My Chloramine remover

[timebomb]

Hi, fellas,

I've been busy

I would have preferred to find out for sure if there's really chloramine in our water and if it's there, I would like to know the concentration. But I've already spent quite a fair amount of money buying test kits which turned out to be pretty useless. So I thought I might as well join the crowd and get myself a chloramine remover.

Here's a picture of what I've rigged up:


The first problem I encountered when rigging up the damn thing was when I found my spanner too small for the brass connector. Sheesh. I've always thought my spanner to be big enough for all nuts and bolts. I had no choice but to fit the 3 cannisters together by using *hand-tightening*.
It leaked a bit when I ran the water through the 3 cannisters but I suppose I can live with that until I find a bigger spanner.

In the first cannister, it's just a sediment filter. The carbon filters are in the middle and last cannisters. The carbon cartridge in the middle cannister costs me Sing $5 whereas the one in the last cannister costs me Sing $12. The packaging says it's "1 um filtration" in the middle cartridge and "10 um filtration" in the last one. What does um stand for? Did I put the carbon cartridges in the right places?

Wright said we should rigged up a tap between the 2nd and 3rd cannisters so that we can check if the carbon in the 2nd cannister is still working but without a good test kit, this seems pointless.

Loh K L

[timebomb]

Oh, one more question.

What's the red button on the top of the cannisters for?

Loh K L

[RonWill]

Kwek Leong,
Most of these cartridge filters have a purge valve for vacating trapped air-pockets and are usually found near the in-flow, so based on your picture, the water flow is from right to left.

µm, where µ is the scientific symbol for micron and m is meter. Thus, µm or micronmeter, is a measurement unit just as mm is millimeter.

For the rest of us, it is simply a grid/mesh size which tells us how fine (or particle removal) the filtration system is capable of.

For my rig, the in-flow is set at full pressure from the mains and out-flow is reduced to one-third. I recall reading somewhere that activated-carbon is most effective when used under high pressure and technically, ineffective when used in passive flow-through chambers, like in a sump.

Meanwhile, get some teflon or plumbers' tape for the threaded connectors and remind me to dig around for a larger sized spanner.

[PohSan]

In another word:

1µm = 1/1000 mm

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[livionakano]

Well, if the label is correct, makes more sense to put the filters in decrescent order of the filtration. In other words, filtration for larger particles first, then another filter for smaller particles. 10 micrometers first, and then, 1 micrometer. Doesn´t it makes sense?

Ah, and Loh - I believe that the red button makes the air go outside the filter chambers, and is used when filter starts

[keehoe]

Loh, is the join between housing made of copper?

[timebomb]

Kee Hoe, it's made of bronze, I think. Here's the address of the shop where I bought it:

Chuan Hup Huat
Block 809 French Road
#01-184
Kitchener Complex
Singapore 200809

Loh K L

[Scott_sg]

Bronze will have copper but it wont make any difference with the copper in the water already since it comes through copper pipes anyway. The only people who panic about copper are some of the marine people as invertebrates are very sensitive even to minute amounts, things such as the corals etc.

Scott

[keehoe]

Thanks Scott. Anything with copper in it would make my hair stands after the previous "experiment". I wipe out my whole tank of snail (trap door, trumpet etc). I dose With copper sulfatite and after that all gravel have to be thrown away as after many water changes, I still can't keep my guppy with the gravel.

[Scott_sg]

Yeah Keehoe copper sulphate will kill invertebrates like snails etc very fast, especially shrimps and similar. That is why it is a good medication for a lot of parasites, the problem is it is very hard to dose it properly. Different animals will tolerate copper in different levels and there is no simple rule. They either live or die.
I know gardners and farmers still use lots of copper sulphate for plants to get rid of moulds and aphids etc, but for fish tanks it is very risky.

Scott.

[keehoe]

I was using it like salt. Mmmm two tea spoon to 15litre tank. It is amazing how fast all the snail comeout and die. I should have just boil my gravel. That would definately cook all the snail inside.

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

Freddy gave me a Chinese New Year present the other day. He got someone to rig up a "Chloramine remover" system and gave it to me as a present. Thanks, buddy.

Freddy's system involves using 4 cannisters. Which is a good thing because with 4, you can rig them up to form the shape of a square. With such a shape, the system won't topple over. When I was using my 3 in a line system, I had to mount it to my Killifish bench as it topples easily.

Here are some pics:




The first 2 cannisters are sediment filters; the last 2 carbon.

Loh K L

[RonWill]

Bloody good idea!! I didn't think of such arrangement earlier and it's too late, now that my rig is wall-mounted.

Freddy, what grey connectors are those between the filter modules? Kwek Leong, all you need now is a 'handle' to lug the setup around. It'd be great to see some close-ups?

[timebomb]

Here you go.






The system already has some sort of a handle, Ronnie. It's the metal hose that joins the 2nd and 3rd cannister. It's not strong enough to lift the whole setup by the hose alone but I drag the whole thing around my balcony by pulling on it. Even when all the cannisters are filled with water, the system is still relatively light. You can carry it around. It's not a deadweight, if you know what I mean.

Loh K L

[ruyle]

The hose couplings certainly help to make it a colorful little beast!

How's it working out for you, KL? Looks like it's built to last a long time

Bill

[timebomb]

Oh yes, Bill. The person who rigged up the system was quite clever to use different coloured "quick-release" valves for the inlet and outlet. I still have to check but over time, I believe my brain would be conditioned to recognise the colours and know which valve to plug the hose into.

It's been working well but I wish I have a reliable chlorine detector. Now, I use the system because I think there's enough chloramine in our water to kill my fish but I wish I can find out for sure. A skeptic does not like to do things based on hearsay; he believes only in real evidence. Although there's evidence enough to suggest there's chloramine in our water, the thing that bugs me is hardly any fish shop uses such a system. Chloramine does not seem to bother them nor their fish. How can that be when they keep so many more fish than us?

The guy who rigged this system does this "as a side-income". The whole set costs less than a hundred Sing dollars, if you're not fussy about the quality of the carbon filters. I don't have his contact but he hangs around Eco-Culture. I think Azmi would know where to find him.

Loh K L

[keehoe]

Hi guys, something to add to this. Found a carbon filter block that cost only 5 Malaysia Dollar. Anyway to test whether it is as good as those cost 30SGD?