The official dosage directions for Seachem Pristine state that you should dose 5 mL (which is a capful) for every 20 gallons if you are adding the product into your fish tank for the first time. For subsequent doses, you need to add 2.5 mL for every 20 gallons.
So, what happens when you accidentally overdose Pristine and what can you do about it? You can find out in this troubleshooting guide at Aquarium Blueprints.
What happens when you overdose Seachem Pristine?
Seachem Pristine contains beneficial bacteria, which can take up to 3 days to establish themselves. For the vast majority of cases, having these microscopic creatures in your tank should cause absolutely no harm to your fish and other aquatic pets.
In you managed to severely overdose your tank, you may get a cloudy water appearance in a few days. The cloudy water is the result of a bacterial bloom and should go away on its own eventually.
Iff there aren’t enough organic wastes in your aquarium to sustain the newly added bacteria colonies from Pristine, however, then there might be a massive die-off, causing a spike in ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.
So, if you only overdose your tank by a little bit, then you most likely have nothing to worry about. If you managed to massively add more Pristine than suggested, then you might eventually get water quality issues.
How to fix to a fish tank that has been severely overdosed with Seachem Pristine
If you managed to massively overdose Pristine in your aquarium, then you can take the following steps:
1. Perform a partial water change of 20%.
You don’t want to do more as a big water change could result in a big swing of the water parameters in your tank, which may end up causing stress to your fish and other aquatic pets.
2. When taking water out of your tank, you may want to rinse off the filter media and other décor as well.
Make sure you are using the water you are removing from your tank as tap water contains chlorine and chloramine. While these two chemical compounds may kill off the bacteria colonies introduced by Pristine, it may also kill the other beneficial bacteria in your aquarium.
3. If you are adding tap water back into your tank, then make sure you are using a water conditioner like Seachem Prime to remove the aforementioned chlorine and chloramine.
To find out more about how you can use Seachem Prime and Pristine at the same time, you can take a look at this usage guide.
4. Depending on how much you overdose your tank with Seachem Pristine, you may want to perform additional water changes.
If you want to do more water changes, then we recommend waiting for 24 hours after your last water change so that you won’t stress out the fish.
You can use a testing kit to check your water parameters after the doing the water changes to see if your tank water is safe for your fish and other aquatic pets.
As we stated previously, it can take up to 72 hours for the bacteria from Pristine to establish themselves in your tank. Therefore, you may want to change water 24 hours apart for at least three times.