A home made sump filled with Clinoptilolite Zeolite can be useful for to remove at all the chlorines &/or chloramines?

[TiercelR]

Hello all.
A home made sump filled with Clinoptilolite Zeolite can be useful for to remove at all the chlorines &/or chloramines (both at the short & at long run) and at the same time to do this can do save a lot of cash spended in the well knowed expansive commercial liquids for to do this work into the aquarium tanks?
Many thanks in advance for your answers.

 

[Aqua67]

Zeolite is usually used to get rid of excess ammonia and ammonium in the aquarium and if you aren’t battling an ammonia spike (in an existing mature and cycled aquarium), then I woudn’t use Zeolite. I don’t think it does anything with chlorine or chloramine. One would not want to use that on an on-going basis as you should have nitrifying bacteria in your aquarium who will breakdown the ammonia. You may upset the balance in your aquarium if you use Zeolite all of the time as your bacteria will have nothing to eat. This may cause your tank to have to be cycled again. Zeolite also loses its ability to adsorb the ammonia after a while also.

 

[Essjay]

Zeolite also removes medication if you ever need to treat the tank.

 

[TiercelR]

Aqua67 and Essjay, thank you very much for your answers which clarify a lot my questions, i do appreciate it so much.

So, only these knowed brands of liquids are the lonely knowed alternatives for to do the work of to take off from the water these two calamities from our tanks?

Actually i am considering too to collect all the possible rain water for so to avoid at all both the chlorines & the chloramines.
Thanks!

 

[Aqua67]

I use Reverse Osmosis water which I pick up locally from a water supply company and then I remineralize it for my tanks. I have well water here and use potassium chloride to soften it. I do have one outdoor hose that bypasses the water softener but we have a high amount of iron in the well water. I would rather use “pure” water and remineralize. Things were so simple when I lived in the city and used city water and the water conditioner.

If you use rainwater it is possible other things could be in the water from the atmosphere such as pollution, soot from fires, any aerosolized bits that are in the air. You also need to consider your collection methods. If you’re using a downspout from gutters around a building, are those gutters clean? Are there any metals leaching into the water? Where are you collecting the water? Is that collection container clean? Giardia is a water borne illness and could enter the water from an infected bird’s droppings. I don’t mean to sound extreme, but there are also things to consider when using rainwater also.

Rainwater is also soft water and slightly acidic, and whether or not that will suit the types of fish you are keeping is another thing to consider.

In my opinion, I look back on my city water days as “the good old days” before I had to mix powders and test water each time I do a water change. It was kind of nice just getting water from the tap and adding a small amount of the conditioner and that was all.

Now, you could just let your tap water sit 48 hours before using it in your aquarium to let the chlorine evaporate. You could test it to see if any chloramine is still there. Aquarium Co-Op sells test strips that include chlorine and chloramine indicators.

You could also boil the water which will remove potential pathogens and bacteria. Of course you would need to let the water cool to the proper temperature before adding it to your aquarium

You should run the rainwater through a carbon filter anyhow before using it in your aquarium and doing so can help remove chloramine. Chloramine exhausts carbon quickly though so you would need to replace your filter carbon frequently. Again, using a chloramine test strip can help you determine when.

So I am not so sure that using rainwater is the easy answer either. To me, like I said, just use the water conditioner and be done with it.

 

[TiercelR]

Hello Aqua67, many thanks for your reply and for to share your experiences about how to manage the water for to make it usuable for the tanks, i have learned a lot from the information you have shared here in the post.

Based in your advise, now i do believe that the rain water from here is unuseful for the tanks because here is a big city with a highly contaminated air, plus the another factors related to the whole cleaning of the gutters of the ceiling, etc.

Also here i have at hand a few water supplier companies who sell Reverse Osmosis water (at an approx of usd$1.00 dollar per each 19 liters). I will be considering them.

I have founded on ebay this medium size Reverse Osmosis water filter. It could be both useful and economical at the long run if it purchased for the lonely purpose of to use its water for the fish tanks if you own a minimum of 5 to 10 fish tanks or this filter still being too small for this purpose?
Thanks!

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[Aqua67]

Good I’m glad I was able to be helpful.

That reverse osmosis system you referred to can filter and create 400 gallons per day. That should be plenty for your fishtanks and leave some good water for you and your family as well.

I would still sample the water with a test strip for chlorine and chloramins, or take it to a local fish store. If someone nearby will test it for you for free or an or take it to a local tropical fish store. If someone nearby will test it for you for free (or a small fee), and see what your results are when you get your freshly filtered water. Then you’ll know what you’re starting with. It should test quite well for you. It advertises less than 200 ppm total dissolve solids and that’s what I put in my shrimp tank … about 160 to 180 ppm. The water should be fantastic for your fish.

 

[TiercelR]

Good I’m glad I was able to be helpful.

That reverse osmosis system you referred to can filter and create 400 gallons per day. That should be plenty for your fishtanks and leave some good water for you and your family as well.

