My System No Dechlorinator

[FishHobby99]

Am sorry but I find that almost impossible to believe that chlorine dissipates so quickly with agitation.

I thought chlorine, yes it’s a gas but it takes time for this to go off, fastest method is simply boiling the water is what I know but not dissipating straight from the tap.

Sorry for all the questions but interesti.
Do you happen to have any scientific links proving this, would be an interesting read, well for me anyway if I can decipher the science jargon

Could be that the proof of the pudding is in the taste. The fish have done great without traditional dechlorination chemicals. Maybe the Cl partially evaporated or the level was insignifident.

 

[FishHobby99]

To be honest, because of the care I took in laying my substrate, any waste waste finds it's way downhill to just two handy spots, where I can then suck it out of the tank. I'm yet to vacuum the rest of the substrate in either of my tanks.

Can you tell me more? Sounds terrific.

 

[Myraan]

I suspect some places simply use a smaller amount than other places. Vaguely remember all the books in the 90s suggested agitation and aeration was usually sufficient if you didn't have time to wait for water to stand during an ammonia spike.

Freshly drawn tap water certainly has a chlorine smell if you fill the bucket at full blast, and the smell isn't noticeable a minute or so later.

I suspect the people who get away with this are the ones that have so low chlorine levels that they also get away with washing their filters in tap water.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

Can you tell me more? Sounds terrific.

In my Journal, Post #46.

 

[FishHobby99]

OK, Wilco

 

[FishHobby99]

I saw it! Awesome, Bruce! Incredible setup. Dang U B Good!

 

[Ichthys]

What the aquarium world has done is moved away from gravel and now vacuum the base they have. Therefore removing bacteria all the time. I have never vacuumed a tank and I have never used sand. I look at the base of my tank as part of the filtration system.

Vacuuming the substrate does not remove bacteria. They produce a glue-like substance which is very strong. You’d need to scrub the substrate to remove them.

Chlorine takes about 24 hours to evaporate from water. What you’re doing is subjecting your fish and bacteria to non-lethal levels of chlorine every time you add water. They may have survived it for 40 years, but I don’t see that as an excuse for doing it.
For anyone reading this thread.... don’t do it. You’re stressing your fish every time, even if it’s just a little bit.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

I saw it! Awesome, Bruce! Incredible setup. Dang U B Good!

Thanking you

 

[Uberhoust]

I have been curious about this. On my indoor tanks I have always treated the water. But on the outdoor ponds I never have except when I first fill them. When I do a water change on my outdoor ponds I use the spray setting on my garden hose to de-gas the water of the chlorine but I really don't know if that works. I used to do that for my indoor tanks as well, still treating for chlorine, but the spray entering the water caused the water to be oversaturated with air causing bubbles to form on the fishes fins which they did not like, so I fill the indoor tanks more gently now.

In my area the water is treated with the hope that most of the lines have a concentration of 2 ppm of chlorine at the point of delivery. On some of the longer runs from the source the water is retreated with chlorine because some of the chlorine is lost. Given that the supply is provided at approximately 100 psi, nearly 700 kpa, the chlorine has to be added to the water under pressure. The reduced pressure after spraying in the tank and increasing the surface area of the water through the reduced droplet size could lead to significant increase in the rate degassing of the chlorine out of the water. I don't think this would work with Chloramine.

Decreasing the pressure, increasing the temperature, and increasing the surface area would all increase the rate at which the chlorine would degas from the water. Overall I would say there may be some merit to the method suggested but I would like to make a test for myself. Any recommendation on chlorine test kits?

 

[Ch4rlie]

How Long Does it Take for Free Chlorine to Evaporate From Tap Water Entirely?

Surely many aquarists have heard that chlorine will leave faucet water after some time. But exactly how long does it take for tap water with Chlorine to be safe for fish? Can the clearance be

aquanswers.com

That site seems to support my theory that chlorine does indeed takes quite some time to dissipate, even longer for chloramine as it happens.

Still looking for anything online that says agitation will dissipate chlorine or chloramine quicker than boiling the water itself. Not easy to find to be honest.

 

[Byron]

There are some factors involved in this, as @Ichthys noted. There is also the temperature issue that didn't get discussed after being mentioned.

First, it is true that chlorine will dissipate out of water through agitation. Here In the Vancouver region the water comes from reservoirs in the North Shore Mountains. Several years ago the water authority added "chlorine stations" to add additional chlorine to the water due to dissipation as the water moved along the many miles of pipes. So it is true, but I've seen no factual evidence concerning the level before/after, and it is always a risk that the amount of chlorine may suddenly be increased as Colin as frequently warned, and I will come back to.

[Edit: @Ch4rlie posted a linkk as I was typing, it may answer this.]

How much will dissipate out by using a spray nozzle is an important question. If minimal chlorine is added to begin with, this might work--I say might. I certainly would not trust this with the level of chlorine in my water. I understand that most regions in NA use considerably more chlorine than is common in the UK for example; there are days when you can smell the chlorine every time the tap is turned on.

Back in the 1980's I lived in Victoria, BC, and the chlorine added to our water supply was so minimal those of us with fish never used conditioners, for years, with no issues. That all changed one summer when the water board increased the chlorine due to some bacterial issue in the reservoir; the aquarists all lost a lot of fish the next water change because they were not aware of this.

I have only twice in the past 20+ years forgotten to add the dechlorinator when I began refilling the tank (via Python connected to the tap), and within seconds the fish in the tank were at the surface at the opposite end of the tank--I knew immediately why.

Bottom line here is, unless you know the actual chlorine level, and have scientifically-based evidence that the "spray" or whatever is sufficient agitation, forget it.

The temperature lowering 2 or 3 degrees would not normally be an issue, but this is only going to work if you have hot and cold water from the tap. In my tanks at 27C I would never do a 50% W/C with just cold water, because the temperature would drop significantly. I don't know if that was being suggested, but it did cross my mind.

 

[itiwhetu]

What interests me with those f you using a dechlorinator. There is never a mention of these products being a reducing agent therefore having the possibility of lowering the Oxygen content of your system especially when doing large water changes

 

[Ch4rlie]

That’s a good response and it’s interesting to read that agitation does actually dissipate chlorine but how much is the question, will it dissipate all of the chlorine and if one has chloramine instead of chlorine in their water supply, will this also get dissipated in the same manner?

I did very briefly touch on the subject of the air conditions especially if warmer can help dissipate chlorine quicker as itiwhetu is from New Zealand and obviously is a warmer climate than the UK so whether that is a factor or not, am unsure.

I too have never done water changes without dechlorinator as always felt it protects not only from chlorine but also protects any other potential heavy metals or harmful substance for aquari livestock that may be present in my tap water.

Always have preferred a safe rather than sorry method when comes to my livestock’s health in my tank/s.

And as whether chlorine is present in my tap water or not, there definitely is as there’s always a strong smell of chlorine whenever I run the kitchen tap, so I always have bottled water in refrigerator as I dislike the smell of chlorine when drinking this tap water in a glass.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

What interests me with those f you using a dechlorinator. There is never a mention of these products being a reducing agent therefore having the possibility of lowering the Oxygen content of your system especially when doing large water changes

Shouldn't be an issue for me, or most anyone else.
Like I said, I fill my buckets with some force, with conditioner already in the bucket. That extreme agitation would surely counter any lowering of the oxygen content.
Plus, we're only talking 1ml of conditioner to 8 litres of bucket/water to worry about.

 

[itiwhetu]

So my next question is how many of you follow the instructions. Or just say a squirt plus one for the bucket.