Purigen bio-rings?

[Lifeisgood]

Out of the box question:

My daughter was trying out a new litter box for her cat- “Tidy Cat Breeze.” It has a grid insert in the litter box where you are supposed to pour pellets that are made of the same thing that Purigen is.  The cat pees on the pellets and the pellets absorb or neutralize the ammonia from the pee and the urine is soaked up by a pad that is in the bottom of the pan.

I was wondering if those pellets would work to use like you would use bio rings—but they would also have another benefit in that they neutralize or soak up ammonia too?  Is there any reason that that wouldn’t be a good idea?

The company makes two different pellet types.  One is scented and one is not.  I would not want to use the scented option?

I have tried to use Purigen in my HOB for a large goldfish tank.  They seem to need extra filtration to keep water parameters good.  But the Purigen is so fine and the mesh bags don’t allow good water flow through them.  
 

What do you guys think???

 

 

I did not mean to put the question mark after what I meant as a statement:

I would NOT want to use the scented pellets.

[CJs Aquatics]

In theory I believe yes depending on all ingredients…I use a natural clay based kitty litter in quite a few of my tanks as a substrate when I run low on sand or gravel or just to build it up/ possible ammonia nullification so I think something along those lines could work if applied properly…it sounds similar just it’s kitty litter bio balls in a hob as opposed to kitty litter as a substrate…I’m no expert but that’s my 2 cents lol

[nabokovfan87]

Zeolite is a thing they use for removing ammonia or nitrite/nitrates in tanks.  Zeolite can also be found in some cat litters.  As far as absorbing ammonia, maybe that's the thing that is used? Purigen is a resin bead used in things like wastewater treatment.

Small, spherical resin beads are packed in a “bed” inside the tank of a water softener. The resin beads hold a negative charge that will attract any positively charged ions.

Edit: I checked the catbox thing.  I saw a video of someone talking about the product refer to them as zeolite pellets.  Maybe that is closer to what they are as opposed to purigen.

Edited November 7, 2023 by nabokovfan87

[Lifeisgood]

On 11/6/2023 at 7:16 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

Zeolite is a thing they use for removing ammonia or nitrite/nitrates in tanks.  Zeolite can also be found in some cat litters.  As far as absorbing ammonia, maybe that's the thing that is used? Purigen is a resin bead used in things like wastewater treatment.

Small, spherical resin beads are packed in a “bed” inside the tank of a water softener. The resin beads hold a negative charge that will attract any positively charged ions.

Edit: I checked the catbox thing.  I saw a video of someone talking about the product refer to them as zeolite pellets.  Maybe that is closer to what they are as opposed to purigen.

It’s interesting because according to directions on both products you can use chlorine bleach to recharge both Purigen and the zeolite kitty litter pellets.  Hmmm…maybe it is worth looking into a bit more?

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/6/2023 at 5:50 PM, Lifeisgood said:

It’s interesting because according to directions on both products you can use chlorine bleach to recharge both Purigen and the zeolite kitty litter pellets.  Hmmm…maybe it is worth looking into a bit more?

For some of the resins I've heard of using salt solution, that goes into the pellets, then the salt is replaced with minerals and that softens your water.  It could just be for that particular application of the resin beads.  I've never heard of being able to recharge zeolite.

Ironically, first google search goes to an amazon page and just says:

To reuse zeolite pellets, you must “recharge” them. To do this, add 1/4 cup of kosher salt per gallon of warm water. Dissolve the salt. Pick out and dispose of fecal matter and pour used pellets into saline solution.

 

[Lifeisgood]

On 11/6/2023 at 9:13 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

For some of the resins I've heard of using salt solution, that goes into the pellets, then the salt is replaced with minerals and that softens your water.  It could just be for that particular application of the resin beads.  I've never heard of being able to recharge zeolite.

Ironically, first google search goes to an amazon page and just says:

To reuse zeolite pellets, you must “recharge” them. To do this, add 1/4 cup of kosher salt per gallon of warm water. Dissolve the salt. Pick out and dispose of fecal matter and pour used pellets into saline solution.

 

Thanks for interacting with me about this idea.  I am remembering back from something I looked into earlier this past summer.  So I will look closer at the package.  

So when you were mentioning the use of zeolite to remove nitrates and nitrite from tanks, you were referring to water tanks for supplying water for drinking and cooking right?  Not fish tanks?
 

 

As I looked at the video it refers to koi ponds.  So if the pellets that I found are truly only zeolite, I may be able to use them in my HOB as I would use bio rings.  And I could recharge them from time to time with salt.  Is that how you are seeing it?

[nabokovfan87]

On 11/6/2023 at 7:28 PM, Lifeisgood said:

So when you were mentioning the use of zeolite to remove nitrates and nitrite from tanks, you were referring to water tanks for supplying water for drinking and cooking right?  Not fish tanks?

They sell it for the hobby too.  That video is of a pond style of zeolite.  I have some of this on hand:




There's stuff sold under the term of De-nitrite too:

[Lifeisgood]

On 11/7/2023 at 3:29 AM, nabokovfan87 said:

They sell it for the hobby too.  That video is of a pond style of zeolite.  I have some of this on hand:




There's stuff sold under the term of De-nitrite too:

Cool!  Thank you for your help!  Now I will double check the make up of the pellets and see about making a mesh bag to put them into my HOB.

The goldfish tank has bb Algae that I am fighting all of the time.  I am feeding less, controlling light and now if I can reduce ammonia and nitrates I am hoping it will be better.  The Purigen is so fine it clogs up in the fine mesh bags too quickly.

[nabokovfan87]

It may not be worth it. This is a big media bag with the zeolite and you can see the cost. The bag I got was something like $2-3 with a very good quality media bag and I got it literally just for the media bag.

Just something to consider, check out the sales and prices, especially this line where it comes in the bag already. No idea at all if it can be recharged, but just another option.

Seachem Laboratories 6515 375 ml 110 Tidal Zeolite Filter https://a.co/d/iWMwSGW