Nutralizing Chlorine

[Tan DJ]

I have a query about nutralizing Chlorine when doing water changes.

The bottle of stuff I use to nutralize chlorine states to use 2 drops per 5 litres of water, and in places where there is more chlorine you should double that dosage.

How can I tell how much nutralizing stuff to put in, and is it possible to put in too much?

 

[bluefire]

nah you can't put too much in, its just a waste if you do. You can probably ring up the local water company to find out how much chlorine they put in

 

[Fwapp]

It's also a good idea to ask your water company if they use chlorine or chloramine in the water. Some brands of water treatment dont treat chloramine, and there is the potential that you may need it.

 

[Shelly0518]

I would also say that an experiment may be in order for you. Put 5 liters of tap water in a container, test it for chlorine. Add 2 drops of conditioner and see what your levels are. If you still have chlorine add 2 more drops. If you still have chlorine, look into getting a different conditioner. If you want to continue the experiment put 5 liters of tap water in a container and leave for 24 hours and see if you still have any chlorine in that.

 

[Tan DJ]

I've been changing my water for 12 months putting in 16 drops in a 20l bucket, and none of my fish have died (except for when I had a Nitrate problem) So I must be putting in at least enough of the right product for my town water.

Years ago, when I was still living with my parents, and they had a fishtank full of gold fish, we had been changing the water regularly for several years with no problems and all of a sudden, after one water change, ALL the fish died within 1 hour. We went to the LFS and they had a BIG sign up saying that the chlorination of our local water supply had changed and we needed to increase how much chlorine nutralizer we had been adding from 2 drops to 20 drops.

So whats the best way to test for chlorine?

The other day when I changed the water, the 1st and 3rd buckets of water came out of the tap clear, but the second bucket came out with a slight brownish colour. Should I have discarded that 2nd bucket and hoped that the next bucket would be clearer? (Don't particularly like throwing out water at the moment as we are currently in level 3 water restrictions with the threat of level 4 restrictions by the end of the year.

If you want to continue the experiment put 5 liters of tap water in a container and leave for 24 hours and see if you still have any chlorine in that.

My Grandfather kept 2 gold fish in a tank for 12 years and he ALWAYS "de-chlorinated" his water by leaving a bucket of water out for 24 hours. but that was 30 years ago, and the water supply authorities could have changed their methods any number of times since then.

 

[CFC]

You can buy chlorine test strips from swimming pool supply stockists, shouldnt be hard finding one of those in Australia.

 

[Jules H-T]

You can buy chlorine test strips from swimming pool supply stockists, shouldnt be hard finding one of those in Australia.

Do you know if they display the presence of chloramine or not (i.e. is there a chance it'll be showing clear, on water still dangerous for fish)?

 

[CFC]

They will show if there is any presence of chlorine in the water, whether that is in its purer form or bound with ammonia to form chloramine.