have turned a lot of people on to this product and most if not all thank me for it.

In no way was I paid for this blog by seachem, but if they would like to give me free samples im fair game