RO water and chloramines

[Disgirl]

Quick question here, does RO romove chloramines? I was told by a lfs today that it does and I am not sure now. Thanks for info.
Barb:)

[TURQ64]

RO units remove chloramines..Google 'chlorimine' and you'll read that it is only removed, not evaporated...Gary

[flyman767]

Yep..removes about 98% of everything. Depending on the efficiency of the RO membrane.

[William Palumbo]

Actually it's the carbon filters that remove the chloramines/chlorine. Some RO membranes are destroyed by chlorine. Was why there were "well" water systems and tap water systems...Bill

[saltydog]

Yep like Bill said you will have to get a carbon/chloramine block as one of the filters in the RO unit.

[Disgirl]

Thanks Gary, Ray, Bill and Cammie, now I know. I'm not getting one but a lfs guy told me this and I wasn't sure about it. So I knew right away where to go for the answer!
Barb

[William Palumbo]

The thing is Barb, is the RO units are sold with all the filtering you'll need. From Micron, to chemical. All now adays are "plug and play"...Bill

[TURQ64]

plus, some are now RO/DI with yet another canister...!

[William Palumbo]

plus, some are now RO/DI with yet another canister...!

True...Is how mine is...Bill

[nc0gnet0]

Actually it's the carbon filters that remove the chloramines/chlorine. Some RO membranes are destroyed by chlorine. Was why there were "well" water systems and tap water systems...Bill

+1 If your carbon block filter is depleted (usually this is the second stage), chloramines could pass through the RO membrane, this is one of the reasons that the better units have a carbon filter after the membrane. I have removed the DI stages from my five stage unit and replaced them each with carbon filters.

[Disgirl]

Well, now I wonder, if a person puts a good amount of good quality carbon in their HOB filter, will this take out the chloramine? I have lots of chlorine and chloramine in my tap water but I use Safe with each wc. But for others, who may not have access to Safe or Prime, would carbon suffice or would it take too long, as I suspect.
Barb

[nc0gnet0]

Theoritically yes, but you for sure wouldn't want to put it in your tank (the chloramines) and then try to remove it via carbon there. It needs to be removed prior to introduction in the tank.

[TURQ64]

not a good plan fr several reasons...

[Disgirl]

Thanks guys, now I know for sure. Just Safe for me, as I am adding tap water to my tank.
Barb

[Chad Hughes]

Barb,

For what it's worth, here's what I do...

All of my water is filtered through extruded carbon block filtration before it enters my aging tanks. It sits for 24 hours to allow the temperature to adjust to 84 degrees. That's it. I use about 400 gallons a day.

I keep safe around for "emergencies".


Hope that helps!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Disgirl]

Thanks for the info. Chad. I will tell you all what led to my question in post #1. Our city tap water went from soft and alkaline (unusual I know, but we are near the ocean) to very hard and high ph. We are on a different aquifer now. I asked two of our lfs (one is Pet Smart) how they treat their water to keep all their tetras and other water sensitive fish alive in this liquid rock water we now have. They both said they now use RO water. BUT I sure feel sorry for the fish and the local fish hobbyists who don't have or know of such a thing as RO. Most of their fish will die now. And I know that the lfs doesn't tell people that their tap water is so different than what the store has their fish in. Thanks goodness my 12 discus have adapted well to the new hard and alk. water they have to live in. At least I can promise them the water is very clean and well filtered. Just goes to show how hardy and adaptable these discus are!
Barb