Poll: Anti Chlorine & Chloramine

[stormhawk]

If you have hardy fishes then using the water conditioner like Seachem Prime should suffice. Note, doing this may cause some of your plants to melt, as different plants react differently to freshly treated water. The problem here is the resulting ammonia after the breakdown of the tap water with these conditioners. However, of late I feel the addition of NEWater to our tap water is having an effect on our livestock. It brings to mind that the concentration of chloramine used to treat our water may have increased, given that NEWater is basically recycled from waste water.

The use of an RO unit as mentioned may be wise but the eventual need to treat the purified water with minerals and additives to make it suitable for use with fishes MAY defeat the purpose.

[ahhian]

For topping up water, not necessary. However, for a 25% water change and above, a high quality water conditioner that removes chlorine, chloramine, and ammonia (breakdown product of chloramine) certainly does more good than harm. People who claimed that their fish is alright after a water change without using water conditioner cannot guarantee that their fish is totally unscathed. It may be still alive, but the adverse affect may not be obvious, until this process is repeated in the long run. They only claim that their fish can take it, but they never revealed when their fish, after months, or even years of torture, finally gave up the will to live under this incorrect husbandry.

I have tried listening to those who claim that water conditioner after water change is not necessary, and I paid dearly for that mistake. Even using a water conditioner that does not remove ammonia is not recommended, bacause our tap water contains chloramine. I can totally see the effect when I switched to water conditioners that removes ammonia other than chlorine and chloramine, at 30% water change, on my rams and corydoras. They are life-savers.

Yes, they are that sensitive. Even when they do not show, it does not mean that it is alright. If you truly wants the best for your fish, do the right thing.

ahhian

[ahhian]

Some things in life just cannot be skimped on. A good quality water conditioner is one of them, and comes a long way.

[edw7636]

well, if you have a 3ft tank and below. Doing 10 to 20% daily is not that much at all The most 1 and a half pail of water only

Many expert worldwide has been reporting 10 to 20% wc dont have to use anti clorine as it will not effect much on the fish ( provided your tank has matured enough ).

But if your fish experincing erratic behaviour then a slight dose is recommended. And if your are really serious about the chlorine dosage . You might wanna check with town council or similar dept to check when they will be dosing the chlorine every weekly. For mine, its at every thurs,so if im doing wc ,i would skip that day and wait a few days before any major wc.

And also if you are living in HDB flats like most of us. first floor to 5 floor,the water flows from below the pipe and 6th to 10th floor and above and from the top. Determine the concentrated amt and judge for yourself

Leaving the water overnight might reduce chlorine but chloromine is more deadly . So if you are doing major wc like 50% or more. Better to use dechlorinated solution to be safe

[newlife]

Just based on my casual observation, y618 don't seem to be using antichlorine and the fish seem to be fine so it may be true it depends on area. I do use antichlorine though, just to play safe.

Ya...they does direct top up or wc with direct tap...but they add some stuff like crystal salt (like rock sugar)...don't know what's that...into the tank before adding in water.

[stormhawk]

The stuff in question could just be sodium thiosulfate in crystal form, which is basically what is contained in anti-chlorine solution.

[icefire]

I know this has been discussed a number of times before. But recently I had a discussion with an experienced hobbist who highlighted that anti-chlorine and chloramine is not necessary depending on where you stay. The hobbist even proudly proclaimed that his collection of fishes is doing well.

I hope that this poll will shed some light on the use of anti-chlorine and chloramine practised by the forum users and the reason for using it. Secondly, I do hope that current and future hobbist do understand why they are treating the water if the discussions in this thread is fruitful.

Other comments and discussion is more than welcome.

for monster keepers, some of them have been training fishes to be used to the chlorine/chloramine since day 1. for my area in jurong, water pH and chlorine is not that strong enough for 20% change in water to add anti-chlorine. however more water is to be change then i will add in some antichlorine as its better to be safe then sorry.

[morning breakfast eat]

I use ocean free anti chlorine. One dollar only

[icefire]

be careful with dosing that. heard of people having fatalities when using that for their monster fishes...

[morning breakfast eat]

Monster fish is big fish?

Anyone here has bad exp with oceanfree anti chlorine? share please

[stormhawk]

Monster fish usually applies to big predatory fishes like stingrays etc.

Ocean Free Anti Chlorine only removes chlorine I think. Nothing on the packaging states anything about ammonia, at least the last time I used it. I believe it only contains a solution of sodium thiosulfate, and nothing else, though going by a post in AF, you need to use a higher dosage as compared to some other brands, since it's probably quite diluted.

In any case, I stopped using OF stuff a long time ago.

[opt1c8n]

I could never keep my otos alive until I started using Prime

[icefire]

I could never keep my otos alive until I started using Prime

did you overdose it? we normally dose by adding in prime/antichlorine before adding in the new water.. did you do it the other way?

[Ron]

For me- Seachem Prime

[stormhawk]

I tested Seachem Prime today with a sample of my tap water with before and after readings. Strange thing was, before I applied Seachem Prime, chlorine test came up negative. After application, same result. I did a second round of tests and still the same result. Tested for ammonia also before and after application, 0ppm on both tests.

I should do a test tomorrow just to be sure.

[icefire]

what about chloramines? is there any tests to find out how much is present? highly suspects that chlorine is not use anymore but instead chloramines used instead as it is more stable..

[stormhawk]

It is supposedly able to measure chloramines too but upon reading some very old threads from the past, the kit is not very accurate. I will try again with a weak solution of bleach. Hopefully the reagent reacts or it's a waste of money. In any event, I still add Prime each time I top up or change water.

[Adam_80]

Chlorine can be dissipate through bubbling. However, the bonding between chloramine are much stronger and hence require the treatment by commercial product, anti-chlorine. The water from pub already has been treated with chemical hence swearing by the old method of going natural is therefore irrelevant in this scenario. Why sAve that few dollars and risk casualties?

[stormhawk]

The concentration of chloramine present in the water is not constant on a day to day basis, thus making dosage a bit tricky. Not all dechlorinators are made the same, with some having a higher or lower concentration of sodium thiosulfate, and some without the other chemicals needed to break down chloramine into chlorine and ammonia. So it's not a matter of saving money, but rather which product is worth your money.

In any event, running the water through a carbon and zeolite filter in a circulating system away from the actual aquarium before being used for water changes is best if one is fearful of the presence of chloramines, or just rely on remineralised RO/DI water for sensitive critters.

[Navanod]

I tested Seachem Prime today with a sample of my tap water with before and after readings. Strange thing was, before I applied Seachem Prime, chlorine test came up negative. After application, same result. I did a second round of tests and still the same result. Tested for ammonia also before and after application, 0ppm on both tests.

I should do a test tomorrow just to be sure.

It's strange that the kit did not pick up the chlorine but I may have a hypothesis why the ammonia did not show up in your after tests.
Seachem Prime is supposed to lock up ammonia as well. The active ingredient is likely to be sodium hydroxymethanesulfonate (HOCH2SO3Na) and this reacts with ammonia:

NH3 + HOCH2SO3Na ↔ H2NCH2SO3Na + H2O

Resulting in harmless aminomethanesulfonate (H2NCH2SO3Na) and water.