methods of removing chlorine from tap water

[Graham]

If you were to add chlorinated water to a tank that had ammonia in it You would not get chloramines forming. It's not that simple. It takes the right amounts, something like 5:1 and then pH and temp get involved....leave this one up to the chemists at the water company

Before chlorinated or chloramines water ever gets near a fish or an established bio it should be neutralized with the appropriate de-chlorinator in a separate holding tank...Or if the water is being added directly to the tank, there should be an appropriate amount of de-chlor added to the tank prior to the new water going in. The neutralization of chlorine or chloramines is instant.

G

[Diskees]

Roxanne . Thereis water that has been treated with Chloramines and then there is water that has been treated with Chlorine . So what do we have ? Non treated water and the treated water . Treatment with Chloramines will create som kind of a problem We can get rid of the Chloramines by filtering over granulated carbon , followed up by a regular carbon filter . This may take up to five days and the flow over the granulated carbon should be very low ( lets say 1 gallon per hour ) . Why are you afraid of getting Chloramines in your aquarium water ? If there is ammonia in your water the carrying capacity of your filter is not large enough . The biological filter is the most important part of your set-up . My filter systems were of the dry filter type and had a surface area equal to the surface area of the main aquarium , with a bed depth of about 10 inches . So with the right biological filter there should not be any any ammonia in your water . If you aerate your make-up water you should have no chlorine left in your ( make-up ) water . So where is the chloramine comming from ? ( provided your water has been treated with chlorine only . ) If your water was treated with chloramines you should aerate and filter as I discussed before . Diskees

[TankWatcher]

I would NOT want to come home and see all my discus standing on their heads like happened to Robyn. If there's other ways to soften/whatever the water that are less scary, I go there....cos I am a chicken

whatever caused the head standing, it wasn't RO

[Roxanne]

Hey Robyn, someone elses discus were half dead and head standing because they left something on and it sucked all the oxygen or something out of the water...u gonna make me find the thread aren't you..

Hi Graham

If you were to add chlorinated water to a tank that had ammonia in it You would not get chloramines forming. It's not that simple. It takes the right amounts, something like 5:1 and then pH and temp get involved

Didn't mean to imply that it was as simple as that but if a "chloramine bond" is chlorine 'attached' to ammonia, what is a chloramine?(I'm not being cheeky..)

Before chlorinated or chloramines water ever gets near a fish or an established bio it should be neutralized with the appropriate de-chlorinator in a separate holding tank..The neutralization of chlorine or chloramines is instant.

As you say, in a seperate holding tank, why? because you will kill the biofilter if you added it to a tank? Right? Which is why I don't understand why diskees can say to run the water thru a bio filter without treating it first, and how can you get rid of chloramine with aeration in a hurry? If it takes weeks to get rid of it and you do x many water changes/week, imagine the water storage facillity you would need to build?

Why are you afraid of getting Chloramines in your aquarium water ? Diskees

Are you drunk?

Before chlorinated or chloramines water ever gets near a fish or an established bio it should be neutralized

If there is ammonia in your water the carrying capacity of your filter is not large enough Diskees.

There isn't any ammonia in my TANK, I have ammonia in my TAP WATER, it is also CHLORINATED...which is why I cannot put it through a bio filter.....and why AERATION does not get rid of the ammonia after 10 days....somebody tell me am I speaking another language?

The biological filter is the most important part of your set-up . Diskees

No really? I'm blonde but I am not stupid!

If you aerate your make-up water you should have no chlorine left in your ( make-up ) water . So where is the chloramine comming from ? ( provided your water has been treated with chlorine only . ) If your water was treated with chloramines you should aerate and filter as I discussed before . Diskees

You act surprised that there is ammonia in my tap water, then say to run it thru a bio filter to get rid of the ammonia? If that's your advice to someone with chloramine/chlorine in their supply water, I'm glad I'm not listening!

[Diskees]

Yes Roxanne I am amazed that you have ammonia in your tap water . Tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramines . Not with ammonia alone ! I said that if you have chloramine treated water you should filter it over granulated charcoal followed up by a regular charcoal filter . ( sunlight and heating will also help to get rid of the chloramines ) This process willtake at least 5 days at a slow flowrate . As for chlorine you just aerate for about 24 Hrs . Always start from your tap water . Never add de-chlorinating tablets to your water . Why add something ( that will change your natural water condition ) if it is not necessary . There is no secret about discus water . Just keep it as natural and fresh as possible . Always worked for me . The only thing you have to watch out for is the calcium content of the water when the eggs are laid and are ready to hatch . Diskees

[Diskees]

Roxanne . In order to prove that I know what I am talking abouy , GOOGLE , Diskees ( freeservers ) and have a look at my main aquarium . And ..... no I don;t think you are stupid Diskees

[Roxanne]

.... Treatment with Chloramines will create som kind of a problem .... Why are you afraid of getting Chloramines in your aquarium water ? Diskees

All due respect, How can you be advising me diskees, if you keep contradicting what you say? I thought I was misinterpreting you, but you are just being fuzzy.....

