Dechlorinator nah?? or yah???

[Chago09]

I very rarely use Prime like maybe once every three months very very little, and I do three to four times a week 75% W/C On my Peacock bass tank. then 150g now 240g.

and your water is city pipeline???

WOW so then why is everyone making me out to be a villain??? LOL ok scam was a bit strong of a word but shheeesshhh you could have backed me up LOL just kiding

 

[Mystus Redtail]

wow to me thats sounds crazy. Some people did mention earlier that chlorimine(sp?) is the worse of the two. Perhaps thats the main issue here and not chlorine. I used to live in Windsor, Ontario. I knew a guy their who literally lost his marbles when it came to aquarium hobby. This guys entire house was fish tanks everywhere. Every floor every room and a garage just packed with tanks. Sometimes I would go there just to hand out and look at the new fry he would have. I would watch him do his WC and he would literally use a standard GARDEN HOSE!!!!! and literally just fill the tank up. LOL Garden hose is COOOOLLLLDDDD and obvioulsy not dechlorinated. I have to tell you though he raised some of the nicest fry I've ever seen.

Now another point I read in this thread a few times is people said that they can only do a certain size wc without it being a problem. That could be a large factor in this discussion. I do usually do more often smaller changes. I do two a weeks about 15% each time. I know some people like to do 50% like every two weeks. This could be a large factor in this thread.

I've filled my tanks back up with the water hose for 10 years without an issue. I let the water run for a a few minutes first so the water that was in the hose doesn't go into the tank.

Ditto, my house is packed with tanks and I run a 75 ft rubber garden hose throughout my house when it's time for water changes. Granted I run it off a sink so I can control temperature. Like Balton, I run the hose for a little bit to clear it out and to get the temp right.

What I would like to see is what sort of water I have, exactly. I know that they publish it once a year, but it is very hard to read if you don't have a background in that field. I guess it's more out of curiosity.

 

[High City Rida]

and your water is city pipeline???

WOW so then why is everyone making me out to be a villain??? LOL ok scam was a bit strong of a word but shheeesshhh you could have backed me up LOL just kiding

To tell you the truth your fighting a loosing battle because not everyone see's the benifit's of no chemicals because well there fish are dependent on them as stated in some of the previous post. "If I didn't add such and such they would die". I dont add anything and no problems what so ever but of course if this was a new tank set up then of course I would have to add a few goodies but I wouldn't continue long term use of any chemical but that's just my 17yrs of experience with my fish not someone else's delicate system. Or maybe there water is just that bad. But like you stated us up here in Colorado we are supposed to have the worst water and I think we have the best water or at least pretty far up there with high quality H20. BUT IT"s all a matter of opinion period and we know how many of those there are?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Mystus Redtail]

Hmmm, check this out.

http://www.epa.gov/safewater/dwinfo/index.html

 

[Chago09]

To tell you the truth your fighting a loosing battle because not everyone see's the benifit's of no chemicals because well there fish are dependent on them as stated in some of the previous post. "If I didn't add such and such they would die". I dont add anything and no problems what so ever but of course if this was a new tank set up then of course I would have to add a few goodies but I wouldn't continue long term use of any chemical but that's just my 17yrs of experience with my fish not someone else's delicate system. Or maybe there water is just that bad. But like you stated us up here in Colorado we are supposed to have the worst water and I think we have the best water or at least pretty far up there with high quality H20. BUT IT"s all a matter of opinion period and we know how many of those there are?!?!?!?!?!

well said, and I don't want to prove to people that if they use chemicals there . I just wanted to bring up a arguement of why some people can and why some can't. Some people have been from the same city and one uses because there fish die if they don't. While the other has never used it and fish are fine. Thats what intrigues me.

Obvioulsy I used stronger words then required but thats past now. Although this has brought light upon that maybe those dechlor's are not in fact always needed. Perhaps there is an exceptable amount of chlorine which will disipate so quickly it won't bother a fish?? Keep in mind folks there are other harmful substances in your water, that doesn't bother your fish because its in such a small quantity.

