Purigen vs. Carbon, Which One Is Better?

In utilizing a home aquarium, water maintenance is vital. If the water isn’t kept correctly, bacteria will build up, and diseases will be transferred to every fish. Our fishes will have the longevity of life due to the healthy environment they are living in and a proper diet.

With all these advantages, we always tend to be cautious about our aquarium’s water quality from time to time to ensure that the fishes are inhabiting appropriately.

We even use various products and equipment to ensure that we can deliver the best water quality to our aquarium at all times. However, when it comes to purigen and carbon, what is the best filter to utilize in our home aquarium?

What is purigen?

Purigen is a helpful substance we can use in our aquarium. In our water, there will be harmful entities that already dissolve in the water, and there are some who don’t. The good thing about purigen is it both eliminates dissolved and undissolved substances present in our aquarium. It refrains nitrogenous waste from contaminating the water.

What are the advantages of using purigen?

• Reduce the need for changing water.

Keeping an aquarium at home can be a little handy at times due to the water maintenance. It requires a proper amount of water pH and other substances that should be in color. Utilizing purigen in our tank will reduce the need for changing water. The dirt release by the fishes will be abolished without the need to alter the water.

• It soaks up metallic substances.

The water coming from our faucet isn’t ideal to be used for filling up an aquarium. Metals are often the material used to have a durable faucet in our home.

We all knew that metal tends to have rust, especially with direct contact with water. Our faucet is used as a convenient way to supply water in our home from the water source. So there will be chances that our water aquarium will have metal substances that are both harmful to the animals and humans.

• Eliminate bad odor on water.

Yes, even the water in our aquarium can release terrible scents. This is most likely to happen if the water wasn’t maintained or cleaned properly. One of the reasons for this dilemma is the decays lying at the bottom of your aquarium. Also, if the feces of the fishes in the aquarium increase and the food that hasn’t been consumed that ended up rotting.

• Bring down nitrogenous organic substances.

If this waste weren’t removed, your water would be shady after days. Plus, there will be more chances that the bacteria can freely roam in your aquarium. These bacteria collect oxygen in the tank that will cause a lack of oxygen to other fishes.

Is it safe to use?

If you’re worried and doubting purigen, don’t worry because it won’t affect your fish’s health and even the plants present in our aquarium. It only does its work by maintaining the water clear and empty harmful substances observed in the water.

There will be no substances floating in the water, such as feces, decaying body and so on. Even though it obtains our aquarium’s cleanliness by fighting off ger!s, it does not work entirely to remove nitrate, so your plants can keep up in your aquarium.

Purigen inside a reef tank

Aside from freshwater, you can also utilize purigen in a reef tank. It does the same advantages, such as abolishing organic waste, keeping water clear and clean with no unnecessary substances floating, and maintaining pH level and other harmful components to both animals and corals.

However, if you place a bag of purigen in a reef tank, you can observe that they change color immediately rather than three times refilling per year, especially if you have a large reef tank where you will need to change your purigen from 4-7 months. Ironically, once you see that the purigen is changing color, change it immediately, and you can add quantity for longevity.

Using purigen rather than carbon

Both the purigen and carbon are helpful to every fishkeeper. Yet, we want the best product to utilize in our aquarium. Below some correlating factors to distinguish their differences.

• Refilling

If you are looking for a more inexpensive filter that you can use in your aquarium, you can go with purigen. Unlike carbon that you can use for a month or less, purigen can last up to 3-4 months, so; you will only need to replace them three times a year. It costs us money and work at the same time.

• Knowing the need to replace

In our vehicle, we would gas up once the status goes down until it reaches the red color, which indicates that the gasoline needs a refill. The good thing about using purigen, it gives you a heads up when it needs a replacement. You can easily identify if a purigen needs to be replaced once they change color from light to dark.

However, when it comes to carbon, there is no indication except from the fact that it can last up to 3-4 weeks alone. Also, this number of weeks is dependable on your aquarium’s size, so it is hard to identify. You should contemplate yourself if your carbon is not helping anymore and that it needs to be replaced with another set.

• Organic chemicals removable

Even though we have a steady pH level and a lower amount of ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite in our aquarium, we cannot control the presence of organic chemicals. Without prevention, this will produce bacteria that can cause ailments and gasp of fishes.

If you are looking for a method that can abolish organic compounds’ normal presence, you can count in purigen. They eliminate the nitrogenous compound before they get the chance to be an organic substance. However, carbon can also abolish medication which is also vital in an aquarium that a purigen cannot eliminate.

For a better case, you can utilize these in your aquarium. Yes, you can use them together without harming any fishes nor plants and even in a reef tank.

• Presence of plants

Neither between purigen and carbon can impose harm on the plants present in your tank. However, too much carbon will remove the nutrients they’ll need. Unlike purigen, these nutrients will linger so both the fishes and plants can have a healthy living environment.