I Guess My Tap Has No Chlorine...

[Ltygress]

When I first went shopping for water testing supplies, the ONLY one they had for chlorine was a 6-in-one strip. I hate strips, but it's the only one for chlorine. And with Discus planned down the road, I want to make sure their water is PERFECT before I ever add them (including cycling).
 
So imagine my surprise when the test strip looked like this after about a minute:

 
 
It looked the same five minutes later.
 
Even after about an hour (of searching for my big color card for that photo) it was still pure white. And just for reference, here it is beside a completely unused strip (unused on the left):

 
If anything, the unused strip has more color than the used one (slight yellow tinge). But the third square up from the handled end is still pure white.

And yes, that is 100% pure tapwater. I ran the strip under the faucet to test it. Not a single bit of chlorine. And this house is almost 40 years old, which makes me wonder what kind of diseases MAY actually come from my tap water! 

 

 

[wet44]

That, or maybe those test strips are bad. They are known for not being too great, ha. Try to find some drops or another better alternative. That would be a lot more trustworthy.

 

[Byron]

If you are on municipal water, and since you are in the USA, there is almost certain to be chlorine in the water.  While I cannot say there may not be an area somewhere that doesn't do this, in NA it is not very likely.  So, having said that, check your municipal website and the water section should mention how they disinfect the water.  I have no idea how much chlorine this might be, but unless it really is almost totally absent, it can cause real damage to fish gills.  Some areas are also adding chloramine which does not dissipate out of the water the way chlorine does, hence it is considered more effective at killing bacteria.  And that reminds me that if chlorine only is added, by the time it reaches you it might indeed be largely dissipated out of the water, which could explain your test results.  However, as someone who many years ago had considerable fish losses due to the municipality suddenly increasing the chlorine and I didn't realize it, I can only suggest caution.  Water conditioners are not that expensive, and may avoid a disaster.
 
Chlorine is not always completely effective at killing bacteria, which is why some jurisdictions add so much, or others also use chloramine.  It is now proven by scientific study that chlorine does not kill all the nitrifying bacteria when a filter is rinsed under the tap.  Of course, it also depends somewhat upon how much chlorine is in the water, and how long the bacteria are exposed, but the point is that chlorine alone is not the "killer" we used to believe it was.  However, it does much more significant damage to fish than bacteria, as it burns the gills.
 
Byron.

 

[Ltygress]

Oh I've been using stress coat since I set these tanks up. I was just curious to know how much chlorine was actually in my tap water, and surprised when it showed 0.

 

[NickAu]

What I would like to see is a side by side test strips and liquid test.

 

[Ltygress]

What I would like to see is a side by side test strips and liquid test.

 
I can't do it with chlorine, of course. But I can do it with the ammonia, nitrate, and nitrite, if you'd like to see those.

 

[StevenF]

The are two types of chlorine, free chlorine, and chlorine compounds.  Chloramine is a compound that will not be dected by test that only test for free chlorine.   For Chloramine you idealy want a test kit that specifically test for it.  Total chlorine tests might detect chloramine.   There are a few choices on Amazon.com.
 
http/www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=chloramine+test
 

If you are on municipal water, and since you are in the USA, there is almost certain to be chlorine in the water. 
 

 
There are a veriety of ways to sterilize water, UV, Ozone, Chlorine, heat, Chloramine and others.  Due to issues with Chorine and chloramines some utilities have been reducing the use of Chlorine and Chloramine and or have added a chlorination step at the water treatment plants.   So if you don't detect chlorine, it might be because none was used or it was removed before it got to you.
 
my utility reports chlorine at 0.1 to 2.9ppb with an average of 1.9ppb.  From what i have read 0.2ppm is fatal.  Note my utility is reporting PPB while the fatal dose is in ppm.  So my tap water is OK and my strips will not show chlorine.  However it is hard water so I use RO water in my aquarium.  RO systems will remove Chloramine and chlorine.

 

[Ltygress]

Just saw the report from this year, and it's showing 4ppm (yes, million, not billion) of Chlorine, used as a disinfectant. So either it's getting removed somewhere, or those test strips just aren't showing it like they should be.

 

[StevenF]

Just saw the report from this year, and it's showing 4ppm
 

the max allowed by the the EPA is 400ppm for chlorine and chloramine.  The report you read may have just listed the maximum allowed.  The levels in your drinking water should be lower.  How much is an open question.  Chlorine and chloramine are gases and will evaporate from water that is in storage (water tower for example).
 
http/water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/disinfectants.cfm

 

[Ltygress]

Actually it listed current reading AND max allowed. Both were 4.

 

[StevenF]

it might be possible to test the test strips by mixing bleach with water  (Pure bleach no perfurms, soaps or dies).  In emergencies  bleach can be used to sterilize water.  The information below came from a web site about this.   According to it 2 drops of bleach to 1Quart of water should be close to 1ppm. 
 
 

Use the following chart to determine how much bleach you need to put in your water for storage.  (For those curious, the end goal is 1 PPM (parts per million) of available chlorine in the water.)
 



Regular Chlorine Bleach
5-6% Sodium Hypochlorite


1 quarts/liters

2 drops

2 quarts/liters

4 drops

1 gallon / 4 liters

8 drops / 1/8 teaspoon

2.5 gallons

3/8 teaspoon

5 gallons

3/4 teaspoons

7 gallons

1 teaspoon

15 gallons

2 teaspoons

55 gallons

1/8 cup

 
 

Source http/www.disaster-survival-guide.com/emergency-water-storage/

 

[Byron]

To the chlorine numbers from the water authority: these will likely be tests at the source, unless they test somewhere along the line(s).  So the 4 ppm is likely what they add at source.  As I said previously, this dissipates out along the way as the water moves through the pipe system.  Here in Greater Vancouver, they have stations that add more chlorine because the chlorine added at the reservoir (source) dissipates out, so they add more from a couple of stations to ensure the water is still relatively clean of bacteria.  So whatever they add at source, is likely less by the time it reaches you.  You can outgas chlorine from tap water by briskly agitating the water, or letting it sit 24 hours; this is only effective because the chlorine dissipates out of water so easily.
 
Chloramine does not, but rather than wasting money for tests, just see if your water authority adds it or not.  Very simple.
 
As for the complicated methods of using bleach, etc...why mess with this when it is so easy to add any water conditioner?  This will make the water instantly safe for fish, regardless of what they add or what may be present (thinking of chlorine and chloramine here, and using a conditioner that deals with both as most but not all now do).  This also covers you should any of these suddenly increase.
 
Byron.

 

[Ltygress]

I think he meant adding bleach to test the strips themselves and see if they are any good.