In the reef hobby the smallest quantity of a heavy metal can hurt and kill corals. That is why RO/DI is almost a must!! Thats something where I'm pretty sure almost no one can keep corals thriving in a tank for over year in tap water. They need the RO/DI.

 

[Camphilophus]

I add my dechlorinator/stresscoat half way through my waterchange. I know chlorine is bad for fish, adding dechlorinator can't hurt. I just buy the big pond jugs on clearance at the end of summer from petsmart and add a few drops every waterchange. When you have 1000+gallons of tanks all at different temperatures there's no easy way you can store half the water you'll need for your waterchanges. If I had something to hold 500gallons worth of water there'd be fish in it. Not chlorinated water.

 

[Mystus Redtail]

I add my dechlorinator/stresscoat half way through my waterchange. I know chlorine is bad for fish, adding dechlorinator can't hurt. I just buy the big pond jugs on clearance at the end of summer from petsmart and add a few drops every waterchange. When you have 1000+gallons of tanks all at different temperatures there's no easy way you can store half the water you'll need for your waterchanges. If I had something to hold 500gallons worth of water there'd be fish in it. Not chlorinated water.

Excellent!

That is a good plan for getting it cheap.

 

[Chago09]

I know from personal experience that my water will kill the fish. I was doing water changes on two tanks once and filled up one tank back up without adding dechlor yet. I started to syphon the other tank thinking that I would add the dechlor in a few minutes. Those few minutes turned into about 5 minutes before I turned around and saw all the fish at the bottom dying. I quickly added Prime and started swishing the water around in circles with my arm in the tank. I still lost 2 Redhooks, a Filament barb and 2 Datnoids. The other fish survived but I now know my water here, if untreated, kills fish quickly.

R u sure your wife didn't dip a little draino into that tank LOL that sounds like your water has radioactive watse in it lol

 

[Camphilophus]

Excellent!

That is a good plan for getting it cheap.

I'm sure it's not as good as prime but when I have this much water I might as well call all my tanks a pond. It all does the same stuff anyways. The bottles are usually $30 and they treat like 20,000gallons or something ridiculous, then 75% off since nobody buys them = $7.50.

 

[Acer]

LOL I don't care what the laws are. They may have tests that show it undetectable which does not mean its been removed. There are additives that can mask a substance so its not tested. I.E "nitrate removers" All they do is change the make up of the ions so it doesn't come up on a nitrate test as nitrates. Really there still there. Once again I may be wrong about the chlorine debate, but about this I quote Tom Green "I know damn right!!"

Changing the makeup of the molecule IS what makes it safer. It doesn't magically make the nitrates disappear, it detoxifies them by making them unavailable.

I can absolutly bet you my life that water conditioners do nothing for the heavy metals which you spoke about. I am in the water purification business and I know 100% that heavy metals are not effected in any way by a water conditioner. You can take that to the bank.

Dechlorinators, like sodium thiosulfate (which I'm assuming Prime is essentially) do affect the toxicity of heavy metals! They can bind to the metals and alter them so they are in a form which is unavailable to organisms, therefore decreasing toxicity.

Oh, S.R., Kim, J.K., Lee, M.J., and K. Choi[SIZE=-1]. 2007. [/SIZE]
Dechlorination with sodium thiosulfate affects the toxicity of wastewater contaminated with copper, cadmium, nickel, or zinc. Environmental Toxicology 23(2):211-217.

Trihalomethanes can also form from chlorine use... which are irritants and carcinogens.

We use chlorine in water treatment to kill microorganisms, why would you want it in your tank? We want beneficial bacteria growth and know chlorine has a detrimental impact on fish... if your water source has chlorine, why wouldn't you dechlorinate it (Prime, dissipation, etc.)?

Dissipation isn't instant, and it'll definitely be pumping through your filters for a couple hours before the chlorine isn't gone. Doesn't mean you won't be able to keep fish, but I'm not going to risk chlorine exposure for any reason. If I know something I can't ignore it or risk my fish health!

Heck, water treatment plants dechlorinate the treated water before it goes back where it came from - obviously that is a hint!