Originally Posted by
fc
Nelson,
Personally, I do not use any chemicals, except floculants under helpless situation.
IMO, anti-chlorine/chloramine is not necessary as long as you do not do large water change. I had done 50% many times without problem but I always practice 30%. I am into minimum water change for many months. That is, I only change water when I do heavy uprooting/pruning. My last water change was Aug 04.
Do not be concern about the water PH under normal circumstances. Put away the chemicals.
I agree strongly with that last statement. The chemical "soup" caused by adjusting pH is usually much more harmful than the pH itself. I know of no killifish species that will not survive and grow in pH of 8 (tho eggs may be another matter). Peat tea is a cheap and easy way to lower the pH of very soft water, for raising wild Bettas, etc. Not many killies seem to need it.
Anti chloramine treatment is vital, even when water % changes are tiny, if your water actually contains chloramine. It will build up in the tank, and concentrations will increase, for it has a half-life of about 5 weeks. Folks who do weekly, or more often, water changes will gradually kill their fish when the water dept. starts adding chloramines. Those doing less-frequent changes will cause gill burns and make their fish much more likely to get diseases. The results are not obvious, but we had to learn to deal with this problem some years ago, and the solutions are both simple and clear.
Saying you do X% changes without problems doesn't mean a thing to me. What was the concentratioon of chlorine you read from your test kit when doing them? Will it still be zero the next time?
I like lots of infusoria for my baby fish, so I don't use chemicals to remove chloramine (when I lived in an area using it). Slow carbon-block filtering (taste and odor cartridge) maybe lowers a few good trace elements, but it does grab chlorine/chloramine and renders water safe for both fish and inverts.
Chlorine test solution is less than a buck (<US$1), here, and lasts for years. You don't really need the color chart, as any slight yellowing says "Yes, there is chlorine/chloramine here." If still there after 24 hours of vigorous aeration, it now says "It's chloramine." Even if you don't buy the solution from the pool and spa folks, and pay the $10 or so the LFS gets for a smaller amount of the same thing, there is simply no excuse for not having this fundamental test as part of your fishkeeping practice.
When the damage can be so slow and subtle, and the test is so easy, no amount of other observations will do what a quick chlorine test will do in a few seconds.
You cannot smell or taste the change, when it happens. If you are lucky, like me, and have water engineers who understand and will issue warnings, great. Nevertheless, a quick test from time to time can save your whole fishroom. Two Betta Grand Champions in the US once expressed exactly the same views you are, Freddy. Both lost tens of thousands of dollars worth of fish when the chloramine started and their fishrooms were totally wiped out.
Wright
01 760 872-3995
805 Valley West Circle
Bishop, CA 93514 USA
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