How do you remove the chloramines that are formed when chlorine is added to water with organic compounds?
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Water changes on city water?
- Thread starter Muni
- Start date
Hello; Here is a link to a web page which discusses the issue.
http://water.me.vccs.edu/concepts/chlorchemistry.html
I read thru it again and found no mention of chloramines being formed from chlorine. Feel free to cite or post a link providing such information.
Again, allow me to say that if a water company uses chloramines there does seem to be a case from the use of water treatment chemicals. I have no experience with water treated with chloramines, only water treated with chlorine.
In my case I have been on city water in two locations for at least 20 years with chlorine only as the water treatment. Here is a question for consideration. What are the negative effects supposed to be from using a store and age method with chlorine treated water?
One thing of some interest to me has been the statements by several that water treatment chemicals should be used even by those with good well water. Some citing that it is needed as a just in case. If a well has good water, then what is the need of additional treatment? If I still had a good well, I would use the water as it came from the well as I did for several decades. I tend to only use chemicals in my aquariums when there is a clear need.
I suppose the good thing about such discussions is that someone new to the hobby can have some different viewpoints to consider.
Hello; I have already do so. I included the quote in my previous post. I stated that you implied such.
I agree, I too, recently have started a new hobby where water quality is important but I can't say what it is.
Here's what I do for my WC's. Drain tank, add safe to treat entire volume, fill tank. For my SW tank though I don't use dechlor, but that's because I age the SW for a few days with some airstones. And I have checked and my city doesn't use chloramines so the aging method works for me.
Aging method worked for me just fine in the early days of my fishkeeping, never had a fish die from water quality before, just violence from other fish and bad genetics (ie those big box senegals, intoducing a red wolf to a leopard cten, which was adult size, i woke up to its head bit the hell up one morning ).
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Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine
http://www.chloramine.org/chloraminefacts.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine
http://www.chloramine.org/chloraminefacts.htm
Hello; I read thru the cite links quickly. My immediate take is that it would seem that my water storage methods are not likely to form chloramines. I store the chlorine only treated water in clean containers and there should not be any ammonia present. I will test the tap water for ammonia at some point to see if any ammonia may be present. I suppose that by the time I add the stored & aged water to an aquarium the chlorine has already gone thru chemical changes into dilluted acids. I also gather that in a fully cycled tank there will be little, if any, free ammonia in the water.
Correct. Aging water with chlorine will not form chloramine.
You should be fine.
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You should be fine.
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You won't be forming chloramines by aging your water, it is far more likely to happen in the treatment plant when they treat the incoming water. I understand that many people use the aging method without any problems, and others just add the tap water directly to their tanks, and both methods "work". However, I can't help but think that for the cost of some Prime/Safe/sodium thiosulphate it is a gamble not worth taking. The amount of chlorine added to the water can vary considerably depending on the quality of the incoming water, and I'm not sure if you would recieve any notice from your city if they did switch to chloramine for whatever reason.
IMO (and I emphasise "my opinion") this is one of those cases where there is a difference between what works and what is best practice. To me, the minimal cost of dechlorinator is nothing compared to the risk of losing livestock if the water treatment plant changes their methods. If you'd rather do it the "old school" way and wait until something goes wrong before reconsidering your options then that is up to you.
IMO (and I emphasise "my opinion") this is one of those cases where there is a difference between what works and what is best practice. To me, the minimal cost of dechlorinator is nothing compared to the risk of losing livestock if the water treatment plant changes their methods. If you'd rather do it the "old school" way and wait until something goes wrong before reconsidering your options then that is up to you.
Hello; This is not the first thread about water conditioning chemicals I have participated in. I checked with the head engineer at my local water treatment plant a couple of years ago on the subject. He informed me that water companies are required to give ample notice to the public if a change in the treatment procedure is going to happen. He also told me that for a water company to apply for such a change is unlikely as the process is involved and can take a long time. I go to the water company office to pay my bill and pick up the regular water quality reports and stay alert for any notices. My company also will print notices on the bill.
You are correct in that the amount of chlorine in the water lines will vary from time to time.
As far as your "best practice" opinion goes, I am glad that you posed it as an opinion. The best counter for such an opinion would likely require that you inspect my tanks and determine for yourself if there are issues. Baring that I can only relate that I have kept a variety of fish under these conditions and that the fish have generally lived well into maturity. While I have not kept the large fish for a few years, some of my smaller species have thrived. The best examples currently are some tiger barbs I have kept for at least eight years that I am sure of. There may have been some others that lived long spans but I do not keep such data written down. I have also raised fry from eggs many times over the decades using such water change methods. You have taken the same tack as a previous member in saying even thou a practice has worked well for over twenty years, you are implying that it is not a good practice. Our opinions differ.
I do not know about the possible formation of chloramines at the point when a water company adds the chlorine. Perhaps others will have some information on this.
