Dechlorinating

[FishGeek]

I have heard from a few people now that they have never used dechlorinator in their tanks. Just straight tap water. Now I was wondering how many people out there do this? Is dechlorinating a mith? Some placebo product put out there by aquarium companies to make money? I talked to people both in Calgary and Edmonton about this.(We have totally different water)
If you think about it, most people put the dechlorinator in and then puor it in their tanks right away! Most chemicals need some time to mix and start a reaction. So urban legend or neccesity?

Simon

[FishGeek]

Also has anybody ever tested for chlorine or chloramine before and after?

Simon

[Seaquest]

Hi

If your serious about keepeing Fish salt or fresh, or even a reef tank, you can't go wrong by using a R/O unit follwed by a Di canister mixed or seperate bed. This will give you excellent water quality your fish will flick there fine in joy .

[BCReefer]

I use a tap purifier for the past 4 months but prior to that did not use anything for about 5 months. I am not sure if I was just lucky and didn’t have a problem or was it the water in Langley. It comes from a water shed not to far away. I also don’t smell chlorine in the water compared to large urban centers like Chicago. If you have ever been there you will know what I mean.

There are supposedly several other “things” in our water that we shouldn’t have in a closed system that the purifier cleans up. I have spoken to some people who have never used any form of purifier for years and never had a problem. I just use mine for a piece of mind.

Patrick

[Jack]

Chlorine evaporates from the freshwater if you stir it every while in a bucket. That is why dechloronators are a gimmik. But it's up to you, Chloramine, on the other hand, needs to be nutralized, it doesn't evaporate. But I don't think I have ever heard of Chloramine being used in our tap water. I use an RO/DI so the carbon filter removes the chlorine for me.

[Marianne]

The whole thing is really source water.

Lets say you are collecting rain water, then NO PROBLEM. You would have very low TDS, no chlorine and it should be very simple to perform any pH adjustment you may need (no buffer in rain water)

On the other hand.

Hard water can be a problem. there is a high dissolved solid content. As you top off, the TDS level will continue to rise. Until you get pee soup.

Chlorine is required by the US safe water drinking act (0.5 ppm to every tap on the system). It only has 1 purpose to kill. It is a disinfectant. It is fairly easy to get rid of, aeration or reacting it out.

Now there are chlomines, this is chlorine and ammonia mix, it is designed to stabilize chlorine. So you can strip the chlorine with carbon, but the ammonia remains. Nasty stuff. I have done experiments with Discus people, glad to share if you guys want.

Hope this helps.

[Rainman58]

I live in Abbotsford where we have two different water sources. On the west side where I live the water is supposed to be pretty good but I still use a product called Aqua Plus (Chlorine and Chloramine remover) everytime I add new water to my tank. I`ve spoken to people (Pet Lovers etc) who are on a different water source than myself and they have told me if they didn`t use any tap water conditioner when doing water changes their fish would be dead in an hour! Guess it all depends on where you live but i`ve got wayyyyyyyy too much invested in my tank to be taking any chances.

[StirCrazy]

Originally posted by Jack:
But I don't think I have ever heard of Chloramine being used in our tap water.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Chloramine, is what is used down here Jack, the reason for using it is you canuse a lot less (because it is bonded and stays in the water. because chlorine will disapate from standing water in as little as one hour you havee to use a lot more of it and then you will start to smell it.

by using Chloramine, they can keep the dosagge down low enuf that you won't even notice it.

Steve

[Jack]

Wow, I didnt know that. Geez, woops. Sorry 'bout posting misleading info.

[reefburnaby]

Hi,

Yes...use dechlorinator. In my past experience, it only takes a couple of hours (less than 4) of slightly chlorinated water to shutdown a reef. And then it took 4 months to recover. Basically, my tank went in to another cycle.... I accidentally did that when I first started reefs. RO or DI or RO/DI water will fix the problem. So will the dechlorinator stuff.

- Victor.