Chloramine question

[Tropical Haven]

I am curious if there is a definite way of determining if there are chloramines in your water. I am getting ready for some tanks for discus and want to use a drip system for them and it would make my life much easier if I don't have chloramines. My plan is to hook up my drip system to my main water supply and using a carbon filter to remove chlorine but I do believe this won't remove chloramines.

[lillou]

Check with your local water Bureau. They have to tell you what the water is treated with. In NYC it is the NYC DEP. I don't know what it would be by you.

Hope it helps
Lou

[dishpanhands]

Run the water through the carbon block then check the water for ammonia.
chlorine+ammonia=chloramine
HTH

[Elite Aquaria]

swinefka,

I live in Florida and our water is treated with Clorimines. As stated above by dishpanhands chlorine+ammonia=chloramine. If you use a cubic foot of Activate carbon you can break the bond between Chlorine and Ammonia and you are left with water you can run directly into your tank. I have done this for years.

I use a 12/40 acid washed coconut shell based carbon. This should be changed after about 9-12 months depending on how much water you use daily. I have let it run for as long as 18 months but this is pushing it. Also you will want to back flush your canister at least once per week.

Dan

[annieb]

swinefka,

I live in Florida and our water is treated with Clorimines. As stated above by dishpanhands chlorine+ammonia=chloramine. If you use a cubic foot of Activate carbon you can break the bond between Chlorine and Ammonia and you are left with water you can run directly into your tank. I have done this for years.

I use a 12/40 acid washed coconut shell based carbon. This should be changed after about 9-12 months depending on how much water you use daily. I have let it run for as long as 18 months but this is pushing it. Also you will want to back flush your canister at least once per week.

Dan
I'm confused, Dan. If you use a high quaility cubic foot + of carbon that breaks the bond and disapates the chlorine, where does the Ammonia go?

[dishpanhands]

where does the Ammonia go?

It goes into your fish tank and is consumed by your Bio filter. Some put a Bio filter in there storage tank to eat it there.
HTH

[Elite Aquaria]

There is a limited amount of ammonia that is in my water after the filtration through my carbon unit. In fact, the levels are so low that they are a non-issue for me.

Dan

[Tropical Haven]

Thanks for the posts guys.

[Polar_Bear]

Scott,
By far the easiest way to determine whether or not you have chlorine or chloramines in your water is to simply call your water compamy and ask them. Of all the people I know in our area only one of them claims to have chloramine, all others including myself still have only chlorine in our water. I doubt that you have Lake Michigan water since you are so far west, but if you do the chances are that you have chlorine. Again though, calling your water dept. is still a good idea.

[Tropical Haven]

I will do that, that is the safest way to go about it.

[FishLover888]

Keep in mind that the water company can add chloramines in the water anytime without telling people. They can also double the amount used depending on the intake water quality.

Some people lost their whole stock of fish because of that.

[Elite Aquaria]

Keep in mind that the water company can add chloramines in the water anytime without telling people. They can also double the amount used depending on the intake water quality.

Some people lost their whole stock of fish because of that.

This is a very good point. That is why I always have some prime on hand just in case.

Dan

[Tropical Haven]

I guess I will have to fall back on plan 2. That is draw water from my holding tanks by my magnetic driven pump to my drip system and put it on a timer to kick on and off at certain times. I was hopeing that I would be able to place a float switch into my holding tank so when the level goes down far enough to trigger the float it would top off my tank keeping it from ever running dry. That way I can keep it on 24hrs a day and keep flow into my tanks all the time. But since I will have to pretreat my holding tanks for chloramines prior to kicking on my pump to send water to my tanks I cannot keep it on 24hrs a day like I was hopeing to.

[annieb]

There is a limited amount of ammonia that is in my water after the filtration through my carbon unit. In fact, the levels are so low that they are a non-issue for me.

Dan
Dan, since your method of removing Chloramine works for you, then there are a lot of fish keepers out there that are wasting their time and money on expensive chemicals like Prime & Amquel that break the Ammonia / Chlorine bond, nutralize the Chlorine, and render the Ammonia harmless. It is my understanding that a simple RO unit that has a membrane and a Carbon block will not remove enough Chloramine to render it harmless to fish.
Dan, what percent of tank water do you replace when you do a water change and how frequently do you do water changes? Are you tanks planted or bare bottom? If you have planted tanks, your bio filtration probably is removing the ammonia quickly enough to render it harmless.
I would love to know the ammonia reading in one of your tanks after a water change. I think it's very important to understand why your method is working. Some fish keepers on this forum that have Chloramines in their water might try switching over to coconut charcoal and lose a lot of fish because their conditons might not be the same as yours.

[texasdiscusman]

Annie
What Dan is not telling you is that . That much carbon is not cheap I also get rid of chloramines the same way. But the system which is the same most likely is 10 inches in diam. and 4 ft tall it cost around $400.00 to do this so it is not cheap. That will buy a lot of prime for that price.
Randy

[Elite Aquaria]

annieb,
I change as much as 90% daily. All my tanks are BB.

texasdiscusman,
1 cubic foot of Carbon cost me $65. The canister can run around $200 - $250 new but I found mine on the side of the road for free. My lucky day I guess.

Dan

[Elite Aquaria]

I would love to know the ammonia reading in one of your tanks after a water change. I think it's very important to understand why your method is working. Some fish keepers on this forum that have Chloramines in their water might try switching over to coconut charcoal and lose a lot of fish because their conditons might not be the same as yours.


Annieb,

I just tested my Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates out of my filter and all readings were 0 ppm. I will call my water company and get the details of my city water parameters for all to see how it may compare to theirs. The last thing I would want is for someone to lose all their stock. We all should read as much as we can and make intelligent decisions for what is right for our situation. :angel:

Dan

[Buckeye Field Supply]

Our Chloramine Special systems use a 10 inch cartridge of catalytic GAC, followed by a high quality carbon block. The ammonia goes through the RO membrane, but is captured by the DI resin.

Russ @ BFS

[Elite Aquaria]

Russ,

Thanks for the input on your RO unit. We were discussing setting up a drip system from the straight tap water. I run my tap water through a cubic foot canister of 12/40 mesh coconut shell activated carbon. The question was if the intake water has chloramine, what happens to the ammonia after the chlorine/ammonia bond is broken. I have found with my city water that the ammonia is not present when I do test using API test kits.

Dan

[Buckeye Field Supply]

Test for free chlorine and then test for total chlorine.