alanmin4304 Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 A copy of a previous post about chlorinated water supplies. What you read on the internet about chloramine being a combination of chlorine and ammonia is because that is how it is manufactured in countries where it is added to the water supply as monochloramine and used as a disinfectant rather than chlorine. It is used because chlorine is a strong oxidizing agent and reacts with other compounds in the water supply to form nasties which monochloramine does not. It is used in about 25% of the USA. It is a requirement of the Department of Health in NZ that chlorine is used as it is a better disinfectant than monochloramine. All proteins are a double helix of phosphates with various amino acids hanging off them and all living things contain proteins. Chlorine reacts with amino acids and other nitrogen compounds to form monochloramine, then dichloramine and then trichloramine. This is called the chlorine demand when chlorinating water supplies and there will be no free available chlorine until this demand is satisfied. As the chlorine dissapates the equilibrium changes and the chloramines move back to monochloramine and this is the compound that irritates your eyes in a swimming pool and the compound that people think they are smelling as chlorine. The way to fix that problem is to add more chlorine and push the chloramines up to the trichloramine state and this is not so irritating. It is always the case therefore that chlorinated water supplies contain chloramines and they will not be removed by storage, heating or aeration, but will be moved to the monochloramine state which is the one that is most dangerous to your fish. The only way to remove the monochloramine is with chemicals such as sodium thiosulphate which is the active ingredient in treatments available from the pet shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted June 20, 2010 Report Share Posted June 20, 2010 Even in small amounts ammonia is extremely toxic to most living organisms (including humans) so I seriously doubt that the council would add it to our water supplies! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1w1y2k Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 The reason for such a big water change is they were being moved to a different tank for growing out. There was 95% new water that was the exact same temp and ph as there old tank. The other 5% was the water that they were transfered in between tanks, which was water from there old tank. Does that explain things a bit better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1w1y2k Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 I heard from the council today, and they are doing an investigation into how it got into the water supply, and are concerned as there max limit is 1.5ppm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 1.5 ppm of what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 s3xtcy a PH of 3.5 out of the tap sounds extremely low, are you on town supply? Most town supplies are make to be slightly alkaline as it is easier on the piping.. Im not sure.. we live just out of town - out enough that we are in a seperate town and I am relativly certain we are not on town supply, and the LFS who tested it did say that they have alot of problems with inconsistent water out here. Each time ive measured the pH from the tap its as yellow as my kit went, when i got it tested at my LFS they did say that its incredible and its not exactly a believeable result, however I did want to add to the thread advising I too, cannot trust my water - at least on that tap :-? Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1w1y2k Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 ammonia. Update: In our letter box today was a notice from the council advising that water in part of my street and side roads past a certain area will have water shut off on the 24th June for maintenance work. The start of the shut off area happens to be where a pumping station is. I don't know if this is coincidence or if they have found a possible problem. Ammonia levels for water coming into the house are now at undetectable levels on me test kit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sunbird73 Posted June 21, 2010 Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 I would say that they have taken your complaint seriously (as they should!!!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1w1y2k Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 s3xtcy you can ask your council where your water comes from, (you are obviously not on tank water). Thats what I did when I moved here and was also given the name of the company that does the independent water testing. With where you live, could the changes be due to changing geothermal conditions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k1w1y2k Posted June 21, 2010 Author Report Share Posted June 21, 2010 alanmin4304 the problem with my water was ammonia, it was s3xtcy that had a problem with low PH in there water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 Subject: WARNING DON'T TRUST YOUR WATER s3xtcy you can ask your council where your water comes from, (you are obviously not on tank water). Thats what I did when I moved here and was also given the name of the company that does the independent water testing. With where you live, could the changes be due to changing geothermal conditions? Heya, ive done a bit of research but havnt managed to contact council, on the internet it seems to think that im on town supply, so my test must have been a dud, also it seems odd that more people havnt had a huge cry if the test was accurate, as far as geothermal activity is concerned all of Rotorua is aparantly riddled with it, and i know some parts of rotorua are heated (including their water) by geothermal activity, but im on the other side of town from them, the opposite side of most of the geothermal activity.. im not sure how sulphur and other stuff might affect water but i guess its possible? I wonder if its more something in the tap lines at my house - one tap is fine, the other is not? im not too overly worried about it any more as ive decided im just going to use the main tap in the kitchen and ignore the one in the garage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 22, 2010 Report Share Posted June 22, 2010 How old is the house and do you have a header tank in the ceiling (low pressure hot water supply)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
s3xtcy Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 house is approx 2 years old, its a rental, in a bad area - but a new subdivision, the house was obviousally made on the cheap - and we have a tiny hot water cyl - im not sure about whats in the roof. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted June 23, 2010 Report Share Posted June 23, 2010 Sometimes in older houses (like ours) there can be a header tank in the ceiling that supplies water to the hot water cylinder. If the lid is not on properly there can be all sorts of unspeakables in the bottom of that tank. At 2 years of age it is not likely to be the case with your place. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.