How long does it take for dechlor to kill chlorine ?

[Toby_H]

not necessarily. the raw water source may have ammonia in it. you could contact the treatment plant to find out.

sometimes, ammonia is added at the plant. other times it is not because there can be ammonia present in the source water.

if there is no ammonia in the raw water source, and no ammonia added at the plant, then yes, there would be no chloramines.

Does this suggest that when free chlorine mixes with free ammonia they bind into chloramines?

 

[sushiray]

lol so its within 5 minutes then correct? In a 5 gallon bucket well mixed ? That would be worth some ease of mind .

sorry I didn't get to follow thru all the postings, just read the 1st pg. but here is my experience in how fast Prime works.

I did a major w/c on my 20g angel tank (6angels of varying size but not large, 2 med. plecos, 1 lg albino cory, 1 lg bloodfin) & forgot to prime. few hrs later when I checked to feed them they were all gasping at the surface except the albino & plecos which were fine - due to chlorine poisoning. lost 3 of the weaker angels & the bloodfin. but 3 angels cory & both pleco survived.

I immediately added/overdose with prime & within just a minute they were breathing normally. prime was a qwik life saver!

with my discus tank I will never forget to prime. as I fill up the tank with hose str8 from the tap, I prime dosing the whole tank.

 

[12 Volt Man]

Does this suggest that when free chlorine mixes with free ammonia they bind into chloramines?

with proper mixing to facilitate the reaction, yes.

 

[tcarswell]

with proper mixing to facilitate the reaction, yes.

I always wondered about this. Thanks for clearing that up for me I was curious about that for a while.

 

[12 Volt Man]

no problem.

 

[Toby_H]

with proper mixing to facilitate the reaction, yes.

What is the proper mixing to facilitate the reaction?

What I'm asking is... if I have free ammonia present in an aquarium... and I add tap water which has chlorine... and something distracts me and I am delayed adding my dechlorinator which does not remove chloramines...

would the chlorine and ammonia in my tank bind into chloramine?

I would think not, but if you know... I'd trust your knowledge over my thoughts...

 

[12 Volt Man]

yes, it would. start your panicing now

lol

yes, it would happen in theory. but in the real world, probably very little is formed.

the reason is that chlorine that exists as a disinfectant in your water (as HOCL) loves to react with anything.

and in "fish poo water", there are lots of organics for the chlorine to react with, along with any free ammonia that exists.

so yes, it would happen. but the amount would be so small because the chlorine is very busy reacting with everything else, it is probably neglegable.

 

[sostoudt]

That was me, it gives a good visual indication of how the dechlorination works.
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I'm just tired of this discussion so bare with me...'cause nobody cares since it create work for them...

Anyone who puts straight chlorinated water into their tanks with fish cannot identify gill burn !!! Until the fish are almost dying you wouldn't notice it.

Exactly how much chlorine gas are you willing to inhale every time you do a water change? HHmmm. Just enough to make you cough once? A little?

The chlorine burns your lungs as it does the fishes gill tissue, but it also stress' your fish, burn fins and strip mucus, if it happens minutely once, you and the fish can recover. More and it will also cause irreparable internal organ damage.

Breath it in diminishing amounts (as would happen as the dechlor works) for several minutes and have your doctor at the emergency room tell us how you feel since you won't be able to talk, as you will be just trying to breath and that's on oxygen! Do you increase the oxygen to your fish while you burn their gills? Of course not, because most don't run aeration because they don't like how the bubbles look.

If fish could scream at least some of you would change your methods.

This doesn't come from opinions, there have been many University studies done on this. Facts is facts.

If someone wishes to site a University study (not a manufacturer that sells the product) to the contrary please do.

I'm not here to debate this issue, as there isn't any debate.

I'm not here to accuse someone of being a poor caretaker, ignorance of how things really work can sometimes be blamed on advertising.
But once you have the proper data, how you choose to use it does indicate what kind of caretaker you are.

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This is correct.
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5 minutes is ok, 15 minutes is great.

Want to tell the class what would happen if you dump the container of injector cleaner (not the bottle with built-in fuel) directly to the injectors. Hint...It's not a pretty site.


Dr Joe

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im not to worried about adding it directly to my tank. my fish swim in the water coming out of the hose. like inches from it. they enjoy it. i doubt they would be enjoying it if it was hurting them or burning them.
conclusion: either prime works very fast or chlorine takes time to do its damage

 

[sostoudt]

Here is my analogy of the health risk associated with adding dechlor to a tank and then adding water; exposing the fish to varying levels of chlorine/chloramine for a few seconds.


Some say they have been doing it for years and have observed no ill effects on their fish VS. others who always pre-mix the water & dechlor before a water change, is like comparing a cigarette smoker to a non-smoker.

The smoker may appear to have a "normal" life; they occasionally participate in rigorous activity, they breed, they appear to look normal, and they live a relatively long time.

However, a non-smoker will generally (let's stick with the 80/20 rule): have better physical strength and endurance, have healthier offspring, look better (better color in fish), and live a number of years longer.

dont like that analogy. a better one would be second hand smoke a few mins a week vs no second hand smoke.

or even better one someone that showers in chlorinated water vs those that shower in well water. you see in a shower hot water + aeration= chlorine gas.
so inhaling chlorine gas is the equivalent to what happens to our fish.
so how many of you wont shower now?

 

[MeAko]

Here is the FAQ from our water supplier:

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]h. Post Treatment - just before the filtered water leaves the treatment plant, lime, chlorine and fluoride may be added to the water. Chlorine is added to disinfect the water in order to ensure its safeness for the consumer; fluoride, to prevent tooth decay; and lime, to correct the PH or acidity levels of the water, thereby preventing corrosion of the pipes in the distribution system.

I take it that this would mean that our water does NOT have chloramines.

Ergo, my current practice of removing water from my tanks (40%) and pond (25%) and then dripping in the water replacement does seem to be sound. I like the idea of being able to just leave the hose the whole day dripping in the replacement water. This saves a lot of time and energy having to add dechlor as the water is flowing in, really can't add full measure to the pond as I would be having to buy gallons of dechlor for it every so often.

Anybody else does this dripping in water replacement practice? Note that this is different from the constant drip method.
[/FONT]

Now I'm doing a weekly 50% water change schedule. Not because I want to, but the lawn needs more water because it's nearing summer and heat is coming.