How Much Dechlorinator

[Queen Bee]

Since losing 2 tanks full of fish, I retested my water and contacted my water company. The water company adds chlorine 2X during their process of filtering the water. At the end they add ammonia and alum.

I am using the api liquid tests, and jungle strip test (Strip test only for choramine). My water from the tap reads a 1 for ammonia, 7 ph and 0 chloramine.

I add the recommended dosage of dechlorinator and test the water. I still get a reading of ammonia. As per the instructions, I should be adding .75 ml of dechlorinator to the bucket. I am using a 10 L bucket (not quite full) I kept adding dechlorinator to the bucket, testing after every 2 ml. It took 8ml before I got a 0 ammonia reading. Then I tested for ammonium. It took an additional 8 ml to get a 0 reading for the water bucket.

I was adding the recommended dosage for the first month (Didn't know about cycling, and ended up doing several water changes everyday to keep ammonia down). During the month of August I started adding extra dechlorinator to the water to get rid of ammonia.(Didn't have the chloramine tests until very recent). First week of September was when everything started to go wrong. (Lost both tanks and several new fish after that).

I have since emptied tanks, cleaned, refilled, got filter drippings from boyfriend and one of the filters from his tank that runs 2 filters. Water has appeared milky cloudy, lost another fish (Swordtail). I am not sure what to do from here. I wrote to API about how much dechlorinator is safe to add, but have not received an answer yet.

Should I be adding extra dechlorinator to the water? The fact that it reads ammonia and chloramine does concern me.
The bottle of chloramine testers says that anything above 0 is in the danger zone. Test strips are expensive and would like to get this settled while I still have some $ in the bank. Could the extra dechlorinator be causing a reverse effect once in the tank with the bacteria? The month of August when I started this over dosing, my levels of nitrite remained at 0, ammonia only got as high at .25 (right before weekly water change), Nitrate only read 5 half way through the month, every other reading for nitrate read 0. Ph dropped from 8 to barely a 6

chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, ammonium, I am so confused and now afraid to buy any more fish.

 

[SharonCC]

Hi Queen Bee...you do sound confused...you've almost got me confused! OK, as far as I know, dechlorinator will only remove chlorine and chloramines, and some metals and will do nothing for Ammonia. I don't think it can be overdosed, but I would see no point in doing so. In your case, doing water changes is not particularly effective if your tapwater is reading 1ppm. Now that you've used some drippings from your boyfriends tank , the partially cycled filter may be able to handle the Ammonia, and convert it fairly quickly. If you presently have no fish in the tank, you will need to feed the filter to keep bacteria growing. Some fast growing plants would also be useful...

 

[OldMan47]

I am afraid Sharon is correct. Some dechlorinators attempt to make ammonia less toxic but the real key to ammonia is water changes, not dechlorinator. If your tap water has 1 ppm of ammonia like mine does, the water change will only be able to take it down to 1 ppm. What that means is that when you do a water change you will introduce some ammonia into your tank. If the tank has properly cycled, a few hours later there will be no ammonia present. If you have a heavy dose of chlorine in the water, some additional dechlorinator can be used to help get it out before you add the water to the tank but do not try to treat all the tank water for ammonia by using the dechlorinator, it will just empty your bank account.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

ok, sounds like you're a little confused, just to clear up a few bits of the sciencey stuff here.

some dechlors claim that they 'remove excess ammonia', this is not quite true.

if your water contains chloramine then this is a bond made up of chlorine and ammonia, to get rid of the chlorine you have to break this bond which them leaves you with some ammona from the process. The dechlor doesn't get rid of it but it converts it to ammonium, this is much less toxic to the fish and the filter bacteria can still use it to grow. It will still read on your test kit as ammonia though because most test kits measure the total ammonia and ammonium.

so they are not handling all the ammonia from the tap water, just what was in the chloramine bond, and they're not really removing it, just changing it so it is less toxic.

they basically contain dechlor and a small amount of whatever chemical they use to make things like ammo-lock.

if you want to nutralise the ammonia in your tap water you'd be better off just adding ammo-lock when you do a water change.

it's generally agreed that you can't overdose on dechlor, i suspect that's not technically true and the fish wouldn't be too happy swimming around in pure dechlor all day, however it is agreed that it's safe to do double or triple doses without any problems at all. to tell you the truth i can't remember the last time i actually measured out my dechlor, i use a small splash for a normal water change or a big splash for a big one.

