How many of you guys use anti chlorine?

I filled my goldfish pond up direct with tap water, at times 80% on water changes, without any issue. I wonder if it's alright with tropical.

Copied from a previous post:

When you add chlorine to water you get hypochlorous acid which reacts with the amines (in all proteins) and forms monochloramine. When you add more chlorine you get dichloramine and even more you get trichloramine. All these (and other reactions) form part of the "chlorine demand" in the water. You cannot get free available chlorine until this "chlorine demand" is satisfied. Therefore when the reaction is pushed towards trichloramine there will be virtually no monochloramine present. In the US they treat the water with monochloramie (made by reacting chlorine with ammonia) because chlorine will react with other impurities in the water and form some compounds that are not so nice (such as acetone) where as monochloramine will not. Monochloramine is not as effective in treating water as chlorine as is used in NZ but is still a strong oxidising agent.

When people complain that the chlorine in a swimming pool is too strong and it is burning their eyes the problem usually is that the free available chlorine has been used up by contaminants in the water (such as urea) and this has pushed the chloramines back towards the monochloramine and this is what is burning their eyes. The problem is fixed by adding more chlorine.

When you allow water to stand or aerate it to get rid of the chlorine the chloramines all move back to monochloramine and this will react with your fish the same as an under chlorinated swimming pool will with your eyes.

Chlorine and all chloramines can be converted to more harmless chemicals with the addition of sodium thiosulphate. Flourine is not added to drinking water, flouride is sometimes.

Drinking water will contain various impurites that add to the chlorine demand and will form chloramines

So, basically Alan, That means that when the water in your local swimming pool is hurting your eyes it means its because someone is pissing in the water??? I knew there was a reason I dont swim in pools. :lol:

Did I misunderstand something in Alans post or did it not answer the question..

I found the facts about how chlorine works in water interresting but I believe the question was whether people use de-chlorifiers for their tropical fish tanks.

I am also curious to what large scale fishkeepers usually do? and if they do how do they do it?

i use the hose

from simply discus website

to make an anti- chlorine treatment Mix 120 grams of sodium thiosulfate crystals per 1 gallon of water. Then use 1 drop per gallon for tank water

.

Sodium thiosulphate is the active ingredient in these water treatments and converts chlorine and chloramines to relatively harmless chemicals (sulphur and hydrochloric acid). I think the answer you are looking for is that people are divided about treatment. Some do treat and some do not. The reason for my post was that many people think that the chlorine will evaporate and all will be well, so I was pointing out that it is not that simple. In the end you pays your money and takes your pick. Livingarts treatment will be by far the cheapest way to treat large volumes of water.

Hi

We have hooked up a large barrel outside to collect rainwater for water changes to get rid of this problem.

Danni

what is your roof made of?

i use the hose

from simply discus website

.

That sounds a lot cheaper then the petstore stuff

I use prime. It works out far cheaper than aquaplus and stress coat.

When you have thousands of dollars of fish in a tank, a few dollars for peace of mind is well worth the price.

When you have thousands of dollars of fish in a tank, a few dollars for peace of mind is well worth the price.

Thats what I was saying to you the other night Aqua, only use it for the expensive fish. Don't bother using it on the cheap ones unless you really want to be safe

ah, thanks for all the respond. I believe I've used sodium thiosulfate crystals before, it's like broken pieces of crystal stick. That was 15 yrs ago and I don't really know what it's call but sold at pet shop in Asia to breeder, off the counter. Any idea where can I get that here in NZ or even the prime that phoenix is using.

I'd prefered the water treated for all my fishes, lol. I've set up a fish room in my garage. Although I filled my gold fish pond (outdoor), up directly from the tap(untreated) but I'm kind of worry to do the same with my tropicals. Presently I store water on my top level tanks for 2 days, hoping for the chlorine to evaporate but I know it isn't that simple.

I get my sodium thiosulfate off a guy on TradeMe who sells it to neutralise bleach when washing clothes, I think 500g cost me something like six dollars, it is as you describe it, like broken clear rods.

Prime should be available from any LFS that stocks Seachem products, if they do not have it on the shelf they should be able to order it in for you.

I just let the water stand for 48 hours and the chlorine dissipates. No problems as of yet

This is fantastic . I'll look up for them at LFS or TM. Now I can sleep better knowing that the water changed is treated

it never crossed my mind to not treat water to remove chlorine, after all they put it in there to kill stuff.

Yeah, back from where I come from we HAVE to or you'd lose the entire stock but I was surprised when told I dont have to here in NZ. I've tried with my pond goldfish which seem to survive well but with tropicals I'm concern as it can wipe the entire stock off with one bad water. I believe at times they do use more chlorine to treat the water, esp after heavy rain. Definately not worth the risk as they deserve to live not just survive, worst to get them killed.

Monochloramine is not as effective in treating water as chlorine as is used in NZ but is still a strong oxidising agent.

When people complain that the chlorine in a swimming pool is too strong and it is burning their eyes the problem usually is that the free available chlorine has been used up by contaminants in the water (such as urea) and this has pushed the chloramines back towards the monochloramine and this is what is burning their eyes. The problem is fixed by adding more chlorine.

When you allow water to stand or aerate it to get rid of the chlorine the chloramines all move back to monochloramine and this will react with your fish the same as an under chlorinated swimming pool will with your eyes.

very interesting.. however the above points appear to contradict each other.. if chlorine is more effective (stronger) in treating water than monochloramine, why would mono hurt your eyes and chlorine not? unless it's that they work differently as opposed to the side effect..

They do

cool cheers

i use the hose

from simply discus website

.

heya had a look there but can't find this quote? library or post? wanted to check if it was 100% they use.. presume it is..

Sodium thiosulfate at about two pounds dissolved in a total volume of one gallon, used at one-two drops per tap gallon is about right.

From: http://www.aquarticles.com/articles/sal ... water.html

That would be American gallon I assume---not that it would be that critical.

True, whats .8 of a liter between friends? Especially when you are using 'drops'

whats .8 of a liter between friends?

a disagreement on the short changing of .2 of a litre