I'm not googling nothing cos that's about the third or fourth shameless plug you have got in during a thread, and you have yet to convince me you even know what you are talking about. In another thread you asked me why I was putting ammonia into my cycling tank.......I can confuse myself enough without your help thanks very much.

[Diskees]

Roxanne the reason I asked you why you put ammonia in your tank is because ammonia will get in the tank by itself . You put two fish in and later you may put in a few more . Although I must say that I had 4 fish in a 50 gallon tank at the most . I am not trying to confuse you at all . Just read what I write . The subject of water is the most important issue in keeping discus . I have done it for 40 years so I am not a newcomer to the hobby . All I do is to help . If that sis not appreciated just skip my posts and I will not be mad about that at all . With regards Diskees

[TankWatcher]

Sorry all - this is off topic.

u gonna make me find the thread aren't you..

Thanks, but though the reason was debated & disputed on another forum, I believe the cause was the C02 & a line coming loose. That line is now secured by about 3 of those PVC cable tie things. Plus visual checks every day. It's not going to happen again

[Roxanne]

Roxanne the reason I asked you why you put ammonia in your tank is because ammonia will get in the tank by itself . You put two fish in and later you may put in a few more . Although I must say that I had 4 fish in a 50 gallon tank at the most . I am not trying to confuse you at all . Just read what I write . The subject of water is the most important issue in keeping discus . I have done it for 40 years so I am not a newcomer to the hobby . All I do is to help . If that sis not appreciated just skip my posts and I will not be mad about that at all . With regards Diskees

Diskees I am certain you are not TRYING to confuse me, you tell me to read what you say and I do, but if you read what I wrote you wouldn't have answered the way you did. I cannot put my water through a biofilter without treating it first, no matter how many years you have kept fish and if you think it's mean to the fishies to neutralize the nasties, ask them how the ammonia, chlorine and chloramines feel on their gills and blood vessels and how they feel about their biofilter being destroyed? Why can't you see the logic on that?

I'm not going to put my fish through a cycle? Wouldn't that be a bit MEAN to the fish? Especially coming from someone who puts such emphasis on the comfort of the fish? I kept the tank cycled so it would be ready for them. You asked me why I put ammonia into the tank and it's because of the reason I just said. Otherwise I would be a bit of an IDIOT wouldn't I? I take responsibility for being partially an idiot because I didn't check what was in the ammonia that made it cloudy before I used it...

You could be the best discus keeper in the universe but if you think someone with my water can go without dechlor & you would advise them to do so, it just goes to show a person has to do their own homework to be sure....

[Diskees]

Roxanne . you just do what you think is right . Maybe in the future we may hit on this subject again . If however you are a little interested in a well planted tank with a lot of healthy discus I would google anyhow just to satisfy my curiosity . With regards Diskees

[Roxanne]

Chlorine can be illiminated by airation , chloramine however is a combination of Chlorine and ammonia . To get rid of the chlorine , airate ( step one ) , and to get rid of the ammonia use a good working biological filter . After conditioning the water this way you are OK as far as discus go . Diskees

If there is chlorine in it, how r you going to get rid of the ammonia by aeration without first breaking the chloramine bond?
I thought I had misinterpreted what you said but there it is above...you imply it is a 2 step process...those 2 steps would have just killed my bio filter..


PS:

Tap water is treated with chlorine or chloramines . Not with ammonia alone Diskees

I didn't say it was...if you read what I wrote, there is ammonia in the DAM & so they chlorinate

[Diskees]

Roxanne . Now I see why we got confused . If you have ONLY chlorine in the water you simply aerate ( outside the tank ) . Since the tank then does not have any chlorine in it no more ( when you fill it with your chlorine treated water ) you may find a build-up of ammonia in the water ( because of the fish in it ) . This ammonia will be filtered out by a good aerated biological filter . Now ......chloramine will be a different story . Chloramine has to be treated outside the tank . It takes quite a long time to do this ( the natural way ) . After a period of about 5 days of filtering over granulated charcoal this chloramine will have dissapated . Regards Diskees

[Graham]

To the best of my knowledge NHCl2/chloramine can not be formed in our aquariums. It takes high amounts of each element at a 5:1 ratio in a pH greater than 8.4....so unless a person has a CL2/chlorine gas bottle and pure NH3/ammonia it isn't going to happen. Especially in our tanks with the extremely low levels of these elements that we encounter.

This is all such a non-issue...use a de-chlor made for both, like Prime, which is the right/typical/standard way to do it and Kees can trickle water for days on end through AC


Kees, You have a very nice tank so do a 100 other people on this board.

I'm not sure what part of the world you live in but having ambient NH3 in tap water is fairly common, especially in rural areas where lots of fertilizers are used.

Also getting rid of chloramine via AC is impractial as hell. Lets see I need 200gallons per day and according to you the flow should be about 1 gallon per hour ...so 24 gallons per day....

There's a lot of people breeding a lot of fish on this and other boards and they mainly use Prime or a basic sodium thiosulfate de=chlor.....are they wrong.

G

[Diskees]

Graham . No they are not wrong . If you spawn discus you must be doing everything right . No matter how you do it , its the end result that counts . I never worried much about chloramines forming in my tank because like you said it is impossible to have this happen under these circumstances . Regards Kees