 

[petertr]

if you want to nutralise the ammonia in your tap water you'd be better off just adding ammo-lock when you do a water change.

I thought Ammo-Lock was also a Dechlor? Making it ideal for those with Ammonia in their tap water.



Edit: Quick Google:

API Ammo-Lock detoxify's ammonia to be broken down in the aquariums filter API Ammo-Lock also removes chlorine and chloramines which is commonly added to the UK water supply and can be deadly to fish

 

[Miss Wiggle]

well you leasrn something new everyday! had no idea that ammo-lock also looked after the chlorine.

 

[Queen Bee]

Ok, I think I get it finally!!! I only need to get rid of the chlorine, and the bacteria will do the rest. I've just been so desperate to find the cause of losing 2 tanks of fish, and every additional fish I've purchased since. (About 5 now)

Still a question about the ammo lock. Is it really good to add to the tank? Would I be better of to use the dechlorinator and let the bacteria do it's job? I do have a bottle of each ready to go. Someone told me, that once you use ammo lock, you will have to keep using it. They said it also will screw up my readings for ammonia. (Haven't opened the bottle yet) The water company is using chloramines.

Lost another platy yesterday morning. It was the only fish in the tank. I tested the water, Nitrate, nitrite, ammonia all read 0. I am so overthinking everything.

 

[Queen Bee]

Just read something interesting about over dosing on water conditioner. I was researching bacteria bloom, and it said one of the causes is overdosing on water conditioner. Interesting, I am also overdosing at 16X the amount. I am cutting back however after the advice I have gotten from this post. I have been getting bacteria bloom quite often lately between the 2 tanks.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

that comes from a mis understanding of how ammo lock works.


if what it did was remove the ammonia then the bacteria would get no food ergo they would die out or not grow in the first place and then you'd have to keep using it because there would be no bacteria to consume the ammonia. the tank would never cycle basically.

however ammo lock doesn't remove it, it converts it to ammonium, bacteria can still use it so the cycle will progress and eventually complete, but in the interim the ammonia that is there becomes ammonium which is less toxic to fish.

i would use it if you've got some to hand, it won't do any harm.

 

[OldMan47]

There is also a product called ammolock, of all things, that is a white granular material for use in filters. Its purpose is to remove ammonia from the water rather than detoxify it. It is sold both as a stand alone product and mixed with carbon. People who have not learned that carbon has special uses only and who have not been educated on cycling can and do use the solid white stuff to literally remove ammonia and throw it away with the product. That product will interfere with proper cycling of a filter. It's a shame both are going by the same name. When I read ammolock I first think of that white product, not a liquid that goes into the water. Any advice I give on using it would be based on the product I do know about.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

There is also a product called ammolock, of all things, that is a white granular material for use in filters. Its purpose is to remove ammonia from the water rather than detoxify it. It is sold both as a stand alone product and mixed with carbon. People who have not learned that carbon has special uses only and who have not been educated on cycling can and do use the solid white stuff to literally remove ammonia and throw it away with the product. That product will interfere with proper cycling of a filter. It's a shame both are going by the same name. When I read ammolock I first think of that white product, not a liquid that goes into the water. Any advice I give on using it would be based on the product I do know about.

aaaaaah, never heard of that product, helpful to give it the same name

so it's crystals = bad, liquid = ok

let us know which one you've got!

 

[petertr]

Who's idea was that, and why haven't they been taken outside and shot yet?

 

[Queen Bee]

The bottle I have is ammo Lock/ammonia detoxifier. Is by API and is a liquid.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

The bottle I have is ammo Lock/ammonia detoxifier. Is by API and is a liquid.

yeah that's the good one! you can use that

 

[waterdrop]

Oh how interesting~~ whenever I hear of "ammolock" I think of the white crystals that suck up the ammonia and then you throw them out.

I often thought some of the discussions on here were confusing and now I know its because most of us didn't know two different products were being talked about!

~~waterdrop~~