chemicals or no chemicals that is the question

[danielle's tank]

ok so i have my container of new tap water here waiting for me to add i threw in some aquarium salt but i dont have any chemicals for dechlorization as my lfs says no chemicals. one of my friends says she used to leave her new tap water sit over night before adding it to get rid of chemicals. which of these should i do? up til now i have just been throwing the water straight in

[Birger]

for dechlorization as my lfs says no chemicals.

What do you mean...LFS says there is no chemicals in the water from the tap?

Birger

[Suckermouth]

You haven't been dechlorinating your water at all? I'm surprised your fish aren't dead already.

You should get some kind of dechlorinator. Leaving water out to sit worked in the past, but now many water treatment plants use chloramine, not just chlorine, and chloramine stays dissolved in water much longer than chlorine. Simply adding dechlorinator is the only additive I use.

[danielle's tank]

my lfs puts no chemicals in her water only salt so she told me no adding that chlorine eliminator. she says she doent baby her fish that way they wont die when other people dont baby them. figured i should double check with ppl that actually know what they are talking about. thanks you guys are lifesavers hopefully literally. if not for this batch of fish definately my next batch will have more of a chance at survival thanks to this website.

[danielle's tank]

do you think this may be the reason behind the deteriorating fins?

[Birger]

First question is are you on town water, not everyone always is in the outlying municipalities??

A quick look here http://www.cityofflinflon.ca/files/2011 ... Report.pdf shows the use of chlorine in the municipal system at Cliff Lake which is the source and sodium hypochlorate at a plant down the line.

I think there is still more to the fin problem but if you are on municipal water you will need to dechlorinate.
Sounds like the water system might have been changed or they are currently working on it so that could be why people think they do not have to worry about it. I know there has been a push on to get everyone in municipalities to be on treated water.

If you need more imformation than what you can get from their website call the municipality.

Living here I only recently (only a few years now) had to start using chemicals for chlorine.

Seeing the pictures on that website sure reminds me of when I lived in Northern Ontario...so many beautiful lakes

Birger

[danielle's tank]

i know the lakes are so beautiful in this area and there are so many of them, the rocks and trees and lakes just make for beautiful landscapes. people in big cities just dont know what they're missing. although you are in canmore which if i recall has some beautiful views there with lakes and the mountains.

[MatsP]

The levels of chlorine in different places can vary greatly. I have been to Austin, TX, and the water there smells like it was drawn out of a swimming pool. The legal limit in the US for chlorine levels in water is 4ppm (ppm = part per million, or mg/liter). Here in England, the water is also chlorinated, but much lower level - it can not be above 1ppm [and still be legal]. If I read the water report that Birger linked to, it seems to indicate that the legal limit in Canada is 0.1ppm - which is very low, and I can't see how this would seriously harm the fish.

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Mats

[Shane]

my friends says she used to leave her new tap water sit over night before adding it to get rid of chemicals.

That only works if the water is aerated and the chemical used to treat it by your municipal supplier chloramine. It takes circa 12 days to drive chlorine from water via aertion. If chlorine could be driven off as quickly as chloramine it would be useless in swimming pools, hot tubs, etc. Luckily for aquarists the vast majority of water suppliers use chloramine. Some water suppliers will do a two week chlorine treatment once a year to "clean out the pipes," but this is uaually well advertised.

she says she doent baby her fish that way they wont die when other people dont baby them.

With all due respect, this is a crazy way of thinking. These chemicals are harmful and that is why there are laws like the ones Mats quoted above. It is like claiming that g cigarettes will some how toughen up your lungs. Chlorine and chloramine are poisonous to fish above certain concentrations. Exposing fish to these chemicals can not change that fact.
-Shane

[Jay1]

Danielle, I regard water as the single most important factor for keeping healthy fish, second to good diet. I would start, as suggested, by finding out the values of your water from the tap. This dictates how you treat it thereafter. Forinstance, I keep discus an live in the North West of England and my tap water is very soft with a ph of 7. Therefore, I only use conditioner to remove chlorine and chloromine... And some metals... And I find it easy to maintain that way. The water is stable and the fish are happy. Some fish keepers swear by purifiers etc, perhaps because their tap water isnt as good as mine.

Regardless of what you choose, the bottom line for me is keep your water perameters stable by keeping it basic and routine, but in any case removing chlorine and chloramine is a must. Good, clean, stable water = happy fish.

Be very cautious of any further advice given by that particular lfs.

[MatsP]

my friends says she used to leave her new tap water sit over night before adding it to get rid of chemicals.

That only works if the water is aerated and the chemical used to treat it by your municipal supplier chloramine. It takes circa 12 days to drive chlorine from water via aertion.

I'm pretty certain this is back to front with regards to chlorine vs. chloramine. The reason water companies use chloramine is that it's MORE stable and don't "evaporate". Chlorine gas added to water "evaporates" (or rather equalises with the surrounding air).

Here's a quote from the Wikipedia on Chloramine:

NH2Cl is commonly used in low concentrations as a secondary disinfectant in municipal water distribution systems as an alternative to chlorination. This application is increasing. Chlorine (sometimes referred to as free chlorine) is being displaced by chloramine, which is much more stable and does not dissipate from the water before it reaches consumers.

Further down:

Removing chloramine from water

Chloramine can be removed from tap water by treatment with superchlorination (10 ppm or more of free chlorine, such as from a dose of sodium hypochlorite bleach or pool sanitizer) while maintaining a pH of about 7 (such as from a dose of hydrochloric acid). Hypochlorous acid from the free chlorine strips the ammonia from the chloramine, and the ammonia outgasses from the surface of the bulk water. This process takes about 24 hours for normal tap water concentrations of a few ppm of chloramine. Residual free chlorine can then be removed by exposure to bright sunlight for about 4 hours.

Boiling the water for 20 minutes will remove chloramine and ammonia.

If it was just a case of leaving it to aerate for 24 hours, I would have though that would have been mentioned here.

Here's the whole article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chloramine

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Mats

[Shane]

I'm pretty certain this is back to front with regards to chlorine vs. chloramine. The reason water companies use chloramine is that it's MORE stable and don't "evaporate". Chlorine gas added to water "evaporates" (or rather equalises with the surrounding air).

Yes it is backwards. Teach me to proofread my own postings better. Thanks,
-Shane