Effects of Chloramines on Lawns & Seed

[vfc]

For those with chloramines in your tap water; did you ever notice how new grass seed won't grow, no matter how much you water it, then a rain storm comes by and the next day you have grass an inch long?

Before I got back into fish keeping (and understanding the nitrogen cycle, chloramines, etc) I spent a lot of time and money keeping a nice lawn. One thing I noticed over the years is that watering my lawn, at best, just keep it alive but it never thrived. New seed would not grow until it rained. In the summer, when the grass was starting to brown, no matter how much I watered it, it never greened up.

I have 10-20PPMs of nitrate in my tap water; you would think that my grass would grow like crazy. Now I'm starting to think that the chloramines are killing off some essential bacteria that grass needs to thrive. If I mixed Prime with my tap water, would that change things like it does in a fish tank?

I have a feeling the fish tank and lawn environment are somehow related. Any lawn/water experts out there care to comment?

 

[Nova 8]

I don't know the anwser to your question, but I have noticed this aswell and put it down to the chlorine in the water. I use my waste tank water on the lawn and plants and they thrive, there was a dead patch on the lawn due to my dogs but it has grown well since using tank water.

 

[M|L]

I don't know about the lawn and grass, but as for the aquarium, chloramine is toxic in high concentrations, but even low doses will kill off bacterias in the tank (hence it's purpose as a disinfectant). I believe it's a combination of chlorine and ammonia, which makes it dangerous to the fish as well, ammonia will burn the sensitive body parts of the fish such as the eye and gills.

However, the use of carbon will remove chloramine, as well as other tap water treatments. Unlike chlorine, chloramine does not evaporate.