I would still sample the water with a test strip for chlorine and chloramins, or take it to a local fish store. If someone nearby will test it for you for free or an or take it to a local tropical fish store. If someone nearby will test it for you for free (or a small fee), and see what your results are when you get your freshly filtered water. Then you’ll know what you’re starting with. It should test quite well for you. It advertises less than 200 ppm total dissolve solids and that’s what I put in my shrimp tank … about 160 to 180 ppm. The water should be fantastic for your fish.

Hello Aqua67, many thanks again for your reply.
Good to know this filter can be useful for this purpose, if the seller do confirm to me that this filter do eliminate the Chloramine too (appart of the Chlorine), so i will order it very soon for sure.

Thanks for the advice about to still doing water test with strips (despite of the use of this filtration system). I will order the strips that sells Aquarium Co-Op which you has recommended to me.

¿Are here in this forum a guide that explains how must be doed the remineralization of the water when required if is used Reverse Osmosis water? I do believe this is a very interesting thing if is done properly!

You commented about of your shrimp tank, and i am very interested in all these very interesting creatures, but my experience with them is almost of Zero. But now i own four paper printed books in english idiom about these creatures for so to gaining a some of knowledge on them prior to having them.

My books about them are the next ones:
1.- Shrimp, aquarium jewels. By Requena, Klotz, Martin.
2.- Invertebrates. By Lukhoup, Pekny.
3.- Shrimps, crayfishes, and crabs in the freshwater aquarium. New edition. Aqualog special. By Werner.
4.- General freshwater crustacean practice. By Gehrmann.

At least i ordered four more different book titles appart from the above mentioned (about of the freshwater shrimps in the aquarium and they printed in english idiom too), but has passed too much months since i did these orders, so is very probable that now these books were lost during the transit of these packages.

But my lonely and limited experience until now with these creatures is with a few mexican Dwarf Crayfishes that i own right now inside of two different 20 liters tanks. I feed them with a specialized balanced pellets diet made from a mexican brand who sells this food to the local owners of fresh water Crustasceans. Also, my mexican Dwarf Crayfishes do like so much to eat the living leaves from the Elodea densa/Egeria densa plants they have within of their tanks, and it is very good for me to know they can have a varied diet there.

Doe to my negligence for to ID them till now, I have not yet ID their specific species, but i now they belongs to the Genus: Cambarellus. I have stored a some of its exuviums but i have not yet shipped them to the local fish & game departament for so to know exactly to what species they belongs.

Here i have add the link to its photos so you can see them.
Thanks!

Please help for to ID a wild variety of a Dwarf Crayfish from Mexico, and advice for their care.

Hello all, please help for to ID a wild variety of a Dwarf Crayfish species from Mexico, and advice for their care. In this moment i have six 6 individuals of them. One of them apparently is a female caring for their eggs, due by the position of her tail and the way she moves her plepodods. She...

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[Aqua67]

To remineralize RO water for neocaridinia shrimp I use Shrimp Mineral GH/KH+ by GlasGarten, using a TDS meter (total dissolved solids) to get to my target TDS (between 160-180). I keep a premixed water bottle of this to assist in small water changes.

I also have a product called Remineraliz by Brightwell Aquatics. This one does what you would need for the average planted aquarium which is usually also good for fish. I was given some Equilibrium by Seachem by a friend and was using that for a little while. It is also a general product for a planted aquarium.

I also have Brightwell Aquatic products that raise just KH, or just GH. I keep a premixed water bottle of KH+ water and add half the bottle every hour or so if I’m trying to raise KH. You always premix the product with water before adding the mixture to the aquarium. The bottles have complete instructions. You need to know how much you want to raise so you have to test your water before you start.

I like crayfish but I don’t want one in any of my existing aquariums at the moment. I’m enjoying my fish, shrimp, crabs and amphipods. I hope your crayfish have a large enough tank so they don’t fight too much and that they have many more hiding places than they had back when the picture was taken. I can’t identify the kind of crayfish you have, but I hope the crayfish hatched out many babies for you. The crayfish would probably do well with the same remineralizer that I use for shrimp.

 

[TiercelR]

Hello Aqua67, sorry for my late reply, suddenly i was too bussy with work activities.

Thank you so much for the advice about how to do the remiralization of the water and how to check it. All this is very highly valuable information from i have learned a lot.

The very first two weeks i did the mistake of to put all of the six 6 Dwarf Crayfishes inside of one same and lonely 20 liters tank, and without more hides there than the branches of the Elodea densa plants. And because of that, all of they were passed all these days fighting the one with each other. And this thing keeped me very worry because i was very unhappy seeing that violence there.

But after of these two early very first weeks i had splited them into two 2 different 20 liters tanks, so putting only three 3 individuals inside of each tank (just the half of individuals of their previous tank), and fortunately the fightings were dimished very near to nothing, but i must admit that there occassionaly still soft and brief encounters, but fortunatelly without them interchanging direct phisical contacts as was before of this change.

Also, now all of they have inside of its tanks a some rocks as hides added to the plant branches. But is my fault that till today i has not added to its tanks suitable true cave hides homemade from pvc conduits, or made from another materials.
Thanks!