low cost water conditioners-what and were

[cassharper]

Here

Now this doesn't remove the aforementioned chloramines or heavy metals, but for 67.50:

4 oz make a 1 g stock solution. 1 lb makes 4 g of stock solution. 50 lbs makes 200 g of stock solution.

1 drop treats 1 g of water

24 drops is 1 ml, and there are 37850 ml in a gallon. 908,400 drops in a gallon. So for 67.50, you can treat 181,680,000 g of water for chlorine. I think that's the cheapest way.

Sodium Thiosulfate is great stuff.

 

[cassharper]

I did some more research and sodium thiosulfate will break apart the chlorine/ammonia bond in chloramines, but does not take care of residual ammonia.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

correct^^^ thanks alot for the backup.

 

[zennzzo]

Seems like the reading I did, said that the ammount of rsidual Ammonia was easily taken care of by the biofilter...

Probably is best used in water that is treated with chlorine only. If the water is treated with chloromine, maybe smaller water changes so the peak in ammonia doesn't create too big of spike.

 

[hybridtheoryd16]

I did a 50% water change on a 29g feeder tank for the testing and my aquarium pharmaceuticals ammonia test kit showed zero ammonia and the tank also had zero chlorine. The amount of ammonia released when the chloramine bond is broken is extremely small. So small that a aquarium grade test can not detect it.

 

[cassharper]

Seems like the reading I did, said that the ammount of rsidual Ammonia was easily taken care of by the biofilter...

Probably is best used in water that is treated with chlorine only. If the water is treated with chloromine, maybe smaller water changes so the peak in ammonia doesn't create too big of spike.

The maximum amount of chloramine allowed to be added to tap water by the EPA is roughly 4 ppm (mg/L... how most of the major test kits will read it). Since chloramine is a simple bond of Chlorine and Ammonia you can reckon about half that. You will need to double the dose (on the safe side) to break this bond with sodium thiosulfate. 2ppm of the water added, a 50% w/c would leave your tank at about 1ppm (a little higher) if your water supply uses the max amount of chloramines allowed (very few do).

I would do a mock set up and test the water for ammonia afterwards. This would be great if only trace amounts of chloramine are added, but still might be problamental if they add quite a bit. I'm looking into a bulk chemical you can order to neutralize ammonia, but unfortunately, most scale operations use agitation based off gasing, chelation, or bio filtration.

This problem would be significantly reduced in a heavily planted tank.

 

[cassharper]

Read more!

There is some bickering at the top, but a lot of really good information about half way down based on a panel interview

 

[chester va]

I found this: http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Sodium-Thiosulfate-Pentahydrate-500g-P6376C670.aspx And this: www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/620804-AA.shtml Thought it was interesting.

 

[Malawi-]

The best stuff is "Prime" order it at doctor foster and smith

 

[Austin]

I use prime, have always and will continue too. the cost/risk factor is not there for me. spending $60 every few months on a gallon is worth the peace of mind. but just my $0.02. now if we could do something about the electricity bill i'd be interested....