Seachem Prime is a multipurpose water conditioner that you can use to make your tank water safe for your pet fish. So, can you use this product with RO water?
You can find out in this article from Aquarium Blueprints.
Quick Summary
RO water has been purified as it shouldn’t contain any chlorine, chloramine or heavy metals. Therefore, you won’t need to use Prime in these cases.
With that said, you can use Seachem Prime if your fish tank is suffering from water quality issues due to spikes in ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. In these scenarios, you can use RO water to perform water changes along with dosing Prime every 48 hours until you can get your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels under control.
You can also use Prime to help your pet fish produce slime coating that will help them ward off any potential infections.
What are the benefits of Seachem Prime?
The primary purpose of Seachem Prime is to remove chlorine and chloramine. These chemical compounds usually appear in tap water.
Tap water, in addition to well water, may also contain heavy metals that could end up harming your pet fish. Using Prime should help detoxify small traces of heavy metals.
Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are also harmful to your aquatic pets. Ammonia and nitrites can be extremely toxic in even small traces. While nitrate isn’t as bad as the other two, it could cause health issues if you let your fish be exposed to a high concentration for an extended amount of time.
With Seachem Prime you can detoxify ammonia, nitrites and nitrates for up to 48 hours. If you are still seeing spike in ammonia, nitrites and/or nitrates after 48 hours, then you can safely dose Prime again to prevent these nitrogen compounds from harming your fish.
One last benefit Seachem Prime is that it will promote healthy slime coat growth for your fish, which will give your pets more protection against infections.
Can Prime be used with RO water?
Since RO is already purified, you don’t need to use Prime to remove chlorine, chloramine and heavy metals. With that said, using Prime with RO water shouldn’t cause any issues.
One scenario that you may want to use Prime with RO water is when you tank have water quality problems with spikes in ammonia, nitrites and/or nitrates.
If a test kit show that your aquarium has dangerous amount of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates, then we recommend using Prime every 48 hours, in addition to doing water changes with RO water, in order to get these nitrogen compounds to safer levels.