Seachem Prime- Can it affect Fish.

[RD.]

Our city has been using chloramine as a disinfectant for approx 15 yrs, and the city report only states "chlorine residual".

We did an experiment in our lab, and found after 2 weeks, chloramine disinfected water still had a total chlorine residual nearly as high as the day it was drawn.

They did the same here, with the same results.

 

[elting44]

The difference is Total Chlorine is the measurement of chloramine, and free chlorine (or chlorine) is just straight chlorine, at least that's how we differentiated the 2.
I spent about 20 years working as a chemist/microbiologist in a drinking water plant.
I tested chlorine, and total chlorine (among another dozen water parameters) in all phases of our treatment process every 2 hours, of every working day.
We considered it bucket chemistry.
I mix my own dechlorinator using dry sodiumthiosulfate salts.
In my house every time a toilet is flushed, it uses aquarium water, and all plants inside and out, are watered with aquarium water, so I do daily partial water changes.
In summer in might be 40-50% daily, in winter 20-30% every other day, I have about 2000 gallons in tanks and pools containing fish.

thats awesome! are there any threads where I can read up on your setup, sounds very interesting!!

 

[CANAMONSTER]

Yes I live 1 hr north of Toronto right next to a large fresh water lake which is where my water comes from. My PH is also higher then Toronto and I believe this lake has an issue with phosphates which I believe is the reason I always have reddish brown algae lol.

Here are some reports that might be useful as an example for what others can maybe look for.

What do you get from this Duane? It looks to me like maybe no Chloramine?

Its amazing to actually see what is in our waters, Arsenic?? Lol

OK I can't upload them.

It says Chlorine: number of grab samples
8700
Range of Results
0.56-> 2.2 mg/l

That is the only thing it says about chlorine and then states
Raw water is directed to the treatment plant by the low lift pumps via a 450 millimetre diameter
transmission main. A50 millimetre diameter chlorine solution feed and raw water sampling tine are
situated along this main. Raw water enters the treatment plant, passes through a 300 millimetre
electromagnetic flow meter and is dosed with sulphuric acid for pH adjustment (when operationally
necessary), chlorine gas (when operationally necessary) and polyaluminum chloride. The dosed
water then passes through a mechanical mixer to ensure proper dispersion of chemicals into the flow
prior to being directed to one of five package granular-media flocculation-clarification and filtration
units.


Prior to discharging to
the distribution system, the water is again dosed with gaseous chlorine to provide adequate
secondary disinfection.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App

 

[duanes]

Sounds like straight chlorine to me.
Is there any mention of ammonia in the report?
Chloramine is a combination of (in my cities case) 5 parts chlorine, with 1 part ammonia.
By the way, arsenic is very common component of many natural aquifers, and becomes a concern when large human populations put excess pressure on, and lower the water table faster than it can be naturally replaced.

 

[RD.]

Sounds like chlorine, Mike. Again, if you are unsure the best thing to do is drop a dime and call your local water treatment plant supervisor. Our city posts a very generic water report online, and there is no mention of chloramine, or ammonia, yet our water has been treated with chloramine for approx 15 yrs.

This is fishkeeping 101 stuff, everyone should know what type and amount of disinfectant is being used in their local water supply. Without that data treating your water with a conditioner such as Prime simply becomes a case of by guess or by golly.