Water De-chlorinator, Essential?

[andywg]

The necessity of dechlorinator is a strange one.

I know of two people on another forum who undertook a long term test of not using dechlorinator. One has chlorinated water, the other chloraminated. Both have had no problems, even after 6 months.

They found that the chlorine/chloramine level was 4-5 ppm from the tap and after water changes as high as 50%, less than 5 minutes later the chlorine was gone. This did not matter whether it was chlorine or chloramine. However, it was noted that younger tanks (less than 6 months established before stopping dechlorinating) were slower to get rid of the chlorine, taking up to an hour.

Furthermore, remember that the most likely source of our bacteria in our filters is from the water we initially fill up with, so the bacteria will be somewhat resistant to chlorine/chloramine any way. Finally, it appears that the ammonia oxidising bacteria (Nitrospiras spp) can actually break the bond between chlorine and ammonia and feed of of the ammonia. The chlorine then harmlessly gasses off. Bignose has previously posted a great piece on recent research which indicates that chlormination of drinking supplies is quite a problem as the chloramine is feeding the AOB and then there is no chlorine for the nasty bacteria, like E. coli and such.

I tend to err on the side of caution as once you buy better dechlorinators (either pond ones or prime) then the cost of dechlorinating is tiny. I change anywhere up to 100 gallons per week from my two FW systems and a £16 bottle of dechlorinator will last me about a year or so.

 

[Davidtq]

Using dechlorinator is the safe responsible thing to do allegedly. People like to know they are doing the "right" thing. I live in a chlorine treated area and dont use dechlorinator at all, I tried it for a while 5 years ago and didnt find it made any diferrence. I cant comment on chloramine treated water safety, but chlorinated I know discus breeders down here who do 25% water changes straight from the cold tap, My own tanks I will water change straight from the tap unless its a fish I feel is particularly delicate and then I will let water stand before doing the change.

I know its the "in" thing to do to use dechlorinators and fishless cycling, but I'm the 3rd generation of fish keepers in my family weve been manageing to keep fish well without dechlorinator and stocking slowly with fish or starting with established water and filters here for decades (Ive had fish all my life and im nearly 30) My dad was keeping fish from when HE was a child.

Im also not a fan of the way that dechlorinators treat water leaving behind chemicals that can build up over time, and worse still when chloramine is used and the treatments create ammonia, which they lock up as ammonium, which is unfortunately not very stable and can easily be converted back to ammonia by tank water! I just dont see the point in adding chemicals to my tanks when natural process's can do the jobs better, and cheaper.

Ive not heard the stuff before about chloramine breaking down so quickly without dechlorinators, If I had chloramine water here I would be keen to do the tests myself to confirm it. If its true that chloramine is quickly disposed of in an established tank then the only arguement I see for dechlorinators is initial tank cycling in chloramine treated areas, in which circumstances the ammonia injection could be usefull