Dechlorinating

[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.